As to the question of elected or not elected, each member of the European Commission has been appointed jointly by the governments of the 15 member states, and undergone individual scrutiny and a vote of confidence from the European Parliament. Mario Monti
You take a vacation to a place like Thailand and you're ready for the excitement of something new and foreign. But when you're working 14-hour days, all you want is something familiar to ground you. And there's just nothing there. Ed Helms
My motivation is to get a deeper understanding and exploration of something that I want to know about the human condition. So, that's what I look for in the material I read: if it's asking a genuine question about a concept of the world that interests me. And also, it helps if it's a context that I find interesting. Rose McIver
I always felt and still feel that fairy tales have an emotional truth that is so deep that there are few things that really rival them. Alice Hoffman
We are the men of intrinsic value, who can strike our fortunes out of ourselves, whose worth is independent of accidents in life, or revolutions in government: we have heads to get money, and hearts to spend it. George Farquhar
I wouldn't describe myself as a home run hitter. I'm just trying to hit the ball hard in the gaps. Just backspinning baseballs and hitting line drives. Andrew Benintendi
When the commander-in-chief sends Americans to fight and die, it should be only to protect our vital national interests, not for his own personal, political gain. Kathleen Troia McFarland
I have just come out of an electoral experience with the people of my country in which I invited them to join me in a partnership for governance. Perry Christie
Today there is a division between those who write about literature and those who create it. I, obviously, don't think that should be there. Alistair MacLeod
People should have freedom in their pilgrimages and tours. They should come and visit historical monuments and sites - let's say the sites around Iran - where they can easily engage in wide- scale contacts with others. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
I was on acid and I looked at the trees and I realized that they all came to points, and the little branches came to points, and the houses came to point. I thought, 'Oh! Everything has a point, and if it doesn't, then there's a point to it.' Harry Nilsson
France has become the second-largest consumer of pizza per person, per pound, in the world, behind the United States and ahead of Italy. Elaine Sciolino
After 'Spelling Bee,' I started landing more jobs... I got 'Candide' at New York City Opera. Lauren Worsham
And sometimes people don't realize that 90 percent of the persistent poverty counties are located in rural America. Tom Vilsack
There was a certain feeling I developed as a young person for black people. Somehow they were able to get pleasure out of things that I couldn't see them enjoying. I heard them sing a lot, and I didn't hear white folks going down the cotton rows singing that much. Sam Phillips
There are a number of steps that we can take to reinvigorate and rebuild the economic and the physical infrastructure of our country and then to rebuild us, frankly, on a spiritual level. Carol Moseley Braun
I can spend the day without writing or reading, but I can't spend a day without listening to music. Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt
There is nothing nicer than playing someone who is cooler, tougher, more virtuous and sexier than yourself and thinking, 'I can be anyone.' Jason Isaacs
Any consideration of the story we call 'Cinderella' for simplicity's sake must acknowledge that 'Cinderella' has had a dizzying array of personae over hundreds of years, in several cultures. There is no one authoritative tale of 'Cinderella,' only a hall of mirrors with a different face in each reflection. Marie Rutkoski
I don't have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness - it's right in front of me if I'm paying attention and practicing gratitude. Brene Brown
I was born in Orange, California and I grew up in Huntington Beach. I started skateboarding when I was five and continued to do so off and on over the years. Jason Lee
Not only did I come out as a reality star that was very boisterous and vivacious and outspoken and all those things. I flipped that into money and respect. And a lot of people can't do that. NeNe Leakes
In 2004, I was on the West End stage in The Woman In White, and for every show I had to climb into a fat suit to play the obese Count Fosco. It was hard work, and unbearably hot, but I sailed through because I'd always kept myself fit. Michael Crawford