Happy Birthday Colm Meaney!

In the past I've worked with directors who saw very much their scene in their head and knew exactly how they were going to cut it.

As an actor, my background is in the theater and I feel that my strong suit is period work, but I actually didn't do much of it at all, until the last three or four years. I'm loving it!

It's interesting because I haven't done a lot of period work in the past, but I always wanted to because I'm interested in history.

I've always been a character actor, you know, and you always get your share of character actors who are bad guys. So it never surprises me. And if it's good writing, you can find your way into the part well enough.

 Well, I've always been a character actor, you know, and you always get your share of character actors who are bad guys.

I love doing comedy. You don't get many good comedy scripts. They're rare. But, I do love playing comedy. Even in drama, I like to try to find the humor because I think it's very human.

Talking about the show reminds you of things that you went through. So it's fun. When the show was on, I couldn't have handled it. I didn't want that direct connection.

I do probably 80 or 90 per cent of the cooking at home.

There's no reason not to be in television now. You get to live at home and you're not on the road all the time, they pay you decent money, and the writing's good. You're not compromising for it, you know. 

As an actor, I like to get a bit of momentum going with a character and kind of work a bit quicker. I mean, not crazy-fast, but, you know, five or six pages a day is a nice pace.

Even in drama, I like to try to find the humor because I think it's very human. Even in the depths of dreadful situations, there's usually something rather comic, or something you can laugh about afterwards, at least.

I suppose I look for humor in most situations because it humanizes things; it makes a character much more three-dimensional if there's some kind of humor. Not necessarily laugh-out-loud type of stuff, just a sense that there is a humorous edge to things. I do like that.

I do like working on independent films where it is a smaller budget and less pressure. The pace is also quicker than that of a big budget film. You are shooting at a fairly fast pace. Sitting around for three or four days can be quite draining. So I guess in terms of film or television, I would say filming an independent feature.

I usually look at things like that from an audience perspective first, then have a closer look at the specific character they're talking about me for.

Colin Morgan gives a stunning performance in Parked; he plays Merlin in the BBC TV show and he says the two characters are like night and day. Watch him. He’s got everything it takes to be top notch.

Even in the depths of dreadful situations, there's usually something rather comic, or something you can laugh about afterwards, at least. So, I do look for the comedy in those things. 

You never know when the publicity people will feel it is a good time to release the film.

If you're playing the a historical character that's in the public consciousness, then obviously you've got to make an effort to look like that person and there's a huge amount of historical record there that you have to kind of comply to.

I do go back to Ireland, and I'll probably be doing a film in Ireland in January, and I guess that kind of keeps me classified as 'the Irish actor,' but the last four or five projects that I've been in are either American or English, so I don't feel terribly trapped in that. But sometimes, yeah, you would like to not be called 'the Irish actor.' You'd prefer to just be called 'the actor.'

My old manager of the Irish National Theatre said 'Don't worry about being a star, just worry about being a working actor. Just keep working.' I think that's really good advice.

I usually read a script from an audience perspective first, and then look more closely at the character only.

Normally when I'm sent a script I'll read it through to see how it hangs as a story and then I'll go back and read it through again and look at the character.

The digital revolution has changed the way we do things because you're not under that pressure that film is precious and film is expensive.

I kind of have an interest in all history. And I suspect it comes from being Irish - we like stories, we like telling stories, which makes a lot of us lean towards being writers or actors or directors.

There are so many burning issues to be dealt with that it's completely understandable and natural that a character is struggling with these issues themselves. In that struggle, you inform the audience. The thing about this writing is that it's very easy to learn. Good writing always is.

Which is good, in a way, because the danger in doing something like STAR TREK is that you end up in that pigeonhole and you're doing that the rest of your life.

I'm not a big method actor. I'm much more superficial.

I played trombone for 10 minutes, and then I was in an accordion band in school for even less.

A good comedy's very hard to make, so good comic writing I really enjoy.

Happy Birthday Eddie McClintock!

Anytime you spend 15 or 16 hours a day with someone, five days a week for six months, that's more time than some people spend with their own families, so it does affect the dynamic between the actors. 

I remember the '80s being about the Cold War and Reagan and the homeless problem and AIDS. To me, it was kind of a dark, depressing time.

Comedy is a comfortable yet challenging place for me. I will always feel an inner pressure to do my best and to improve. 

I have a good friend who's a Texas girl; Texas girls are a whole different breed.

I grew up wrestling and playing football where, at the end of the game, you have a score and you're either the winner of loser. There's no score in acting, but you qualify your level of success by the people that you work with and the amount of exposure that you have. 

I just love the process of working with other actors. It's like jamming with a musician, except it takes a little more effort to get to that place as an actor, because you have the cameras and lights and everything. But I love jamming with these people.

I was supposed to go see Led Zeppelin when I was in, like, the 8th or 9th grade, and then John Bonham died and I never was able to. For me, music is such a huge part of my life, and I use songs like memory triggers. So a lot of my memories of being a kid and growing up are associated with different songs. 

I think being self-referential is really narcissistic. Who's to say anybody's even thinking of you that much? But some of these movies that I've done, people still recite lines to me, even 20 years later.

You know, I Google search my own name because I'm so self-obsessed! 

I just want to be able to have fun, make a living, feed my family and create something that I'm proud of, and I'm all those things. It's great. 

When I decided to be an actor, years ago, I just said, 'Look, I'm not going to do this unless I can be the best,' but I don't know what 'the best' is. 

Happy Birthday Pjotr Iljitsch Tschaikowski!

Wer glaubt, daß der schaffende Künstler im Augenblick des Affekts fähig sei, Empfindungen auszudrücken, der irrt. Sowohl freudige als auch traurige Gefühle lassen sich nur rückblickend wiedergeben.

Die Inspiration ist ein solcher Besucher, der nicht immer bei der ersten Einladung erscheint.

Man kann nicht aus Angst vor dem Tod auf Zehenspitzen durch das Leben gehen.

Ich spielte einige Kompositionen von diesem schrecklichen Brahms. Was für ein unbegabter Bastard!

Wenn auf eine Million Menschen ein einziger kommt, der so ist wie Sie, so genügt das schon, um an der Menschheit nicht zu verzweifeln.

Happy Birthday Johannes Brahms!

Ich könnte dich nicht so sehr lieben, meine Liebste, wenn ich meine Freiheit nicht noch mehr lieben würde.

A symphony is no joke.

Wenn mir eine hübsche Melodie einfällt, ist mir das lieber als ein Leopoldsorden.

If there is anyone here whom I have not insulted, I beg his pardon.

Der Elefant ist ein gefährliches Tier, denn aus seinen Stoßzähnen werden Klaviertasten gemacht.

It is not hard to compose, but what is fabulously hard is to leave the superfluous notes under the table.

Es ist nicht schwer zu komponieren. Aber es ist fabelhaft schwer, die überflüssigen Noten unter den Tisch fallen zu lassen.

Those who enjoy their own emotionally bad health and who habitually fill their own minds with the rank poisons of suspicion, jealousy and hatred, as a rule take umbrage at those who refuse to do likewise, and they find a perverted relief in trying to denigrate them.

Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit; aber ich will euch wiedersehen, und euer Herz soll sich freuen, und eure Freude soll niemand von euch nehmen.

Without craftsmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind.

Wozu hat denn der Mensch das himmlische Geschenk, die Hoffnung empfangen?

We cling nervously to the melody, but we don't handle it freely, we don't really make anything new out of it, we merely overload it.

Bisher habe ich gedacht, daß Richard Strauss der Anführer der Revolution sei, aber jetzt sehe ich, daß Mahler der König der Umstürzler ist.

Straight-away the ideas flow in upon me, directly from God, and not only do I see distinct themes in my mind's eye, but they are clothed in the right forms, harmonies, and orchestration.

Orden sind mir wurscht, aber haben will ich sie.

Composers in the old days used to keep strictly to the base of the theme, as their real subject. Beethoven varies the melody, harmony and rhythms so beautifully. 

Tod, wo ist dein Stachel? Hölle, wo ist dein Sieg?

I sometimes ponder on variation form and it seems to me it ought to be more restrained, purer. 

Frei, aber einsam.

Ich denke nur Musik. Ich bin verliebt in die Musik - ich liebe die Musik, ich denke nichts als sie und an anderes nur, wenn es mir Musik schöner macht.

Und sollte ich vergessen haben, jemanden zu beschimpfen, dann bitte ich um Verzeihung!

Verlorengegangenes Vertrauen ist schwer zurückzugewinnen, denn Vertrauen wächst nicht nach, wie ein Zehennagel.

Falls es hier jemanden gibt, den ich noch nicht beleidigt habe, den bitte ich um Entschuldigung.

Es ist wohl das erstemal, daß ich dem, was von mir ausgeht, mit Zärtlichkeit nachsehe. Es ist eine Sammlung deutscher Volkslieder mit Klavier.

Happy Birthday Kate Mulgrew!

I'm proud of it. It was difficult; it was hard work. I'm proud of the work because I think I made some little difference in women in science. I grew to really love Captain Janeway, and out of a cast of nine, I've made three great friends, I managed to raise two children. I think, "It's good. I used myself well.".

I have a very rich and wonderful personal life, and at its core are my sons.

A lot of her is me. I've had this broad under my belt for five years. I own her - and nobody can tell me that I don't own her. I love every single dimension and component of her being. Her nobility, her flawed character, her laughter, her love of the absurd, her love of the unknown, her love of science... I've loved her great heart, her formidable spirit, her guts. She has a much better mind than mine, and a gifted imagination as well, but she's a little prickly, and certainly not without ego. She has this profound sense of humanity: she can talk to anybody and they listen.

Life is sacred to me on all levels. Abortion does not compute with my philosophy.

I would consider playing Janeway in a movie, but not on television. Would I play Janeway again knowing what I know about the experience? Yes, I think I would. I'm really so proud of what I did. I don't think I've met anyone who worked as hard as I did during those seven years, except maybe Patrick Stewart, and maybe not even Patrick because he wasn't raising two children on his own. I proved myself to myself.

I am often fond of saying the Trekkers are passionate about a hobby, their hobby is 'Star Trek.' They are by and large very imaginative, very intelligent people, and they certainly have been more than generous to me.

I have a very rich and wonderful personal life, and at its core are my sons. I will tell you very frankly that I have missed them badly in these five years... But what we're talking about is a block of time I've missed now with them. Years when nurturing was crucial, I think to their self-esteem. The kind of nurturing that comes without conditions or contingencies. The kind of nurturing that is so simple and so basic to human nature, regarding this relationship between mother and son. We missed it.

I've had young women come to me and say that before they watched 'Voyager' it didn't really occur to them that they could be successful in a higher position in the field of science; girls going to MIT, girls pursuing astrophysics with a view to a career in NASA.

The minute there's a nip in the air, the fire's lit and the brandy is poured.

We are talking about someone who has lived. It must be honored in every respect. The fictional can take any kind of channel - according to the actor's marriage to the character. 

I think people think I'm accessible. I'm never treated as a star, either by fans or other actors, and I like it like that. I don't get the star treatment. I think that means I'm a good actor. They acknowledge me as a human being, and to me, that's invaluable, because that's exactly what I am!

Execution as punishment is barbaric and unnecessary.

When I joined Voyager at the eleventh hour, we had nothing but hair problems. Short? Long? With a hairpiece? Without a hairpiece? All the concerns were about my hair--the hair being the trademark of the woman, right? Finally, we got all that settled but I think there was really something else going on. I think they were nervous about having a woman as captain but they couldn't be as general as to say, "We're just nervous about her.". So it's best to pick something--like hair!...

We would very much like to work together again. And we've talked about it for years. For some reason it's been elusive. She would take a movie idea to a network and I would not be available. And of course Voyager happened and it's just been - it's not been in the cards. But I'd give my eye-teeth to work with her.

The best thing was simply the privilege and the challenge of being able to take a shot at the first female captain, transcending stereotypes that I was very familiar with. [I was] able to do that in front of millions of viewers. That was a remarkable experience - and it continues to resonate. The downside of that is also that it continues to resonate, and threatens to eclipse all else in one's long career if one does not up the ante and stay at it, in a way that may not ordinarily be necessary. I have to work at changing and constantly reinventing myself in a way that probably would not have happened had Star Trek not come along. I knew that going in, and I think that all of the perks attached to this journey have been really inexpressively great. So the negatives are small.

It's not refreshing where there is confusion or any kind of discomfort in a group that has to work that closely together.

He understands that if I'm not happy - which was not an understanding in my first marriage - if I'm not happy as an actor the marriage isn't going to work. And conversely, if he is not politically fulfilled - Maybe that's the second time around - I don't know. We're absolute equals in this. And it feeds the passion.

Great writing is great writing. It's as simple as all that.

The perfect combination of everything that not only delights, but exalts me is my husband. I could not ask for a better man.

The elegance and the quality - the talent is always in the literature. I start with the word and I base everything on that. It doesn't make any difference to me.

When you turn 50, you realize that the better part of your life is past, ... Mothers usually don't get to spend five weeks with their 21-year-old son. We drove all over the place.

Of course, the young male demographic has always been the target demographic for 'Star Trek,' the men ageing fifteen to about twenty-five or thirty, a very tough market to appeal to.

There's no question what Hepburn would say. She would go back to what she's always said about Tracy. "He's a man's man. He put out his big paw and smacked me and that's what it's all about. And I just fell to my knees. And that's what I loved. And that's the way it's always been.

Happy Birthday Barbra Streisand!

When I sing, people shut up.

Männer haben einen sehr sicheren Geschmack. Sie wünschen sich immer eine andere Frau als die, die sie gerade haben.

I love things that are indescribable, like the taste of an avocado or the smell of a gardenia.

Wieso strengt eine Frau sich zehn Jahre lang an, ihren Mann zu ändern, und beklagt sich dann, daß er nicht mehr der Mann ist, den sie geheiratet hat?

I guess if you have an original take on life, or something about you is original, you don't have to study people who came before you. You don't have to mimic anybody. You just have a gut feeling inside, an instinct that tells you what's right for you, and you can't do it in any other way.

Ein Pessimist ist ein Mann, der glaubt, alle Frauen seien unmoralisch. Ein Optimist hofft es nur.

I was a personality before I became a person - I am simple, complex, generous, selfish, unattractive, beautiful, lazy and driven.

Ich bin einfach, komplex, freigebig, selbstsüchtig, unattraktiv, schön, faul und ehrgeizig.

You have got to discover you, what you do, and trust it.

Ich kann Leute nicht leiden, die aus Angst zu versagen, lieber gar nichts unternehmen.

There's a part of you that always remains a child, no matter how mature you get, how sophisticated or weary.

Worum geht es wirklich im Leben? Es geht doch darum, den Planeten, unsere Erde, zu retten.

I can take any truth; just don't lie to me.

Ich kam nach Hollywood ohne meine Nase korrigiert, die Zähne überkront und meinen Namen geändert zu haben. Das befriedigt mich wirklich.

When I was maybe 5 or 6 years old, the neighborhood girls would sit on the stoop and sing. I was known as the kid who had a good voice and no father.

Erfolgreich sein heißt für mich, zehn Honigmelonen zu haben und es mir leisten zu können, von jeder nur die obere Hälfte zu essen.

We have a president who stole the presidency through family ties, arrogance and intimidation, employing Republican operatives to exercise the tactics of voter fraud by disenfranchising thousands of blacks, elderly Jews and other minorities.

Die Frauen bemühen sich, den Mann zu ändern, und jammern dann, daß er nicht mehr der alte ist.

I wish I could be like Shaw who once read a bad review of one of his plays, called the critic and said: 'I have your review in front of me and soon it will be behind me.'

Ich möchte eben von meinen eigenen Grenzen nicht behindert werden.

What is exciting is not for one person to be stronger than the other... but for two people to have met their match and yet they are equally as stubborn, as obstinate, as passionate, as crazy as the other.

Die Mode ist eine seltsame Sache: die Modeschöpfer können Fehler machen, soviel sie wollen. Es finden sich immer Millionen Frauen, die dafür zahlen.

My biggest nightmare is I'm driving home and get sick and go to hospital. I say: 'Please help me.' And the people say: 'Hey, you look like...' And I'm dying while they're wondering whether I'm Barbra Streisand.

In Hollywood werden Filme gemacht, die länger dauern als manche Schauspielerehe.

A man who graduated high in his class at Yale Law School and made partnership in a top law firm would be celebrated. A man who invested wisely would be admired, but a woman who accomplishes this is treated with suspicion.

Es interessiert mich nicht, was Sie von mir sagen. Hauptsache, Sie schreiben meinen Namen falsch.

I love road trips! My husband and I love that. We bought a truck with a bench seat so we could put the dog in the middle.

In vermintem Gelände sind alle Männer Gentlemen - nach dem Motto: Ladies first.

The audience is the best judge of anything. They cannot be lied to. Truth brings them closer. A moment that lags - they're gonna cough.

Die Männer haben einen sehr sicheren Geschmack - sie wünschen sich immer eine andere Frau, als sie gerade haben.

There is nothing more important in life than love.

Männer kann man überreden, Frauen muß man überzeugen.

When I was a teenager in New York, I was buying antique clothes. I still am.

Es ist der Traum jeder Frau, der Traum eines Mannes zu sein.

Why is it men are permitted to be obsessed about their work, but women are only permitted to be obsessed about men?

Marlon Brando. Der beste Schauspieler, der je gelebt hat. Er war mein Idol als ich 13 war.

I am simple, complex, generous, selfish, unattractive, beautiful, lazy, and driven.

Ego zu besitzen, heißt, an seine Stärken zu glauben, und offen zu sein für die Meinungen anderer.

I must have got my detailed, obsessive streak from my father, who was an English teacher, because my mother wasn't like me at all.

Mythen sind Zeitverschwendung. Sie verhindern die Weiterentwicklung.

I don't care what you say about me. Just be sure to spell my name wrong.

Heutzutage gilt ein Mann schon als Gentleman, wenn er die Zigarette aus dem Mund nimmt, bevor er eine Frau küßt.

I like simple things. Elastic waists, so I can eat.

Wie kommt es, daß es Männern erlaubt ist, von ihrer Arbeit besessen zu sein, während man Frauen nur erlaubt, von Männern besessen zu sein?

Around people I don't know, I'm totally at a loss.

Directing is so interesting. You know, it just sort of encompasses everything that you see, that you know, that you've felt, that you have observed. 

I find George Bush and Dick Cheney frightening, Donald Rumsfeld and John Ashcroft frightening.

I also have intense relationships with furniture... probably because we practically had none when I was growing up.

As a young woman, I wanted nothing more than to see my name in lights.

I hear these melodies. I hear horn lines and string lines. That's what's fun about recording with an orchestra.

Being a woman in music was fine, but when I wanted to direct, I was poking my head into a man's world.

I've considered having my nose fixed. But I didn't trust anyone enough. If I could do it myself with a mirror.

I don't like talking about myself and I don't like talking about the work.

I never sing in the shower either.

I don't read music. Not even essentially. Not even nonessentially.

I arrived in Hollywood without having my nose fixed, my teeth capped, or my name changed. That is very gratifying to me.

I started going to acting school when I was 14, and I would always have my own take on things.

I was kind of a wild child. I wasn't taught the niceties of life.

Most awards, you know, they don't give you unless you go and get them - did you know that? Terribly discouraging.

I knew that with a mouth like mine, I just hadda be a star or something.

When they tried me out as a host on TV, I found that I just couldn't be that gregarious person. I was stranger than that.

I'd started going to acting classes at 14, played 'Medea' at 15 and really wanted to be a classical actress.

I always wear the same thing at home. I can't be bothered with jewelry. My pants have elastic waists. I like to be comfortable. There are so many more important things to worry about.

The audience is the barometer of the truth.

I remember when I was 5 living on Pulaski Street in Brooklyn, the hallway of our building had a brass banister and a great sound, a great echo system. I used to sing in the hallway.

Just like my father, I've always loved education. In school I was a member of the honor society. 

How I wish we lived in a time when laws were not necessary to safeguard us from discrimination.

Nobody on this earth has the right to tell anyone that their love for another human being is morally wrong.

To have ego means to believe in your own strength. And to also be open to other people's views. It is to be open, not closed. So, yes, my ego is big, but it's also very small in some areas. My ego is responsible for my doing what I do - bad or good.

Success to me is having ten honeydew melons and eating only the top half of each slice.

My nose was part of my heritage, and if I had talent to sing and to act, why wasn't that enough?

In the music business, we all do different things, but we sit there and admire other people who can write a song differently or sing differently. It's not so competitive.

Men are allowed to have passion and commitment for their work... a woman is allowed that feeling for a man, but not her work.

Sometimes you resent the people you love and need the most. Love is so fascinating in all its forms, and I think everyone who has ever been a mother will relate to this.

I go by instinct - I don't worry about experience.

I think when I was younger, I wanted to be a star, until I became a star, and then it's a lot of work. It's work to be a star. I don't enjoy the stardom part. I only enjoy the creative process. 

I think of myself as a girl from Brooklyn.

It is sort of boring to stay in the same spot. You know, I didn't set out to become the first to do this, the first to do that. It was just that my interests were so diversified.

Oh God, don't envy me, I have my own pains.

I'm sure that I don't know everything I want to know. I have so much more to learn.

I'm tired of malicious articles slandering me.

When I was working a lot, I felt guilty as a parent. I couldn't pick up my son every day from school, bake him cookies and that kind of thing.

Doubt can motivate you, so don't be afraid of it. Confidence and doubt are at two ends of the scale, and you need both. They balance each other out.

I was raised on the streets, in hot, steamy Brooklyn, with stifled air.

I just don't want to be hampered by my own limitations. 

I only began to sing because I couldn't get a job as an actress. 

What does it mean when people applaud? Should I give 'em money? Say thank you? Lift my dress? The lack of applause - that I can respond to.

I still like my antique clothes.

Performing, for me, has always been a very inner process.

My mother told me I should be a secretary, but I wanted to be an actress from when I was very young.

Eighteenth century American furniture and the design of the architects Greene and Greene are my special love.

I don't enjoy public performances and being up on a stage. I don't enjoy the glamour. Like tonight, I am up on stage and my feet hurt.

If I hear a record once, I usually never listen to it again. I rarely listen to music - unless it's Billie Holiday.

I just became a singer, because I could never get work as an actress.

Why does a woman work ten years to change a man's habits and then complain that he's not the man she married?

I like to stay home a lot. I like to do other things too, like decorate or build.

Myths are a waste of time. They prevent progression.

I need instant gratification.

I got sent to a health camp when I was about 6 years old, and we all had to wear the same starchy blue uniform. The lady who took care of me after school knit me a burgundy sweater. It was the only thing that gave me any individuality.

It always gave me the creeps when I saw performers who desperately wanted the audience to like them. That's not what I'm about.

I have one son. Of everything I've done in my life, nothing matches the feeling of having life growing inside you.

Why am I so famous? What am I doing right? What are the others doing wrong?

It is every woman's dream to be some man's dream woman.

I've always liked working really hard and then doing nothing in particular. So, consequently, I didn't overexpose myself; I guess I maintained a kind of mystery. I wasn't ambitious.

On a very basic level, many people think celebrities have too much already, so we shouldn't be entitled to our political opinions.

Marlon Brando. The finest actor who ever lived. He was my idol when I was 13. He's done enough work to last two lifetimes. Everything I do, I think: Can Brando play this with me?

I'm a work in progress.

My mother had a great voice. Not like mine, not like my sister's, not like my son's - a high soprano voice, but like a bird. I mean, really beautiful.

I'm interested in the truth, and unauthorized biographies are not. Yes, I would like to correct those errors someday.

I do have friends that are Republicans, and we have very spirited conversations on a whole range of issues. I am often baffled by why they are Republicans, but I enjoy the dialogue and can move beyond politics to find common ground in my personal relationships.

I've been called many names like perfectionist, difficult and obsessive. I think it takes obsession, takes searching for the details for any artist to be good.

My friend Quincy Jones says we won our first Grammys together in 1963. I have no recollection. I don't even remember the room. When he showed me the picture, I remembered what I wore. But it's like awards don't mean anything.

Issues of foreign policy have a place in every election for President.

I hated singing. I wanted to be an actress. But I don't think I'd have made it any other way.

I'll see a celadon green room in an 18th century New Hampshire house and just fall in love. Colors stay in my head.

My mother never really thought I could become anything.

They're called 'angels' because they're in heaven until the reviews come out.

I'm not that ambitious any more. I just like my privacy. I wish I really wasn't talked about at all.

Happy Birthday Bernhard Grzimek!

Der einzige, der einen Ozelotpelz wirklich braucht, ist der Ozelot.

The only creature that really needs an ocelot's fur is the ocelot itself.

Außerdem wird auch eine wissenschaftliche Arbeit nicht dadurch gelehrter, dass man »adult« statt ausgewachsen, »juvenil« statt jugendlich und ähnliches sagt. Seit meinem zwölften Lebensjahr ist es mein Ehrgeiz, alles in meiner Muttersprache ausdrücken zu können, und zwar auch in vernünftigen, verständlichen Sätzen.

Viele Damen bekommen einen großen Nerz aus dem gleichen Grund, aus dem ein Nerzweibchen einen kleinen Nerz bekommt.

Leider werden wirklich in der Geschichte immer diejenigen Männer als »groß« gefeiert, die viele Kriege begonnen und gewonnen haben. Aus diesen Gründen habe ich mich nie für Geschichtshelden wie Napoleon, Friedrich den Großen, Alexander oder Julius Cäsar begeistern können.

Menschenkenntnis dämpft die Menschenliebe, Tierkenntnis erhöht die Tierliebe.

Mit einem Buch konnte man im vorigen Jahrhundert noch Völker aufrütteln.

Wenn man mit Löwen und Elefanten zu tun hat, wird man gottlob nirgends auf der Welt ernst genommen und darf überallhin.

Ohne Jäger, welche heute den Landwirten oft schwindelerregende Beträge als Jagdpachten zahlen, wären vermutlich Hirsche, Hasen, Rehe, Wildschweine und Rebhühner längst als landwirtschaftliche Schädlinge ausgerottet, wie das mit Maikäfern, Kornblumen oder Mohnblumen geschehen ist. Es ist das Verdienst der Jäger, das verhindert zu haben.

Welch ein ungeheurer Erfolg für den Naturschutz hätten die Disney-Naturfilme sein können, wenn sie nur einige Sätze über die Bedrohung der Tier- und Pflanzenwelt durch den Menschen enthalten hätten!

Wir haben beobachtet, daß Fische sich lange küssen. Man weiß aber noch nicht, was das zu bedeuten hat.