M. J. Ryan Quotes
... the major rule in the American belief system - that anyone can do anything ... is a lie that we have perpetuated, and it fosters mediocrity. Knowing what you're good at and doing even more of it creates excellence.

Quotes to Explore
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I've always been proud that my name stands for peace.
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I read a lot of poetry, and I love what it does with language. I love music, too, and I think there's probably no coincidence there, that the rhythm of the words is almost as important as the words themselves, and when you can get the two working together, which usually takes me about 20 goes, I feel a huge satisfaction.
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I've really been writing a lot of country songs. I used to get criticized for doing a 'Bump & Grind,' then turning around and doing a gospel song. But the truth is I'm glad I have a gift that allows me to switch lanes.
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If there were a major earthquake in Los Angeles, with bridges and highways and railroads and airports all shut down and huge buildings collapsing, I don't care how much planning you do, the first 72 hours is going to be chaotic.
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Some of our best journalists take themselves even more seriously than the politicians they write about.
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Islamism is an ideology that seeks to impose any version of Islam over society.
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In certain European cuisines, vegetables are cooked a long time. I take the term 'al dente' and use it for vegetables.
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So many people love sci-fi, and they're so loyal.
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'Stand By You' is about sticking by the person you love not only when things are easy, but being there for them during trials and letting them know they aren't alone.
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Defeating racism, tribalism, intolerance and all forms of discrimination will liberate us all, victim and perpetrator alike.
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Political ideology can corrupt the mind, and science.
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Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence; Madison wrote not only the United States Constitution, or at least most of it, but also the most searching commentary on it that has ever appeared. Each of them served as president of the United States for eight years. What they had to say to each other has to command attention.
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I was young and so eager to make some money as well as get exposed and show my talent.
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Science is a first-rate piece of furniture for a man's upper chamber, if he has common sense on the ground-floor. But if a man hasn't got plenty of good common sense, the more science he has, the worse for his patient.
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Growing up in the time of Title IX - it was passed when I was 10 - I got a front-row seat to so many great moments in women's sports. Of course I didn't know it at the time.
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Politics disappears; it vanishes. What remains constant is human life. So I try to develop a perspective in my writing where politics is just one of the pieces of furniture in this furnished world. It is not the purpose. It is not the goal.
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What comes out when life squeezes you? When someone hurts or offends you? If anger, pain and fear come out of you, it's because that's what's inside.
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Eliminating the things you love is not wellness. Wellness feeds your soul and makes you feel good.
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When I was little and I was introduced to Led Zeppelin, I didn't know what a zeppelin was or who Zeppelin was or what the machine was. The real meaning is whatever feelings and memories you attach to the music.
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Whenever someone says the word community, I want to reach for an oxygen mask.
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Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se.
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Fathers, I do not practice. I’m not religious in life, but when I perform 'The Creation of the World' and when my soul is touched by the confrontation of 'Good and Evil', then God enters in me.
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Not to commit faults counts for more than to do good.
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... the major rule in the American belief system - that anyone can do anything ... is a lie that we have perpetuated, and it fosters mediocrity. Knowing what you're good at and doing even more of it creates excellence.