When I was 17, a neighbour I knew well died of cancer, and I became au pair to her three little girls. In circumstances like that, when you can’t really help, I think it’s a human response to do something beyond oneself. So I did a sponsored parachute jump for Cancer Research. It was exciting and ridiculous.
You can’t control where you were born, the family you were born into, what you look like; you can’t control any of those circumstances. The only thing you can control is how you react.
When the circumstances are right, everything becomes a dance.
I think there is something in my books that says these are people doing their best under difficult circumstances – sometimes they do wrong things and make mistakes, but who doesn’t? And who wants to read about somebody who never does?
In real life, we do things out of character, constantly. A couple of days ago, my shoes were hurting, so I walked barefoot through New York. Someone who has known me my whole life would think that was so out of character. But I did it because of the circumstances.
The main difference is, in ‘Cold Case,’ the victim sometimes had been dead for decades – you didn’t have the advantage of being able to interview the victim. You had to piece together the circumstances surrounding the crime from witnesses and other evidence. ‘SVU’ is much more immediate in that you can talk to the victim.
When my first husband died, what I tried to do is to sort of, you know, try to bring some rationale to the circumstance and think about worse circumstances, and also open the door to what other women experienced when all of a sudden they were left alone. And particularly if they had children.
The essence of America – that which really unites us – is not ethnicity, or nationality or religion – it is an idea – and what an idea it is: That you can come from humble circumstances and do great things.
I never blamed Pinochet, or my torturers, or external circumstances.
Love isn’t a switch you can turn on and off. You just can’t get rid of it, regardless of the circumstances, if you truly love someone.
If any one idea can justly be called the American idea, it is that a child’s circumstances at birth should not determine the station in life that that child will occupy as an adult.
If all Europe lies flat while the Russian mob tramps over it, we will then be faced with a war under difficult circumstances, and with a very good chance of losing it.
The secret of happiness is the determination to be happy always, rather than wait for outer circumstances to make one happy.
Like John Kennedy in 1960, Obama combines youth, vigor, and good looks with the promise of political change. Like Kennedy, he grew up in unusual circumstances that distance him from ordinary American life.
Through the harsh design of fate, Florida was dealt the unfortunate circumstances of bearing the brunt of not one but two hurricanes, and it appears more dark clouds are poised to visit the Sunshine State.
As a former member of the IRA, I accept all the responsibilities that are due to me. But in terms of the individual circumstances, I don’t comment on that.
When I’m creating a character, I don’t see it so much as playing someone else as just playing a specific part of myself under certain circumstances.
Complete objectivity is not an option. We are all subjective about the way we respond to ‘what is,’ whether it’s the people we encounter, the circumstances in our lives, or ourselves. What we can do is reduce our subjectivity – what I call ‘I see, therefore it is.’
Probably what my comment meant was that I don’t care about the circumstances if I can tell the truth.
Science is simply a powerful way of understanding what’s real and what isn’t, what’s true and what’s not. It can help us determine what works, what doesn’t, for whom, and under what circumstances.
I think my reaction to most issues is to get the facts and circumstances.
That suspension of disbelief that’s required as an actor to live truthfully in imaginary circumstances is different to what needs to happen as a director, in the sense that you are the master of all the moving parts. You create the world in every detail.
If you get your ego in your way, you will only look to other people and circumstances to blame.
I like the idea of love standing the test of time and circumstances.
One thing I believe completely is that the human heart remains the human heart, no matter how our material circumstances change as we move together through time.
The most important thing is to never give up, never give in to circumstances, believe yourself, and to soldier on, no matter what’s in your way.
It is absolutely impossible to transcend the laws of nature. What can change in historically different circumstances is only the form in which these laws expose themselves.
I’m a market person, but there are certain circumstances where you’ve got to have government put up the guardrails or bust up entrenched interests before they become too powerful.
Let everyone regulate his conduct… by the golden rule of doing to others as in similar circumstances we would have them do to us, and the path of duty will be clear before him.
You can’t always change your circumstances, but you can change the way you experience them.
Circumstances don’t make a person; they reveal him or her.
Various circumstances, mainly to do with my military service, prevented me from doing a Ph.D., and I have often regretted it, though you do need to choose the ‘right’ supervisor in the ‘right’ discipline – no easy task when you are totally inexperienced.
The next day I was put on paid leave from my new job at Louisiana State University. This is very painful to me, though once again I understand the circumstances in which my employers find themselves in light of these actions taken against me.
We are responsible for actions performed in response to circumstances for which we are not responsible.
Twilight’ has a supernatural reference to it with werewolves and vampires. ‘Harry Potter’ has magic. ‘The Hunger Games’ is about real people put into extreme situations and circumstances.
The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and if they can’t find them, make them.
I have to say that sports is what kept me out of trouble. No matter the circumstances, my mom kept us playing sports. She worked hard to provide for us and even harder to make sure we always stayed active. Whether it was football or basketball, we were playing one sport or another year-round.
I don’t think it’s possible to separate out the strands of a writer’s history, circumstances, life events, and that writer’s themes.
I always tend to think, even in residential projects, about what a space is being asked to do – where is it located, what are the circumstances, where can I attack the problem, so to speak. How can you create a narrative for people moving through it? How can you convey its character?
We live in an increasingly sophisticated world that makes it difficult to make simple comments on stuff. There are too many people on both sides of the border who are taking advantage of circumstances and the situation.
Persevere and preserve yourselves for better circumstances.
For me, it’s more powerful to hear people sing about God than love in most circumstances because I’ve been hearing people sing about love for most of my life.
I get asked this question a lot. Am I really pro-life? Am I against abortion in all circumstances? Yes. Do I believe there are any exceptions for abortion? No. Do you want to make abortion illegal? Yes.
If we’re given a number of circumstances to deal with, the brain goes into this mode of trying to find a solution, and it’s amazing how good we are at it.
‘Red Knot’ is a film that I shot in Antarctica almost three years ago on a boat. It was a film that was improvised and it had very interesting circumstances while making the film, obviously. We were on a small boat bobbing around in Antarctica. It was a really remarkable experience.
Parents walk a fine line between discipline and grace – values have to hold even when circumstances change or call for compromise or compassion. It’s the ultimate challenge to be both firm and fluid, soft and strong, yielding yet rock solid.
A lot of times in life, it’s personal choices that you’re making, actively, and then there’s a myriad of forces and circumstances that are out of our control. And without even realizing it, you’re riding a wave of events that you have no control of.
Some women lose their husbands, and their worlds change because their financial circumstances change. All I have in common with them is a grief.
It’s just that, with comedy, the circumstances are just crazy-heightened, and you have these crazy things thrown at you. But you still have to do it truthfully, because that’s where the humor comes from.
If we create a framework for decision-making that is biased toward life, supportive of families, and fair to people of all circumstances, our policies, legislation, and commercial decisions will be vastly different.
The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.
Success in the majority of circumstances depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.
To lose a son under those circumstances – a violent death like my son went through, it just puts a burden on your heart.
