Extremism stifles true progression in all fields of human advancement; it is a detriment to everything but war, tribalism and the personal power of Nietzschean entities, striving only for the narcissistic vindication of their ego and will. The enlightened mind knows that all is challengeable, ergo questions all and thus, learns and grows; progression. The weak and narrow mind makes its beliefs sacrosanct; fearful of challenge, their creed becomes unalterable, defended with violence. Political extremists, much like religious zealots, are the latter. They destroy what they cannot convert. They annihilate those they cannot control, or force to conform. They have found no peace in life, no love, and so promote war and division, as emotional cripples – inflicting their own pain and misery and malignant stupidity on the world. Their language binds people together, but only by stirring the darkest excesses of the soul; language of hate, and intolerance, fear and conspiracy, and the need for vengeance. In war-scarred Europe, these cripples direct mass-psychology, and would make the world in their own likeness; mutilated by violence and tribalism and hate.
“I won't beat around the bush about that, I think it's a negative for teams. This year is going to be challenging, NHL teams are trying to run with fewer players and I think the more veterans the better but I'm for sure in the minority, and I can accept that. If it was my choice, there would be two more veterans and an exempt player. But that's not the way it is. There are people that have been in this league a lot longer than me that see it a different way and I'm respectful of that.”
“We really are right at the starting line of an amazing opportunity in China right now. The country is evolving right before the world's eyes and right in the middle of all this, they are preparing to host the 2008 Olympics and need to prepare for that challenge. We had originally projected gross sales from China of approximately $20 million between now and the Olympics, but we now believe that this projection is too low. We will update these projections as our business relationships develop in China.”
“[If that weren't enough of an incentive to stay put, the company offered Cross the opportunity to enroll in MBA courses and in various executive development programs.] They took a view that one of the challenges for an organization like ours was to foster a feeling of everyone being a manager of the business, ... Their desire to have me become more of a businessman kept me interested in spending my career there. There were times when IT was at a standstill, but at those times there was always something happening on the executive level that made the job worthwhile.”
“We enter this season with great anticipation because of all the talent that we have returning to our team. Our players have worked really hard to prepare for this season. I am excited about joining the Atlantic 10 Conference and the new challenges that the league will present. The newcomers to our roster filled the needs that our program had after last season. Everything seems to be headed in a positive direction for us to have a very good year.”
“PINK magazine came to us with a common challenge; the need to manage sales persons across the country but also with a specific need for a more targeted solution. We were pleased to find that the staff at PINK magazine understood the importance of the sales process and the advantages that a pre-configured solution would give them; through our experience with customers in this field, we understand the needs of Media Ad sales teams and are flattered that PINK recognizes and trusts our expertise in this industry.”
“You have to really straddle the fence. Definitely, you don't want to be a caricature. I hope to never play a caricature and that's the challenge - what are the subtleties and nuances in the character himself and how do you bring those out and make him more realistic? But then also, you can't make him too sympathetic, because at the end of the day, you have to be able to dismiss that kind of character because they're wrong in every way, shape and form.”
“Twelve of us started on this trip, but nine made it to the summit. One became very ill even before we reached base camp. That?s not uncommon; many climbers attempting to scale this mountain became very ill and many have died. But after this, nothing is too challenging. Especially after what we saw in the villages of Tanzania where many people have nothing and are just struggling to live. It?s given us a fresh perspective on life.”
“In the face of it, it feels in some ways like financiers appetites for risk, whether they be equity or foreign sales based or North American distributors, have gotten even smaller. ... And there are some of our early movies [in which] I wonder how the hell we'd get them made today, and somehow we do. The biggest challenge is that they are execution dependent -- in order for them to work they have to be great and they have to be made as well as you can possibly make them.”
“Jill Fraser was one of the greatest forces in British theatre. She was an inspiration to all my work and a rock whenever times were hard. I have never met a more courageous person, or somebody who managed to focus with such energy and determination on putting challenging work on the stage. As a young director she took a risk on me and has stuck by me even when I made mistakes. Loyalty such as this is rare. The sense of loss at this time is immeasurable.”