In the case of my book I don't think it's really the coming-out gay novel that everyone really needed even though it was received as such. The boy is too creepy he betrays his teacher the only adult man with whom he's enjoyed a sexual experience etc.

I went whole hog at the actor's lifestyle - really embraced it. I had by then known how much I loved acting already because I discovered acting from a teacher in the seminary - that's the first place I ever did it in the seminary.

I feel really good in the teacher role.

As a teacher myself I've been in situations where parents come at you and sometimes parents come across like the teacher doesn't want the best for their kid and it can be really really hurtful.

I spent most of my high school years on movie sets and I'd have like one teacher which was really bad.

When I was writing 'The Abstinence Teacher ' I really tried to immerse myself in contemporary American evangelical culture.

I decided at age 9 but I was reinforced at age 13 when a teacher told me I had talent. I can't say she really motivated me because I already knew. I knew I had talent. I went to the Jewish community theater and got in plays there. Then I went for the movies.'

The fact of the matter is that when there are feelings involved and you like someone it doesn't matter if you're an actor a teacher a doctor a lawyer a receptionist - you can't really help it when you have feelings for someone.

I had a teacher in art school who said something about the only works he really enjoyed seeing or found much in were works where he had a sense that a discovery was made in the course of making this object. I like to hold to that as my marching orders.

I guess by taking lessons early on and really trying to play all the rudimentary stuff and try to have it sound as good as my teacher. It took a lot of practice which I enjoyed and still do.

My first acting job happened by accident when I was really young. I was in fifth grade and my teacher saw an ad in the paper and took me to the audition after school and I got the part.

I had a really creative teacher at primary school. He used to get us doing things such as singing Spandau Ballet in drag in the choir and I remember loving it.

I remember the mentoring experiences of some teachers that I had like a second term home room teacher in public school that really was very helpful to me.

When I had my first voice lesson I was 15 years old. And I had a really good teacher. This is what made all the difference. A good teacher will teach you the technique but also how to listen to your voice.

I think there are so many ways to become interested in music. I believe signs of sustained interest gives a sense of the right time. Music if thought of as a language would perhaps indicate that as early as possible is not so bad. I do believe that a really nurturing first teacher that makes the child love something is crucial.

I was attending the University of Alberta. I was going to be a high school teacher like my parents. I failed - no I didn't fail a class I just barely passed. I really didn't try. It was Canadian history through the plays of the time. My God those were boring plays.

As a teacher at Princeton I'm surrounded by people who work hard so I just make good use of my time. And I don't really think of it as work - writing a novel in one sense is a problem-solving exercise.

He was the editor of our paper. He created the publishing house in Hebrew. He was - I wouldn't say the 'guru' - but really he was our teacher and a most respected man. I wrote for the paper of the youth movement.

I really enjoyed hanging out with some of the teachers. This one chemistry teacher she liked hanging out. I liked making explosives. We would stay after school and blow things up.

Faulkner turned out to be a great teacher. When a student asked a question ineptly he answered the question with what the student had really wanted to know.

I thought well of course Kinsey absolutely adored teaching. He was a wonderful teacher. So these kids really inspired me. So that was a clue I hung onto. He loved young people he absolutely loved them. And he loved teaching them and trying to help them.

I don't really distinguish between sympathy and honesty when I'm writing. The two go together - I'm interested in inhabiting my characters seeing the world through their eyes.

Here's my rule: You always want to pay cash for your own books because if they look at the name on the credit card and then they look at the name on the book jacket then there's this look of such profound sympathy for you that you had to resort to this. It really is withering.

You will find that the woman who is really kind to dogs is always one who has failed to inspire sympathy in men.