The face of nature and civilization in this our country is to a certain point a very sufficient literary field. But it will yield its secrets only to a really grasping imagination. To write well and worthily of American things one need even more than elsewhere to be a master.

You will certainly not doubt the necessity of studying astronomy and physics if you are desirous of comprehending the relation between the world and Providence as it is in reality and not according to imagination.

I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart's affections and the truth of imagination.

Humor results when society says you can't scratch certain things in public but they itch in public.

Certainly anyone whom I've witnessed who has gone through something horrible and life-changing has a sense of ironic humor or an ability to look at the peculiarities of the world and find humor in it.

We have a certain warped sense of humor in Scandinavia and that is what comes across in the choices in a lot of our movies.

I think that some books are more successful than others to certain readers. People who read my books for the humor they're going to love one book. People who read my books for the mystery they might not like that book quite as much.

A lot of my humor centers on the act of telling jokes and I think this can prevent certain audiences from suspending their feeling of disbelief. It might piss a few people off but I can't help it.

I certainly didn't say while writing 'Gossip Girl ' 'Oh this is going to be big!' It was really like 'Oh god everyone's gong to hate these people! They're so bratty!' But I actually think what is so appealing about them is the humor in them.

There are just certain things that turn my head. It may be a girl's sense of humor it may be her wit or her belief system it could be a lot of different things.

If one tends to be a humorous person and you have a sense of humor the rest of your life then you can certainly lighten the load I think by bringing that to your trials and tribulations. It's easy to have a sense of humor when everything is going well.

There are certain things I learned when I first started learning about acting to try and place the character physically and emotionally. And the way you place them emotionally is often with humor.

Confidence is at the root of so many attractive qualities a sense of humor a sense of style a willingness to be who you are no matter what anyone else might think or say and it's true I do have a certain fondness for women that have dark hair.

I hope I'm in a position to make stuff that I really want to make as opposed to stuff that I just have to make for money reasons or to sustain a certain marquee value.

Well I certainly have learned and I hope I'm moving on and certainly two years of prison was a terrible punishment.

Certain it is that a great responsibility rests upon the statesmen of all nations not only to fulfill the promises for reduction in armaments but to maintain the confidence of the people of the world in the hope of an enduring peace.

One thing that being a scientist has taught me is that you can never be certain about anything. You never know the truth. You can only approach it and hope to get a bit nearer to it each time. You iterate towards the truth. You don't know it.

I certainly hope I'm not still answering child-star questions by the time I reach menopause.

I certainly notice the vitality in Belfast which wasn't there in the Seventies. There was a war going on then. Now there are cranes everywhere. There really is a sense of renewal and hope.

It took me less than half a lifetime to realize that regret is one of the few guaranteed certainties. Sooner or later everything is touched by it despite our naive and senseless hope that just this time we will be spared its cold hand on our heart.

Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense regardless of how it turns out.

Isn't it the moment of most profound doubt that gives birth to new certainties? Perhaps hopelessness is the very soil that nourishes human hope perhaps one could never find sense in life without first experiencing its absurdity.

Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense regardless of how it turns out.

Uncertainty is the refuge of hope.