Diabetes is a disease that's had a deep impact on my family. My little brother has had type 1 diabetes since he was a baby and I have spent time learning about the disease and trying to bring attention to it so that one day soon we will reach a cure.

After the United States entered the war I joined the Naval Reserve and spent ninety days in a Columbia University dormitory learning to be a naval officer.

I spent many years trying to write a lot like Ben Folds or John Lennon or Rivers Cuomo. I think that's healthy when you're learning to write and seeing how chords fit together and how songs take shape.

All those years we'd spent learning these chops and all those gigs in Germany where you'd play all night and along comes punk. It has nothing to do with that. A lot of people went out of business.

I looked at longevity in show business when I was about 13 and the people who seemed to have longevity were the ones who'd spent quite a bit of time learning about what they were doing before they made it.

I spent a lot of years just learning my craft and falling down in front of the camera.

I think I've spent so much time playing characters that are so far away from me and learning how to technically build and how to technically put something on top of you.

I can't talk about foreign policy like anyone who's spent their life reading and learning foreign policy. But as a citizen in a democracy it's very important that I participate in that.

I spent a little time in Germany as a schoolboy learning German and it's a country I knew very well spent a lot of time in. I knew the history very well. I've always wanted to do a piece of work about the post-war period of one sort or another.

It is no secret that the fruits of language study are in no sort of relation to the labour spent on teaching and learning them.

I spent a lot of time in the school psychologist's office. I didn't apply myself. My mother thought I had learning disabilities.

I've had a tough time learning how to act like a congressman. Today I accidentally spent some of my own money.

Instead of going to college I spent my time out on the road learning how to be a better musician.

Yes. I did more research than I ever wanted to and saw some things I wish I didn't. I went on ride-alongs spent time with Homicide Cold Case and SVU detectives hung out in subways learning how to spot pervs and pick-pockets viewed an autopsy went to a police firing range and witnessed court cases and I read read read.

A happy life is one spent in learning earning and yearning.

I did stand-up comedy for 18 years. Ten of those years were spent learning four years were spent refining and four years were spent in wild success. I was seeking comic originality and fame fell on me as a byproduct. The course was more plodding than heroic.

I have spent a lifetime watching kids make mistakes because they were not trained or well led or properly motivated to do well. I never faulted the kids rather I saw opportunity to train to motivate to improve leadership - not to punish the individual.

The biggest novelty of 2013 will be new leadership in China. Very little is known about the views of the new leaders - who will rule the country for ten years. But we do know they're the first generation of Chinese leaders who have spent the majority of their lives in a China 'opening up' to the rest of the world.

Military school was great and especially great for leadership and then I spent two years in Vietnam.

For example I spent a lot of time with Reagan both before he ran for governor and when he was running for president. As a print reporter without the cameras I was able to really test the quality of their minds and their knowledge base.

An excessive knowledge of Marxism is a sign of a misspent youth.

Writing a novel is not merely going on a shopping expedition across the border to an unreal land: it is hours and years spent in the factories the streets the cathedrals of the imagination.

On 'Into The Wild' I spent months risking my life and on 'Speed Racer' I spent 60 days acting in front of a green screen. No danger to my physical self but I sure had to use my imagination.

The contrasts between what is spent today to educate a child in the poorest New York City neighborhoods where teacher salaries are often even lower than the city averages and spending levels in the wealthiest suburban areas are daunting challenges to any hope New Yorkers might retain that even semblances of fairness still prevail.