Category: people

“I wanted to debunk the myth that all psychopaths are bad. I’d done research with the special forces, with surgeons, with top hedge fund managers and barristers. Almost all of them had psychopathic traits, but they’d harnessed them in ways to make them better at what they do.”

“Until six months ago, almost no one, even in his native Germany, had heard of Cornelius Gurlitt. Shy and reclusive, he lived alone in an apartment in Munich, anonymous even to the local officials. … His only companions appeared to be more than 1,000 artworks that he kept in his darkened apartment. The remarkable collection, with an estimated value of more than $1 billion, came to light only last year, when it was seized by German authorities.”

“I am mostly a pretty worried person. In conversations, I am always worried about what to say. The first time I took ecstasy, all of that lifted away. All the anxiety, which is the baseline of my life in some way, and I had this moment of like, wait a second! Are there people who feel this way all the time? This is like a whole way to be, where you don’t feel anxious? Oh my god!”

Says the French screen legend, “I have arrived at an age where I don’t want to build. I want to destroy! So if I have the opportunity for a dangerous relationship, I will take it.”

“The son of the late defense minister and general, Moshe Dayan, Assi starred in dozens of movies, directed a handful of classic films, and was the lead, playing a psychologist, in one of the most successful Israeli television series of all time, BeTipul, which was adapted by HBO into the American show In Treatment.”

Since it was revealed in February that wildly popular deaf composer Mamoru Samuragochi is, in fact, neither deaf nor a composer, the scandal “has produced numerous musings and self-chastisements in Japan and overseas. NHK issued a ten-page explanation of its failure to properly fact-check Samuragochi’s claims before broadcasting its documentary. … There has been finger-pointing in the Japanese media over who knew and why no one reported what they knew or asked questions.”

Marsha Mehran: “I was learning three languages simultaneously (Farsi at home, English at school and Spanish in the streets). Every night before going to bed, I was required to say good night in all three languages: ‘Shab bekheir, buenas noches and good night.'”

“In retrospect, I can see that as I learned to read music and to understand about notation, so there was a sort of creativity at work – I made efforts to write my own music. It sounded like nothing. I wrote single lines and I’ve been doing it ever since!”

“He tethered a bicycle outside his studio last November. Every day, he places fresh flowers in its basket, takes a photograph, and posts the image online. This gentle protest, which offers a palate of bright relief against the polluted skies, will continue until his passport is returned.”

“García Márquez coddled us, promising that not only would traffic lights turn green for us, but swallowtails would swarm the house if someone in it had their heart broken. He didn’t offer a solution for sorrow, but he promised cosmic sympathy. Believing him might be foolish, but it is a legitimate way to grieve.”