In regard to pornography, 41% of all men reported having done one of the following in the last twelve months: watching an X-rated movie, visiting a club with semi-nude or nude dancers, purchasing sexually explicit books, magazines, erotic devices or sex toys, or calling a sex phone number.But of course, those statistics have no relationship to Christians who believe in the authority of the bible, are pro-life, and are committed to their families, right? Think again. A number of years ago a national conference for church youth directors was held at a major hotel in a city in the mid-west. Youth pastors by the hundreds flooded into that hotel and took nearly every room. At the conclusion of the conference, the hotel manager told the conference administrator that the number of guests who tuned into the adult movie channel broke the previous record, far and away outdoing any other convention in the history of the hotel.

The Middle East is ailing. The malady stems from pervasive violence, shortages of food, water and educational opportunities, discrimination against women and - the most virulent cause of all - the absence of freedom.

Shimon Peres

You never know when some small thing will lead to a big idea. Travel is very inspirational - but it's in the ordinary that I find my themes of love and work and family.

Adriana Trigiani

The phoenix hope, can wing her way through the desert skies, and still defying fortune's spite; revive from ashes and rise.

Miguel de Cervantes

The structure of a play is always the story of how the birds came home to roost.

Arthur Miller

What's agitating about solitude is the inner voice telling you that you should be mated to somebody, that solitude is a mistake. The inner voice doesn't care about who you find. It just keeps pestering you, tormenting you--if you happen to be me--with homecoming queens first, then girls next door, and finally anybody who might be pleased to see you now and then at the dinner table and in bed on occasion. You look up from reading the newspaper and realize that no one loves you, and no one burns for you.

Charles Baxter

If you have ever been in a real tragic or sad situation, the words that come out are hopelessly inadequate and kind of cliched.

Erika Slezak

Many people would sooner die than think. In fact they do.

Bertrand Russell

It's shocking how little there is to do with tennis when you're just thinking about nothing except winning every point.

Andre Agassi

I get asked, 'How can you have such failures in your films?' Well, what else is life about? There's some sense of constant failure in something. Humor gives you a distance from it.

Alexander Payne

Remember this practical piece of advice: Never come into the theatre with mud on your feet. Leave your dust and dirt outside. Check your little worries, squabbles, petty difficulties with your outside clothing -- all the things that ruin your life and draw your attention away from your art -- at the door.

Konstantin Stanislavisky

I just really think every job I do, I get this gypsy attitude to money.

Jessica Brown Findlay

In all the ages, three-fourths of the support of the great charities has been conscience money

Mark Twain