It was important for me early on to find the voice of each character and figure out what was unique about them and their individual worldview that I could use for comedy or conflict. – Maria Semple
I planned so well for my post-‘Cosby Show’ life that I don’t have to make desperate acting choices that conflict with what my values. – Malcolm-Jamal Warner
I think respectful conflict is intrinsic to the spirit of literature. It reminds us that literary history is living and evolving and thrives on us being active participants. – Matthew Pearl
I believe the Palestinians have never indicated a willingness to meet our minimum requirements, which are recognition of Israel’s permanence and legitimacy as a Jewish state and end of claims and end of conflict. – Michael Oren
When you are in deep conflict about something, sometimes the most trivial thing can tip the scales. – Ethel Merman
It’s much easier to make jokes about sensitive issues if there is some dissent, some conflict. – Mo Rocca
The two biggest threats to international security in 2013 are Iran getting a nuclear weapon, and Iran being bombed to stop it getting a nuclear weapon. Both would precipitate a long and dangerous conflict in an already unstable Middle East. Both would be a disaster. – David Miliband
The conflict between secular Zionism and the settler movement did not appear overnight following Israel’s conquests in the 1967 war, for there was an argument that bridged the gap: security. – Elliott Abrams
The social system grows rigid but the productive forces continue to expand, and conflict ensues between the forces of production and the social conditions of production. – Earl Browder
This old Germany was partly defeated in its conflict with the progressive ideas of socialism, for it had given the people nothing that could serve as a successful alternative to socialism. – Gustav Stresemann
The situation around Terri Schiavo was a deeply held conflict over what to do if someone isn’t going to return to consciousness or competence. Who will decide? Even there, where we had settled legal rules, we still had disagreement. We’re torn about these things. – Ezekiel Emanuel
People on both sides of any conflict believe they are right, whether it’s on a TV show or in the real world. – Mandy Patinkin
If you have a beautiful story, it has to have conflict. If you don’t have conflict, it can’t be a good story. – Donald Miller
I had convinced my father to let me pursue this career, and I passionately wanted it. And here was this conflict in me, and I hadn’t shared it with my father. And it was excruciating to always have your guard up. Particularly because, being an actor, you’re public and visible. I could be seen coming out of a gay bar. Who could have seen me? – George Takei
I fantasize that our politicians have been moved by the dialogues of Plato, and thus contemplate the ancient conflict of the sophists versus the lovers of truth. – Daniel S. Loeb
The picture of the free market is necessarily one of harmony and mutual benefit; the picture of State intervention is one of caste conflict, coercion, and exploitation. – Murray Rothbard
Once this key conflict is eased, it will have a huge impact on the world. It will take time to find a solution. It’s similar to the situation between East and the West at the time of my flight. – Mathias Rust
The United States contributes to peace in both by serving as a buffer between and among regional powers that, while not preparing for armed conflict, do not fully trust one another. – Michael Mandelbaum
It was Jacques Chirac and Schroeder both, who pushed us into a conflict to remove Milosevic. – Curt Weldon
There is a contest old as Eden, which still goes on – the conflict between right and wrong, between error and truth. In this conflict every human being has a part. – Matthew Simpson
I, for one, love kids in my romance novels. When done right, kids add so much conflict. Not just of the ‘interruption on the way to the bedroom’ variety. But conflict about commitment and insecurity. – Molly O’Keefe
I don’t know if likeable, pleasant characters have enough conflict for me to want to do them. I admire those people, but I’ve never been that kind of screen presence who can do nothing. I need to do something. – Michael Douglas
Once I started working as a professional actor, it was like, ‘Bye-bye waiting tables, bye-bye bartending, bye-bye all the cliched jobs actors do.’ But after a year of not getting work, there’s this really difficult conflict, like, ‘Do I have to go back to being a waiter when people recognize me from a show?’ – David Walton