Engaging in good habits 90 percent of the time, while indulging in bad habits 10 percent of time, places you at risk of being like a hamster running in a wheel. Despite all the energy you're exerting, you won't move forward. You'll never be able to outrun your bad habits.

Amy Morin

On buses and trains, I always think about the inexhaustible variety of human genes. We see types, and occasionally twins, but never doubles. All faces are unique, and this is exhilarating, despite the increasingly plastic similarity of TV stars and actors.

A. S. Byatt

All the different nations in the world, despite their differences of appearance and religion and language and way of life, still have one thing in common, and that is what's inside of all of us. If we X-rayed the insides of different human beings, we wouldn't be able to tell from those X-rays what the person's language or background or race is.

Abbas Kiarostami

Somehow the government has convinced the American people that using tear gas is perfectly harmless, despite stark evidence to the contrary.

Abby Martin

I feel I haven't quite settled in Mumbai. One, it is a cultural shock for me and two, I feel no one really has the time for others in Mumbai. For instance, if you need them, they wouldn't be there despite swearing allegiance to you.

Abhinav Shukla

The joy for me as a writer is that, despite the fact I spend most of my life on my own in a room eating too much chocolate and drinking too much tea, eventually they let me out into the world.

Abi Morgan

At its heart, 'South Park' has a touching faith in human beings: that despite their absurdities and flaws, people have the capacity to create a better world.

Adam Curtis

What makes Samsung so mysterious is that it's not altogether clear who leads the company or what its leaders do. The company follows an avowedly Confucian model of consensus-driven decision-making, values bone-crushingly hard work, and shows tremendous deference to the founding Lee family, despite its lack of a controlling interest in its shares.

Adam Lashinsky

Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them.

Adlai Stevenson I

Despite being quite a shy kid, I was in my element with my mates. I definitely wasn't shy then. We had a lot of fun, running around town getting into mischief.

Adriano Zumbo

Despite differences of faith or even the occasional collisions between them, Egypt is united.

Ahmed Zewail

Despite being in showbiz, I have a very real approach to my life. It plays off with my social life.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

I once asked the most fabulous couple I know, Madonna and Guy Ritchie, how they kept things fresh despite having been married for almost seven months. 'It's a job, Al,' Guy told me. 'We work at it every day.'

Al Franken

Letterman, despite whatever idiotic (or worse?) things he may have done with women on his staff, was wise enough to realize that silence isn't permanent and peace of mind can't be bought.

Alafair Burke

Despite the constant clamor for attention from the modern world, I do believe we need to procure a psychological space for ourselves. I apparently know some people who try to achieve this by logging off or going without their Twitter or Facebook for a limited period.

Alan Moore

My mother has always instilled in us that we should carry ourselves with dignity despite the horror that came with the civil war. She also taught us that where you come from is very important because that's what makes you who you are. So for me, whatever I've gone through had profoundly shaped me; it has given me strength and unwavering faith.

Alek Wek

Enron had already collapsed and filed for bankruptcy protection by the beginning of 2002. But despite complaints from short sellers that corporations had used accounting gimmickry to inflate their profits, many investors thought the crisis at Enron was an isolated case.

Alex Berenson

But most Canadians have recognized to a greater or lesser extent that despite much of the so-called progress of the affluent society, essential ingredients to a meaningful life seem to be either entirely lacking, or at best, difficult to grasp.

Alex Campbell

To get discounts on some drugs, private insurers are willing to pay top prices for blockbuster pharmaceuticals like Vioxx, despite the fact that Vioxx was rumored to cause fatal strokes and heart attacks.

Alex Gibney

A lot of people say that India has been held back by its democracy. But let's remember that, despite being a poor country, India's democracy meant that its government never let millions of people starve.

Alex Tabarrok

Despite its flaws, Marxism still seems to explain the material world better than anything else.

Alexei Sayle