Now, God be thanked Who has matched us with His hour, And caught our youth, and wakened us from sleeping, With hand made sure, clear eye, and sharpened power, To turn, as swimmers into cleanness leaping.
One small decision, for me to get on a flight from Finland to the U.K. - I had no idea how that one small thing could just change my whole life forever.
I was driven to Whipsnade one sunny morning. When we set out I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, and when we reached the zoo I did. Yet I had not exactly spent the journey in thought. Nor in great emotion. “Emotional” is perhaps the last word we can apply to some of the most important events. It was more like when a man, after a long sleep, still lying motionless in bed, becomes aware that he is now awake.
The hour that burst the spirit's sleep.
I never really grasped how big it was when I initially got 'Alexander'; I thought, 'Ooh, this is exciting,' but after I got home, I looked back and thought, 'That was an incredible experience.' I got to work with some massive names in Hollywood, and I learnt so much, and then it really kind of struck me how life-changing it was.
It has been the best thing that has ever happened in my life.
I feel honored to have been a part of that dramatic change.
Nobody had ever told me that anything could be like this.
The American Revolution was a beginning, not a consummation.
Genuinely, the first gig I did when I was 18, it felt like the world shifted. I realised that I had stumbled upon a mechanism through which you could view life.
Then, one day, when you least expect it, the great adventure finds you.
I certainly felt like my life had been enriched and had also changed forever when I took 'In A World...' to Sundance.
For 10 minutes, I was somebody's mother, and that was both the most traumatic and also the most transcendent experience of my life.
The road back from degradation begins with self-awareness - and sometimes, as in 'Phone Booth,' change can begin with a single phone call.
I think a lot of us are looking for the same thing. I feel very lucky to have a definitive moment where I know everything shifted in me, and it was the moment I read that quote. Because I thought, A. That's everything I know about vulnerability. It's not winning, it's not losing, it's showing up and being seen. B. That's who I want to be.
An idea or an insight doesn't come from a single happening, it requires a meeting to alter a perspective. Often it takes a while for the events to collide, but when they do it is inevitable that a change will follow.
One day, something happened. It made life very precious to me.
We've all had that moment, the first time you're exposed to live theater, and it's shocking in the best possible way. You see something and say to yourself, 'I didn't know this could exist.'
When you tell a story that you know is having an effect on the audience, that, for me, is the transforming thing.
I always tell people I'm grateful for my cancer diagnosis because it was the greatest gift because it completely changed my life. I was able to stop and let my whole life and world just crash over me like a wave. And I stood there and went, 'Wow.' And for the first time, I stopped everything. I had to.
Courage is the moment when an ordinary being becomes an extraordinary being.
But when this happens to you - and I think other people would identify with this - suddenly, colors are brighter. You see everything.
When I got [my] library card, that was when my life began.
I never ever thought I would do an international project.
Arafat's departure has created an awesome opportunity.
