I absolutely love Ireland. It's one of the most beautiful places on Earth, and I have strong ties here. Both my grandmothers are from Ireland, and I have spent every summer in Bantry since my father, who is an artist, had the romantic idea 20 years ago to buy an old farmhouse on the west coast and renovate it.

My granddaddy on my momma's side, he was a romantic. He loved love songs. Every Valentine's Day, I remember him buying a red carnation for my grandmomma, my momma and my sister. That was something you could count on every year.

My great-grandfather was in the army in India, and we have photographs of my family there in full Victorian dress. They're incredibly romantic.

I love the ukulele. It's got a beautiful, melodic tone to it. There's something innocent and romantic, and it's just a grand instrument to play.

Let's set aside our political and ideological differences and take a moment to love our families, hug our children, parents and grandparents and through love and respect, strengthen the bonds that made us the greatest nation on Earth.

I always remember having a healthy respect for my grandmother.

I respect all grandpas around the world doin' it big.

My grandad's a gospel singer, and his children were singers, too. But I don't believe in God in the same way... not religion; it breaks us up too much. The same with musical styles - it breaks people up. I believe they are all one thing - why not put them together?

My grandfather was doing business with a Japanese man. In exchange of good relationship the man taught my uncles the art of jiu jitsu. My father couldn't do it because he was very weak, he couldn't do one press-up, so he just sat back and watched, and memorised. What he did was add leverage into the moves.

A grandchild is a miracle, but a renewed relationship with your own children is even a greater one.

When grand plans for scientific and defence technologies are made, do the people in power think about the sacrifices the people in the laboratories and fields have to make?

In my opinion, most of the great men of the past were only there for the beer - the wealth, prestige and grandeur that went with the power.

You must stand for something! It does not have to be grand, but it must be a positive that brings light to someone else's darkness.

A conservative is someone who makes no changes and consults his grandmother when in doubt.

Writing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo.

I've always written. There's a journal which I kept from about 9 years old. The man who gave it to me lived across the street from the store and kept it when my grandmother's papers were destroyed. I'd written some essays. I loved poetry, still do. But I really, really loved it then.

Publishing a volume of verse is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo.

My day job may be exhausting, but cooking is my peace. My dream is to have a big family with lots of grandkids. And we'll get together every Sunday for a hearty dinner at our house, and we'll all live in flavorful bliss, happily ever after.

My grandfather didn't have any patience for little kids or their needs.

My wife makes fun of me by calling me a grandpa because I have very little patience for inconsiderate children. So if we're walking in the mall, and some kid goes by really fast on a skateboard, I become the grumpiest eighty-five-year-old man in the world and start screaming at them.

There was a solid year and a half, perhaps two years, after making 'Temple Grandin,' when I didn't do anything. I just didn't have much patience for roles that were silly, or light, or inconsequential.

Much is written about parenting - its joys and tribulations - and then about the transition into hot flushes, night sweats and (if we're lucky) a new life as a grandmother.

Being a father of three children and grandfather to nine, I do think that this thing called 'parenting' is becoming increasingly difficult.

I've been lucky enough to live through all the things that are supposed to give meaning to our lives, like parenting, grandparenting, art, celebrity. All these things you expect meaning to come from, and sometimes it comes when you're not expecting it.