"I think these are the times of the golden calf. We're living in the time of Babel." MICHAEL McDERMOTT Rock musician and songwriter, on the need for religion in rock music. (Jan. 2)
"Cinema used to be the side salad in world commerce. Now it's the beef." DANIEL TOSCAN DU PLANTIER President of Unifrance, on the global importance of film (and French vs. American movies). (Jan. 2)
"I'm an honest composer, not because I'm a model human being but because I'm too lazy to be a whore, to jump on every bandwagon." NED ROREM (Jan. 16)
"There are nights when I come back to my dressing room and just cry because it goes so deep. It feels like I've scraped out a new part of myself that I didn't even know was there." MICHAEL HAYDEN On playing Billy Bigelow in "Carousel." (March 6)
"I thought, If I die, Sean would be an orphan, too. Let's count the years. I should at least survive and be here for him until he's 20. I wanted to keep the home where his father's memory is. So, I stuck it out. Now he's 18. I think I'd like to stay longer." YOKO ONO (March 13)
"Norma's a huge role, but I'm capable of bigger ones." GLENN CLOSE On being cast as Norma Desmond in the Broadway production of "Sunset Boulevard." (March 27)
"The only way I could get the kind of welcome James Earl Jones got here in Minnesota was if I was suffering from a well-publicized fatal disease." GARRISON KEILLOR On his unpopularity in his home state. (March 27)
"I still love her. You always love your child." MIA FARROW On her daughter Soon-Yi Previn. (May 8)
"I go through periods of not having ideas connected to dancing, but I don't think I've stopped having ideas." JEROME ROBBINS On working in a variety of dance genres at the age of 75. (May 29)
"I've tried not to get pigeonholed doing a lot of westerns, a lot of rednecks, a lot of dope films. And I'm always aware when they're trying to write a 'Jack' scene. You know, 'Let him run wild.' " JACK NICHOLSON (June 12)
"The straight boys claimed the moral high ground of modernism and fled to the universities, and the queers literally took center stage in concert halls and opera houses and ballet . . . musics that people are more likely to respond to." SUSAN McCLARY Musicologist, on the success of gay American composers. (June 19)
"Yes, Bond was a chauvinist, but I don't think anybody believed him, really." ROGER MOORE On whether the character James Bond was suitable for the 1990's. (June 26)
"For $200,000 a year, you get a fourth-rate administrator who could do better at General Electric." RICHARD FEIGEN Art dealer, on the difficulty of hiring museum directors. (June 26)
"I like worry. It makes for a kind of vigilance." MAGUY MARIN On emotions depicted in her dance "Waterzooi." (July 17)
"You can't simply dump a catalogue onto a CD-ROM. . . . A good interface should be as easy to use as a good radio." VICKI PORTER Director, National Gallery of Art, on the gallery's new computerized visitor center. (Aug. 7)
"It's a new thing for us -- to be part of a real city." DAVID L. MALMUTH Vice president, corporate real estate, Disney Development Company, on Disney's planned restoration of the New Amsterdam Theater on West 42d Street in Manhattan. (Aug. 14)
"Nowadays, if you're not 23 years old and got a cute butt in blue jeans and a black hat on or something, you don't have a prayer." GEORGE JONES On the prevalence of "young hunks" in country music. (Aug. 21)
"I haven't answered my phone in years. If I want to talk to someone, I call them." CY TWOMBLY On his secretiveness. (Sept. 18)
"I grew the beard to look older, so instead of looking 16 I look 18." KEN BURNS On the eve of his television documentary "Baseball." (Sept. 18)
"I don't think she knew she ate you up." DOROTHY BIRD Former dancer, on working with the dance pioneer Martha Graham in the 1930's. (Sept. 25)
"I'm a very obsessive character. I will use anything to fix myself, to stop myself from obsessing. Drugs and alcohol are just the easiest." ERIC CLAPTON (Oct. 2)
"My viewer absolutely knows I'm using a delicious fresh-roasted espresso for my ice cubes and not some awful coffee. Not that you can taste it over television, but you can imagine that it tastes really good." MARTHA STEWART On a how-to segment on her television show. (Oct. 9)
"Where am I going to find a restaurant for 34 Welsh farmers?" BRYN TERFEL On the arrival of family and friends from his native Wales for his Metropolitan Opera debut. (Oct. 16)
"When I see people with that desperate need to have public attention, and with a really naive idea about what it takes and what is required, I laugh and think, If you could only imagine." MADONNA (Oct. 23)
"I don't think everyone should get their face tattooed." RON ATHEY Performance artist. (Oct. 23)
"I hate the 'Freddy' films because I know someone's going to be killed. I don't like to see the blood and the stabbing, and I turn my eyes away." OLIVER STONE Director of "Natural Born Killers." (Oct. 30)
"I still don't know what uses people have for those things." MITCH DAVIS Special events producer, ABC News, on the downloading of 800 to 1,000 photographs of news anchors in one week through ABC Online. (Nov. 6)
"I'm trying to move my consciousness away from being a victim, being in another minority." BILL T. JONES On why he doesn't considers AIDS the subject of his dance "Still/Here." (Nov. 27)
"A large part of our audience is expecting to go home with a T-shirt and a baseball cap." SCOTT ZEIGER President, Pace Theatrical Group (a co-producer of "Tommy"), on the merchandising of Broadway souvenirs. (Dec. 4)
"It's over, so to speak. Then again, nothing is ever over for me." BYRON JANIS On his pianistic career, which has not included a concert since 1990. (Dec. 11)
