Up until the last minute, it was art and drawing for me. That was the first real and natural thing I thought I was good at and loved to do. But I developed a similar kind of love for music.

Up until the final decade of the nineteenth century, the United States and the United Kingdom did not recognize copyright in each other's creative works.

Up until the end of the Bush Administration, there was indifference to the North Korean suffering under Kim Jong-Il.

Up until the end of the 16th century, even global trading outfits like the Levant Company were guilds or partnerships, whose members pooled their resources that none could accomplish in isolation. But then, on the September 24, 1599, in a half-timbered building off Moorgate Fields, not far from where Shakespeare was struggling to complete Hamlet, something momentous happened. A company was founded whose ownership was cut up into tiny pieces to be bought and sold freely and anonymously, like pieces of silver. Once could own a piece of the company without being involved of it, indeed without even telling anyone. The first global joint-stock company was thus born, undoubtly Tudor England's most revolutionary invention. Its name? The East India Company.

Up until the age of three, children have a remarkable ability to stop eating when they are full.

Up until the age of 30 I could eat whatever I wanted -- I mean, literally, I never put on a pound; if anything, I was criticised in the media for being too skinny.

Up until the age of 16, I was very focused on sport -- I played a lot of football. Then I tore my ACL and had to stop playing.

Up until the age of 12, I went to dog shows every weekend. Mum showed beagles. It's a really competitive and eclectic world filled with characters who wear interesting outfits -- similar to 'Toddlers and Tiaras,' but with dogs.

Up until the War of the Roses there had been continual conflict in England.

Up until the Depression, recession had a moral character: it was supposed to purge the body economic of the greed and excess that attends a business expansion.

Up until the 17th century, Germany was far more advanced, but then everything devastated by the 30 Years War began to fall apart... The culture is not innocent.

Up until that moment, a part of her had hoped that China would be just as poor as North Korea. She still wanted to believe that her country was the best place in the world. The beliefs she had cherished for a lifetime would be vindicated. But now she couldn't deny what was staring her plainly in the face: dogs in China ate better than doctors in North Korea.

Up until that moment, I'd been at the earliest stage of love, when you feel it will turn you into the better person you want to be. Now, his gentle voice and sage advice took me to a later stage: I felt I needed to pretend to be a better person than I was so he'd keep loving me. This was hard because it made me hate him.

Up until that day, I had never really thought about why I defined success that way--instead, I'd been obsessed with how I would attain those things. That focus on the how instead of the why had really tripped me up. It had led me to make some very bad decisions and to experience some very unhappy times. When you follow the influence of mainstream culture--television, movies, magazines, and more--to elevate the goals of wealth, power, and recognition above all else, it becomes logical to take selfish or negative actions in order to attain them. After all, that kind of approach--playing the game, playing for keeps, as they say--is put forth as the way to achieve success and happiness. Machiavelli's writings are often referenced to support this point of view--statements like the ends justify the means--but it should be noted that Machiavelli died alone and in exile.

Up until recently, I've always been a vintage store guy. I get a lot of my clothes second hand. I really enjoy being able to look through different styles you can find and how eclectic the vintage store vibe is.

Up until now, the prospect of parole has kept us from confronting our captors with any real determination.

Up until now, the biggest question in society about video games has been what to do about violent games. But it's almost like society in general considers video games to be something of a nuisance, that they want to toss into the garbage can.

Up until now, I had ideas that I wanted to try but didn't have the opportunity to do them.

Up until my first book was published, I had all this potential, people would say, and I screwed up. After it, I could say: 'No, I didn't screw up.'