I am the woman I grew to be partly in spite of my mother, and partly because of the extraordinary love of her best friends, and my own best friends' mothers, and from surrogates, many of whom were not women at all but gay men. I have loved them my entire life, even after their passing.
If you're buying animal products and can go to the farm and actually see how the animals are looked after, yes, that's an important point. That's definitely the best way of assuring yourself that the animals are being well treated.
Picture books are for everybody at any age, not books to be left behind as we grow older. The best ones leave a tantalising gap between the pictures and the words, a gap that is filled by the reader's imagination, adding so much to the excitement of reading a book.
The daily act of writing remains as demanding and maddening as it was before, and the pleasure you get from writing - rare but profound - remains at the true heart of the enterprise. On their best days, writers all over the world are winning Pulitzers, all alone in their studios, with no one watching.
In Paris and later in Marseille, I was surrounded by some of the best food in the world, and I had an enthusiastic audience in my husband, so it seemed only logical that I should learn how to cook 'la cuisine bourgeoise' - good, traditional French home cooking.
I just want to make the best music I can make.
In the end, as a manager or coach, you have to keep your heart pure and do your best as a manager or a coach.
I love to get a massage but I'm quite a baby with it. I don't like them too hard or anyone walking on me or anything. When it's good, it's the best thing ever. When it's bad, it's an hour of absolute agony.
No one can really honestly be the very best, no one.
Before we condemn the jurors who acquitted George Zimmerman, we should remember that they were asked to do something extraordinary. They were asked to listen to the facts and apply the law to the best of their ability in a case the world was watching.
A guitar for me is pretty much strictly in the context of writing songs for my band, coming up with ideas with my band, and then being able to perform those songs as best as I can on stage - that's what the guitar for me has always been.
I really believe in hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.
It becomes more important to me as time goes on to make every album the best thing I've ever done, so it's a lot of self-imposed pressure that also kind of slows me down a bit.
If you can find a group of women, any age, who are supportive and kind and love you, that's the best. I have a group of girlfriends that I would lay in front of a bus for. They've picked me up through really, really bad times and I can definitely say I've done the same for them.
The definition of swagger, in my opinion, is you have to have that arrogance, that confidence that you are the best out there at all times.
You could have the bases loaded, and you bring up the best pinch-hitter in the world to pinch hit, he hits into a double play, and then all of a sudden: 'How could you do that?'
As a sportsperson, the best thing is people recognising you and loving you for what you do. For me, glamour is 100 people in the hotel feeling happy to see you.
If had to label myself, I guess classical liberal would be best.
The best Mother's Day gift I ever got was just a full day with the kids where they did their mommy pampering. They cut cucumbers and put them on my eyes and my daughter gave me a facial. I'm not even sure what was in it!
The deal is that I hold myself to an extremely high standard, and it's a standard that can never be... it's unattainable. But it drives me to be the very best in everything I do.
I have read only the first 'Harry Potter' book. I thought it excellent, perhaps the best thing written for older children since The Hobbit. I wish the books had been around when my kids were the right age for them.
I think that technology is the best thing that ever happened to mankind. It's an absurd notion that somehow, 'My God, what are we going to do when driverless cars come along?' It's going to save lives on the road. And maybe, one day, we'll all be working four days a week and not five or six days a week.
The best advice I can give women at all levels is increase training. There are still areas where we have to break through that glass ceiling.
I cannot control what goes on in another lane and this is how I focus on the Games. There is no point in being nervous of other swimmers. It's just about focusing on yourself and what you need to do in order to perform at your best.
We are becoming so fickle and self involved. Always looking for the next best thing - especially when it comes to people. We spend hours buried in our phones trying to keep up with the social lives of people we may not even know. Envy and the fear of missing out have taken over. Yet we are all still longing for human connection.
I'm not the best cruise ship crooner. I'm not the best karaoke guy.
Competition brings out the best.
Leadership is about making the right decision and the best decision before, sometimes, it becomes entirely popular.
One of the best places for a shy person to meet people is in a coffee shop. If you are a reader, bring a book and read it there - that gives a guy something to ask you about. Same goes for sketching, writing, or any hobby you can take with you.
I'm 25 years old; I've had a good career, and the best is yet to come. I want to fight for the next 10 years, which will be better than my first 10 years.
I saw some Pixar movies like 'The Incredibles' and thought, 'This is extraordinary. These are some of the best movies I've seen.'
Personally, I think the best motto for an educational establishment is: 'Or Would You Rather Be a Mule?'
Those minutes that I'm on stage are the best! Being there and looking at the crowd and seeing their faces, hearing them sing the positive words from the songs.
The whole debate on what food is best for us is complex, ongoing and often controlled by vested interests.
I think all good drama is funny. All the best drama is ultimately very funny. Life is funny. You can't have any honest treatise on life without bumping into some humor.
I think we've broken a lot of barriers and kind of shattered our glass ceiling that was there for women. There are so many great fighters, and we've proved a lot of people wrong. A lot of the times, our fights are the best fights on the card.
