I support many organizations that I feel are doing the right thing, like Alonzo Mourning's foundation, Alicia Keys' foundation, the Make-a-Wish Foundation, and other well-established foundations. I kick out a lot of time and money wherever I can.
The thing that attracted me to acting the most was I always felt quite unsure or insecure as a kid, and for some reason, when I got to perform these lines and characters, I felt safe. There was this confidence and excitement from performing that I loved.
A feminist is a person who believes in the power of women just as much as they believe in the power of anyone else. It's equality, it's fairness, and I think it's a great thing to be a part of.
To say something nice about yourself, this is the hardest thing in the world for people to do. They'd rather take their clothes off.
The main thing is, I can't stay up late partying when I'm on tour. That's not good for my voice or my health in general.
I definitely don't subscribe to the theory that more instruments, or more vocal tracks, harmony, or double tracking the voice, is a good thing. People do their early albums very stripped down, then each album becomes bloated.
When I was on 'All My Children,' we did a thing for 'Seventeen Magazine' where a girl won a date. I went to her prom with her in Alabama, and she was a sweetheart. I didn't move to Alabama and I didn't buy a farm there, but we still keep in touch.
I'm really a strong advocate of ageing because the messages that the media and advertising give to women infuriate me: ie that it's a bad thing to get old.
Entrepreneurs are like visionaries. One of the ways they run forward is by viewing the thing they're doing as something that's going to be the whole world.
Seattle isn't known for a particular production sound, so that leaves a lot of great producers in Seattle doing kind of their own thing. And I think, for me, I was probably enough removed from hip-hop that my style was even a little bit weirder than that.
The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.
I guess I was a mom so late in life, my daughter was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
I always wanted, and still aspire, to be something more than just one thing, just one performance.
The only thing that really scales up apart from nuclear is solar power from other people's deserts.
One thing I've learned: You never know where life is taking you, but it's taking you.
All conservatism is based upon the idea that if you leave things alone you leave them as they are. But you do not. If you leave a thing alone you leave it to a torrent of change.
I'm fortunate now that I coach at Duke University and we've won a lot. I have some kids who haven't failed that much. But when they get to college, they're going to fail some time. That's a thing that I can help them the most with.
And in the future, you know, maybe there's kids in the future for me, I don't really know. The interesting thing with me is that there has never been a woman doing what I'm doing at this level for this long. So, it's like, would Vince give me maternity leave?
Grief is like a moving river, so that's what I mean by it's always changing. It's a strange thing to say because I'm at heart an optimistic person, but I would say in some ways it just gets worse. It's just that the more time that passes, the more you miss someone.
I think probably the thing I'm worst at is the most ephemeral stuff, like blogs. I find it really hard to write. And I'm often been asked to write columns for papers in Peru. And I can't. I would die. There's no way I could write a column.
My auditions for drama school were miserable, but one thing I had on my side, although I had no experience or skill or training, was that I wanted to learn everything.
The one thing I seek above all else is understanding. Sometimes I'm so frustrated and I don't get it. But I'm lucky to have a good management team and people around me who explain things and answer my questions.
The most important thing is to have opportunities and feel confidence in yourself.
One thing I'm doing on the new Titanic recording is actually bringing in different acoustic spaces.
It's a good thing Winston Churchill was around before the shallow age of television. He might never have become one of the greatest leaders of all time.
I believe people who go into politics want to do the right thing. And then they hit a big wall of re-election and the pettiness of politics. In the end, politics gets in the way of the business of people.
I grew up in LA. I sort of watched the Raiders play and that sort of thing.
You know, when you've established a certain thing, what can you do? You're stuck with it.
It is doubtless one of Aristotle's great services that he conceived so clearly the truth that literature is a thing that grows and has a history.
The flower is a jumble of thighs, the sun's harem - the most oriental thing imaginable.
Disapproving and boycotting is the Quranic thing to do, whereas violence and threats are not.
I always choose roles that are, you know, hopefully different from the last role. I don't wanna do the same thing over and over again because that's, well, first of all that's no fun.
The biggest thing I learned from losing? Winning's better.
The world is filled with terrible things that can influence children, and movies have depicted them since time immemorial. Should every terrible thing warrant an R-rating?
One of the things that happens that's challenging within the democratic process is that people say, 'Look at this failure, so we should totally change this whole thing.' And then you add in tons of bureaucratic process and checks and balances, and all of a sudden, it doesn't work that well.
I think the most destructive thing is fear: when people don't want to say what they think.
