I am always someone who follows the research more than my self-interest. It certainly has not been in my self-interest to defend men. I've gone from being quite wealthy, when I was defending women, to being quite poor defending men.
I believe that for all of us, there was this one moment in our early life when we started being obsessed about music, somehow feeling how 'big' it is and is what it can give us. For me, this was when I got to be as a 9-year-old on stage, performing in Verdi's Otello in the children's choir.
Since pre-Emancipation, black 'females' have had to fight for the whites-only privilege of being deemed 'ladies': cultured, educated, sexually desirable in a socially respected way. Michelle Obama has managed to get all this without yielding her right to be smart and strong-willed.
You can't be an American without being related to other Americans.
I'd rather be the protector than the protected. I'm naturally the protector - being a mother and having a famous family. You have to navigate when it's right to protect.
I grew up segregated, but there was not much feeling of being shut out of anything.
Being first outside the spacecraft would bring much more responsibility, and I really wasn't looking for that.
Being Irish means you belong to the clan. It's what you feel. They feel Irish.
I remember walking into drugstores when I was younger and seeing all the hair color boxes on the shelves and just being so in awe. Having the control to dye your hair and change your look is such a part of self-expression.
Nothingness not being nothing, nothingness being emptiness.
I'm far from being reclusive. I have 30- or 40-year friendships that I prefer to meeting new people. I go to an occasional party, but just because I don't go to a lot of events, and I'm not out in public all the time doesn't mean I'm anti-social or a recluse.
When I was 16 or 17, I saw Lenny Bruce being taken to jail. They took him off stage because he talked about race.
The notion of artistic responsibility begs questions with no satisfactory conclusions, the most inevitable and ineffectual being that we should just keep thinking and talking about it, given that the alternative - a governmental body monitoring the movies we make and see - is unacceptable.
'Sanctus' was done on speculation. I had no agent or publisher. I was being sensible, I suppose, by writing a standalone novel. I figured if that one didn't work, no one would be interested in reading a sequel.
My mom was a great tennis player, and I remember being six or seven years old watching Steffi Graf and Monica Seles in Wimbledon in my house. I've always been a tennis fan.
There's a lot of people out now around America who depend on checks from their fellow taxpayers being in the mailbox every day.
The thing about being an artist today is you get to develop right in front of people's eyes before you even put out an album.
Favorite movie of all time? I hate being asked... that's like being asked, 'What's your favorite song?'
The idea that an author can extricate her or his own ongoing life experience from the tale being written is a conceit of very little worth.
Freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves. It is a daily practice... No one can prevent you from being aware of each step you take or each breath in and breath out.
Google was a venture-funded company. Being part of that brings an energy to the company.
I think the work on tax reform, the work that's being done on regulatory reform is very important. And just having a seat at the table, I think, is so important for business today as we think about what's going to benefit the economy of this country, how we're going to create great manufacturing jobs.
I don't blame homosexuals for being angry when people say they've made a choice to be gay, because they don't.
I really enjoy being part of the Marvel Universe. It's a cool bunch of people to work with, and they know what they're doing.
You can't be involved in healthcare without being involved in the battle against AIDS.
I don't think of cartoons or comics as being for kids.
You get trapped by stories. Though I've got this reputation for being out of control, it's not true, it just happens to be a more interesting story than the truth.
Facebook and Myspace are the U.S. audience, which is tried and true when it comes to being susceptible to ads.
I love being on set.
All through my life, I didn't really consider my eyes at all, and then I became an actress. It's great, I guess. They're just in my face, and one is green and one is blue. It's different, and I'm definitely a proponent of being different in any way you can in life, so I guess if you're born a bit different that's a good thing.
Being British, I don't want to be all paranoid and arrogant and think people are looking at me because, really, I'm nothing.
I really have never been concerned about being beautiful on-screen. That's just not my jam.
Showing up at school already able to read is like showing up at the undertaker's already embalmed: people start worrying about being put out of their jobs.
The human being is a strange mixture of blind instinct, on one hand, and conscience, on the other.
When we talk about the issue of child soldiers, it can be easy to focus just on ending recruitment and liberating those boys and girls who are currently being held in military camps. Obviously, both of these are incredibly important goals, but it's also essential that we not forget about former child soldiers once they are liberated.
In addition to being an economic security issue, the failure to pay women a salary that's equal to men for equal work is also a women's health issue. The fact is that the salary women are paid directly impacts the type of health care services they are able to access for both themselves and their families.
