You need a very good financial person to keep you honest, and to keep track of income and outgo.
Ambition is the path to success, persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.
Libraries are the one American institution you shouldn't rip off.
If you think of movie studio executives, say, as society, then I root for the independent producers.
I'll tell you this about the Oscars - they're real.
The fewer expectations you have, the better.
Because if you've found meaning in your life, you don't want to go back. You want to go forward.
Never become so much of an expert that you stop gaining expertise. View life as a continuous learning experience.
A line from one of my 1997 columns - 'Do one thing every day that scares you' - is now widely attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, though I have yet to see any evidence that she ever said it and I don't believe she did. She said some things about fear, but not that thing.
Truth is, I'll never know all there is to know about you just as you will never know all there is to know about me. Humans are by nature too complicated to be understood fully. So, we can choose either to approach our fellow human beings with suspicion or to approach them with an open mind, a dash of optimism and a great deal of candour.
You wake up white, and you think about certain things every day. You wake up black, and you think about certain things. You wake up Chinese, and you think certain things - but those things aren't major. What's major is that you are good at your craft.
Nothing external to you has any power over you.
I kept on hearing the voice of God saying if you are going to be the minister that your mom mentioned... then you have to act. My pulpit is acting.
You aren't going to leave me alone are you?
For a long time, television said, 'We won't cover cricket unless you pay us to cover it.' Then they said, 'OK, the next rights are sold for 55 million dollars. The next rights are sold for 612 million dollars.' So, it's a bit of a curve, that.
I recently saw the movie about Ray Charles, and there's a scene where he falls down and the mother doesn't help him. She says, I don't want anyone to treat you like a cripple. I've fallen down before, and Molly will say, get up and just go.
I don't think of myself as a role model. I do try to live in a compassionate, considerate and positive way. The only advice I can offer is to find what you love to do, find the joy in it, and express yourself through your passion.
Tell the truth because then you don't have to have a good memory.
We think a modern cloud lets you decide when you want to upgrade. We don't decide for you.
The depths of the Depression. You didn't ask what the job was, what the pay was, you didn't ask about stock options, or - you said yes.
Your environment doesn't define you. I don't have a lot of money, but I can help train people and I can talk to people. We can all be mentors to the next generation.
We're taught to take care of people we love, but sometimes you can't.
To be completely woman you need a master, and in him a compass for your life. You need a man you can look up to and respect. If you dethrone him it's no wonder that you are discontented, and discontented women are not loved for long.
You got to realise that when I was 20 years old, I had a house, a Mercedes, a Corvette and a million dollars in the bank before I could buy alcohol legally.
If you're doing black music, you should have a core understanding of where that comes from, and the fundamentals - so you're not some bozo thinking you're doing something new.
You can't just be a musician; you have to be an entertainer and perform and act just to hit the bar.
Your life is the sum result of all the choices you make, both consciously and unconsciously. If you can control the process of choosing, you can take control of all aspects of your life. You can find the freedom that comes from being in charge of yourself.
When you read a piece of writing that you admire, send a note of thanks to the author.
When you have a political environment that is being so heavily influenced by the Tea Party that calls for shrinking the size of government, you can't ignore it. There are political realities.
If you think my career has been a failure because I have never won a national title, you have another thing coming.
I contend that in the kind of nonfiction I write, and that other people also pursue, anything is permissible provided the reader knows what you're taking liberties with.
Goals are what count for me. It's not about a battle with defenders. Fighting hard, giving everything and working hard on the field you have to combine with the goals you score. It doesn't matter if defenders want to battle with me or not; I will just be trying to do my job as well as I possibly can.
Get to know the real you, rather than try to look like or dress like those around you.
You live for those really great scenes where you almost feel that the film has gone beyond what was printed on the script pages and been raised to another level.
If you're on the fence about speaking your truth or sharing your world with a greater audience, don't be. We need each other badly.
The thing about influence is that any composer worth anything will give you the same names.
