A lot of actresses are doing incredible work right now, playing real women, complicated women. I don't feel despairing at all. And I'm more looking with hope for something fascinating.

What I think is new is the wealth of roles for actual women in television and in film. That's what I think is revolutionary and evolutionary.

Having an education is invaluable.

I want roles that challenge people to question where they are in life.

Honestly, I'm always aware of the political implications of the movies that I make.

I have a couple of girlfriends who are like healing. We take care of each other. They know when I need to be taken care of.

I find myself more and more interested only in roles which move the world forward.

Being a mother has absolutely forced me. You have to write things down and have systems for all of it. And then you set up systems and you realize they don't work.

To get people emotionally involved in something intellectual and political is important.

I'm 37 and I was told recently I was too old to play the lover of a man who was 55. It was astonishing to me. It made me feel bad, and then it made me feel angry, and then it made me laugh.

A big part of being an actress specifically is feeling entitled to your artistic opinion, feeling that it means something, and being able to stand by it.

Papa was a man with silver eyes, not dead ones. Papa was an accordion! But his bellows were all empty. Nothing went in and nothing came out.

I have a remarkable memory I forget everything. It is wonderfully convenient. It is as though the world were constantly renewing itself for me.

To the extent that philosophical positions both confuse us and close doors to further inquiry, they are likely to be wrong.

Dear God, please reveal to us your sublime beauty, that is everywhere, everywhere, everywhere, so that we will never again feel frightened.

Never dip lower than you can dip.

If you have an orderly mind, you'll be a winner no matter where you end up. If your mind is a jumble of junk, you'll be a loser. It's as simple as that.

Congress can't take the year off, election or no election.

Flee an enemy who knows your weakness.

Your whole vocabulary's played out, admit it. Still wack if it came out my mouth and I spit it.

If you dedicate your attention to discipline in your life you become smarter.