I was terrified, terrified in Songwriter, because there I was, New York Jewish girl, singing country-western onstage with Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson. I mean, forget it. I was so terrified.

Trust your own instincts, go inside, follow your heart. Right from the start. go ahead and stand up for what you believe in. As I've learned, that's the path to happiness.

Human beings have to create hope. They have to. You have to have something you hold onto as being a possibility. Otherwise, why go on?

Good work is good work wherever it is.

I have come far, but not far enough. It is still a man's world.

I know that some people work differently, but I have to work from the inside out. It doesn't matter how big the character is, there has to be a truthful core.

Hope is a flicker, a candle flame kept burning by the simple act of breathing.

While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till it be digested, and then amusement will dissipate the remains of it.

Persistence and determination are always rewarded.

Sing before the spirits and dance with the earth deitiesAnd you will be able to compose your own tune.Then you and I, united, will clap hands joyously, Singing 'tum-tiddly-um tum-tiddly-um-tum.

The children-my own and other people's-became the passion of my personal and professional life.

What has pleased and continues to please, is likely to please again; hence are derived the rules of art, and on this immovable foundation they must ever stand.

It's only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that really matter.

Every child should try everything: sport, music, art, mathematics; they can do it all. Copying and competition are now seen as twin evils, but they are both useful tools.

There's a certain possessiveness of writers sometimes.

I can't be a student. I always hated that lifestyle.