In college, I had a lot of friends who were writers and wanted to be writers and I felt intimidated by it. I just didn't know if I had any gift or voice and I had no confidence about it.

I'm lucky because I have so many clashing cultural, racial things going on: black, Jewish, Irish, Portuguese, Cherokee. I can float and be part of any community I want.

Smiling is definitely one of the best beauty remedies

Smiling is definitely one of the best beauty remedies. If you have a good sense of humor and a good approach to life, that's beautiful.

I have six brothers and sisters. We all look totally different: blonde hair, curly hair, green eyes, dark eyes, dark skin, light skin. It's just how it is.

It's downright undignified how many blazers I've bought over the years. And will continue to buy. They immediately give shape and add authority. With the perfect blazer, anything is possible.

Fail fast. Fail often... The most talented people in the world have bad ideas. That's a good thing to learn.

I don't think any other emotion is the equivalent of laughter. So I do whatever I can to laugh all the time and to hide my pain.

I was like, 'Oh, my God, girls are so pretty and soft. No stubble burn! What am I doing with guys?' [I] haven't dipped back since, but I was very appreciative of the experience.

People don't believe this, but Hollywood really is a meritocracy.

You can never stop discovering music.

Be you and only you, which means be you and all the people you have loved...

The genius of democracies is seen not only in the great number of new words introduced but even more in the new ideas they express.

Fainthearted animals move about in herds. The lion walks alone in the desert. Let the poet always walk thus.

I don't think we should have justices appointed that decide what they want to hear.

As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate woman, the contagion may spread and the scene is not desolate. Hope is the thing that is left us in a bad time.

I've got to learn to keep my mouth shut.

A tomb is a monument placed on the limits of two worlds.

Commonplace people dislike tragedy because they dare not suffer and cannot exult.

I shall ask for brains instead of a heart; for a fool would not know what to do with a heart if he had one.

I don’t think you’re aloud to be homeschooled if you don’t have a home.