Sometimes in the most tragic situation, something just profoundly funny happens.

My dad had been an actor... not only had my dad been an actor, but his dad had been an actor, and my great-grandfather had been an actor. And who knows before then?

I always think extremism is basically a reaction out of fear. What we seem to be experiencing is polar extremism that keeps people from coming together.

We can't control what the ratings will be. It's like, if you're going to go skiing, do you hope you'll have a good day of skiing? Yes. Do you hope you won't break your leg? Yes.

Alzheimer's is a devastating disease. It was painful for me and my family to watch my grandfather deteriorate. We must find a cure for this horrible disease.

I don't have the time to tell you all the things I've learned from this cast. It's an extraordinary ensemble because we all support each other so well.

The first year I was on the show, it took an interviewer about 45 minutes to get it out of me that I even had a dog, and even then I wouldn't tell him the dog's name.

I was chased through a chateau in the Loire Valley by a bunch of American school girls.

So much of life is paradox. So much of life is neither one thing nor the other... it's both things at the same time.

Don't you always feel bad when they take away one of the spoons? It's like you ordered wrong.

People can be a hoot on the set, but if they're not good to work with, that tires very quickly.

Caring for others is the best way to fulfil our own interests.

Your true beauty lies in your heart. By all means let the world be inspired by it through your decisions and actions.

You can like an immoral character because she’s interesting, not because you want to have her over for dinner.

Regrets are a waste of time. They're the past crippling the present.- From Under the Tuscan Sun, 2003

When the flag is unfurled all reason is in the trumpet.

If men think that a ruler is religious and has a reverence for the Gods, they are less afraid of suffering injustice at his hands.

Our country is a mess. We don't even know what to look for anymore.

In God's great vaudeville, Mother is the headliner.

I do usually stay in the fantasy/sci-fi range, I suppose, but it has many, many subgenres that I'd love to continue exploring.

It's a fair wind that blew men to ale.