Samantha * Quotes

I am surprisingly optimistic, though lately that's been hard to maintain. Art and slow, small, close gestures help remind me of my optimism.

The lion's share of my work is revision, 85%? I revise forever, combing over lines, listening and listening to them in different hours and moods so that I feel they are finally right for me.

There's a voice when I write. I speak everything aloud. My family is so accustomed to me talking to myself that often times they don't answer me when I am trying to speak to one of them.

You really have to create everything in order to come away with a full human being on screen.

When I was blonde I was perceived as an innocent and sweet young girl.

I just get really defensive as soon as anyone comes near my personal life. I made a decision early on that it's strictly off-limits. No exceptions.

Catholicism played such a huge part in my life, I would not have survived without my faith.

It's important to have masculine energy around your child.

I think once you're a mother to one, you're a mother to them all.

I think anybody who has been abused as a kid - and I was abused as a kid, by various people - will say it's irrational because violence is irrational.

I respond very well to well-written material and women who have had an effect on society, something tragic or monumental has happened to them.

I like to stretch my acting muscles.

I am proud of what I've done.

The more visionary the idea, the more people it leaves behind.

I could be equally happy on a film set or in the middle of a field.

I hate the analyzing thing. People say, 'Why do you think your character did that? I don't know. I'm not an analyst, and they're not in psychotherapy. Unless it's a film where they're in therapy.

I was physically abused and I retaliated.

Coming back into television, I was very, very wary about committing to anything that could potentially take a long time. I don't mind movies, but I was nervous of television.

I'm an actor. That's what I'm gifted at. It's what makes me breathe.

My mind boggles at the amount of violence inflicted upon children in today's society.

People watch me, waiting for me to slip up, so my privacy has gone - but that's a price you pay.

I grew up singing professionally since I was 7 years old and so to get to play a character who's living out their Rock star dreams as JEM was pretty much epic.

Every working mother struggles with the BlackBerry, knowing the boss can call.

First, recognize the mistake. The main thing is taking responsibility and being authentic.

I think about Syria when I go to bed at night.

In general, my rule is find out where your heart is, then speak from the heart. People know the difference between that and something scripted.

I joke that I spent 38 years scouring the globe, going to war zones, trying to find the person with my exact birthday.

I get to be married to the liveliest mind I've ever encountered.... I hit the jackpot.

My kids are my salvation.... It's a delight to walk in and get charged by a five-year-old and a two-year-old. That'll make you forget the darkness.

There's something beautiful about working in the one place in the world where the world is present, like United Nations. Otherwise, one would have to go to each of these countries to negotiate.

My favorite things in life are my children. If somebody wants to understand me, there's no better window into that than my children.

I think the point that we all agree upon is that we have to engage with Russia.

We have an interest in combating tactics in war that are abhorrent and that only fuel terrorism because they incite people on the ground.

I think we do have an interest in combating states that try to cross borders and steal parts of other people's country.

When I wake up in the morning, I think about Syria.

We need to find means for cooperation.

When I wake up in the middle of the night when I hear one of my kids coughing or crying, I think about Syria.

I think Obama is right when he talks about the rule of law as a cornerstone of what the United States should stand for.

Engaging Iran won't guarantee improved U.S.-Iranian relations or a more stable Gulf region. But not engaging means more of the same.

Democracies are expense-averse and they think in terms of short-term, political interests rather than a long-term interest in stability.

I believe the United States is the greatest country on Earth. I really do.

No more than a surgeon can operate while tweeting can you reach your potential with one ear in, one ear out. You actually have to reacquaint yourself with concentration. We all do.

The story of U.S. policy during the genocide in Rwanda is not a story of willful complicity with evil. U.S. officials did not sit around and conspire to allow genocide to happen.

President Reagan, of course, did more than any other person to entrench the Republican reputation for toughness on national security.

Over the years, Western governments have been criticized for working with foreign police who have proved abusive or corrupt.

I happen to miss the Constitution; I thought it was a good document.

I'm not sure how anyone with a soul can make jokes about the passing of one of the most talented artists this generation will see.

I was not a rebellious teenager. I was a sit-in-your-room teenager.

I always felt that sci-fi and fantasy were my thing. Bit of a geek, Im afraid. But I like creating worlds, and I felt it was a genre that gave me more freedom. It just seemed like I belonged there.

I was born in 1991, and Harry Potter came out in 97, so, you know, I was really obsessed. I used to read them in one night.