Growing up in an Italian family, you use a harsh tone and 10 minutes later everybody forgets about it.

I was an English major in college, and then I went to graduate school in English at the University of North Carolina for three years.

My job as the mother of daughters is to make sure my children see that every opportunity is available to them.

Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it's less good than the one you had before.

This diagnosis is a reminder that this is the life you've got. And you're not getting another one. Whatever has happened, you have to take this life and treasure and protect it.

It's just a part of our nature to hope.

... all things are possible if you are willing to put yourself on the line. You cannot stand back and hope for the best. You have to act.

You recognize a survivor when you see one. You recognize a fighter when you see one.

A lot of people have great hope, and a lot of people who have great hope live. And, some of them who have great hope die. So it's not that hope is going to save you.

Tabloid news is tabloid news.

We were never a family that had a lot. We had enough, but not a lot.

She may be dressed in black from head to toe, but she is still the brightest thing in my universe.

I'm no longer quite sure what the question is, but I do know that the answer is Yes.

Keep your spirits up, for the demons are scared of salvation.

If my writing comes to a halt, I head to the shops: I find them very inspirational. And if I get into real trouble with my plot, I go out for a pizza with my husband.

I do have an honorary professorship in Poetics from the Vienna Academy of Arts. So I have not gone completely unnoticed

Spread out your petition before God, and then say, "Thy will, not mine, be done." The sweetest lesson I have learned in God's school is to let the Lord choose for me.

Of all the actresses ... to me, only Faye Dunaway has the talent and the class and the courage it takes to make a real star.

I have all my life fought against prejudice, having been subjected to it myself.

I was voted Biggest Ham and Likeliest to Become a Celebrity.

Advance our standards, set upon our foes; Our ancient word of courage, fair Saint George, Inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons!