I had an existential crisis at the Oscars, sitting next to Sean Penn and Meryl Streep, and being like, 'What am I doing here? I don't belong here'. I felt like it could all be taken away.

I like Cinderella, I really do. She has a good work ethic. I appreciate a good, hard-working gal. And she likes shoes. The fairy tale is all about the shoe at the end, and I'm a big shoe girl.

I come from musical theater, and a lot of musical theater is about accepting fantasy. I think it is more about just being open and accepting.

Find out who you are & embrace it. It's so much easier to face criticism when you are comfortable in your own skin.

That's always been my philosophy: I try to just be as straightforward as possible, and then I don't really have to question what I said or regret anything.

I do believe that you don't have to act like a man to be strong. You can still be feminine.

The illusion of perfection is an illusion anyway.

I find that in life all you can do is try to be honest about who you are and how you're feeling, and trust that it will be received in the correct way.

As an actress people always tease me like: if there's anything you can do to make yourself unattractive you will do it.

A man who's powerful and strong yet is able to show tenderness and vulnerability, that's really sexy.

I was a pretty scrappy, tough kid; I got in all sorts of fights at school. I defended myself - boys didn't mess with me. But as one of seven children, you have to fight for everything anyway.

He took the trolley instead of the bus because it was smoother and he could read on it.

There is not a single dying human being who does not yearn for love, touch, understanding, and whose heart does not break from the withdrawal of those who should be drawing near.

My heart felt like a balloon that was filling too full, and I panicked. I might get the bends, the way scuba divers did when they surfaced too fast.

There is no city in America that has reduced crime as much as we have in the last three years. This is not the product of accident. This is the product of design.

I can't really change my life to accommodate people who are jealous. I don't see why I should.

It is only with distance that we are able to turn our powers of observation on ourselves, thus fashioning stories in which we are characters.

There were people who incorporated melody before me, but I would deem myself the first person to successfully rap and sing.

The minute one utters a certainty, the opposite comes to mind.

In the New Testament, Thomas Jefferson cut out everything that was mystical, magical, miracle - physically with scissors - and then pasted in all that remained, such as Jesus's Sermon on the Mount.

Goodwill is earned by many acts; it can be lost by one.