I'm 37 and I was told recently I was too old to play the lover of a man who was 55. It was astonishing to me. It made me feel bad, and then it made me feel angry, and then it made me laugh.

What I think is new is the wealth of roles for actual women in television and in film. That's what I think is revolutionary and evolutionary.

Having an education is invaluable.

I want roles that challenge people to question where they are in life.

Honestly, I'm always aware of the political implications of the movies that I make.

I have a couple of girlfriends who are like healing. We take care of each other. They know when I need to be taken care of.

I find myself more and more interested only in roles which move the world forward.

Being a mother has absolutely forced me. You have to write things down and have systems for all of it. And then you set up systems and you realize they don't work.

To get people emotionally involved in something intellectual and political is important.

A lot of actresses are doing incredible work right now, playing real women, complicated women. I don't feel despairing at all. And I'm more looking with hope for something fascinating.

A big part of being an actress specifically is feeling entitled to your artistic opinion, feeling that it means something, and being able to stand by it.

Being insulted again and again it doesn't mean that you haven't self respect. It means that you value someone most.

Danni was his reward for all the bullshit he'd gone through, the torture, the anger, hatred and the bitter loneliness. She was going to be the band-aid for his torturedsoul.

No people are more conceited than those who depict their own feelings, especially if they happen to have a little prose at their command for the occasion.

He felt that he was still groping in the dark; he had chosen his path but kept looking back, wondering whether he had misread the signs, whether he should not have taken the other way.

A prepared person will always have his opportunity.

You will never rise above the image you have of yourself in your own mind.

It is possible that people need to believe they are unmanaged if they are to be managed effectively.

I care deeply about opportunity and fairness, because I grew up really poor.

Everyone is interesting. Everyone has something unexpected to offer and the job of acting is to pull it out of each other.

And I wonder if there is really any point to what I'm doing, or what I'm supposed to make of a world where a man can get rich playing "let's pretend