I really am profoundly grateful just in general in my life. I've had an embarrassing amount of good fortune.

Obviously, it wasn't meant for me to die of cancer at 40. Every day my life surprises me, just like my cancer diagnosis surprised me. But you roll with it. That's our job as humans.

The common misconception is that as an actress you have to learn what you're doing. No, you just have to make the audience think you've learned it.

I'm an old-school, embarrassing Joni Mitchell fan. Her music made a hook in my soul and hasn't let go for all these years. I even sing her songs as lullabies to my kids.

I don't have examples in my life of people who are all good or bad; I have deeply loved many people who are both, and I relate to those kinds of people on a far greater level.

But I've always been hard to cast, I've never been an ingenue, I've never been the romantic lead. I'm an actor; give me the script and I do what I do and hope it's good.

I was a young kid from Long Island who wanted to do something large with her life, so I can relate to that.

I've never been all that interested or aware of what people are thinking about me or saying about me. I think that has kept me safest and sanest.

One of the ways I think I gain fodder for characters is by watching people.

I sort of love reading the scripts and going, 'Oh wow, what a great idea. I never would have thought of that.

All I ever wanted to do was act. And pay my bills

Light in comparison with darkness is a void.

Leo Strauss's discoveries in the history of political philosophy had the effect of liberating his students from the yoke of contemporary thought.

The person who floated the axe with a stick is in charge of my affairs, so marvel not.

Paradoxes are less paradoxical in their reference to truth than most of the most plausible axioms.

We never repent of having eaten too little.

No matter where you stand politically - even if you're unsure of what your political ideology is - it is important to take part in the process of shaping our government.

The only Virgos left in the world are people like you who were born in August.

We never forget those who make us blush.

People tend to become cynical about even the most appalling crisis if it seems to be dragging on, failing to come to term.

A small number of choice books are sufficient.