I took on cancer like I take on everything - like a mission and a job to accomplish.

I seize all opportunities with two hands. Everything that's happened to me has taught me to live in the moment as much as possible.

I wanted to become an artist because it meant endless possibilities. Art was a way of reinventing myself.

I often joke that I straddle psychosis and neurosis, and that being an artist keeps me in the middle, so I can work between the two.

I love karaoke. I love maudlin country ballads. In another life I'd be Loretta Lynn.

I find that I put my body in my work when I am at a particularly difficult or joyous point because I want to feel that moment.

In my life, I've never really listened to when people start forming opinions on how you should be doing things.

I never thought of having cancer as something that was unfair. I just braced myself and tried to get through it.

I've made lots of big decisions in my life that have shocked people.

I've always lived my life fearlessly, and what I want to do with my life, I do.

Daniel Day-Lewis is one of the greatest actors of our age; he's like Olivier. He's one of those people who can take you into a place where no one else can take you.

Childish certainty that nothing could get him while under the covers wasn't much comfort, but it was a start.

True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power.

I believe everyone is born into the world to do something unique and distinctive.

The degradation, the wrongs, the vices, that grow out of slavery, are more than I can describe. They are greater than you would willingly believe.

The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision.

Worry is a dividend paid to disaster before it is due

It was always about the story rather than the character.

Never regret something, because at one point everything you did was exactly what you wanted to do. And sometimes that's the hardest thing to realize.

Perhaps there was a correlation between taking prayer and Bible study out of schools, and what has happened in our society.

My mother made a brilliant impression upon my childhood life. She shone for me like the evening star.