I've watched those shows my whole life - being on one is like a dream. It's hard to balance that dream with the fact that this is the Edie I've known my whole life.

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

Poets speak of hope in ladies smiles, but give me a smirk any day, I say.

An art book is a museum without walls.

Don't live so that your children go unled because of habits that leave you uninspired.

More than any other factor, it is the people we have to deal with that determine the quality of our work lives.

Doctors think a lot of patients are cured who have simply quit in disgust.

The river is everywhere at the same time . . . everywhere and the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past, nor the shadow of the future.

Faith does not contradict reason. Faith exceeds reason.

It drives me crazy when people say, "All we're trying to do is create entertainment." I feel like people go to movies for more than that.

Lets just say that I think any person who aspires, presumes, or feels the calling to be an artist has a built-in sense of duty.

That quality is what makes women great collaborators; we understand it's a team effort. Even if it comes from society telling us to be polite.