In the '50s, too many women, even though they were very smart, they tried to make the man feel that he was brainier. It was a sad thing.

Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.

Reading is the key that opens doors to many good things in life. Reading shaped my dreams, and more reading helped me make my dreams come true.

Anger, resentment, envy, and self-pity are wasteful reactions. They greatly drain one's time. They sap energy better devoted to productive endeavors.

We should learn ... to do our best for the sake of our communities and for the sake of those for whom we pave the way.

My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent.

Women's rights are an essential part of the overall human rights agenda, trained on the equal dignity and ability to live in freedom all people should enjoy.

If there was one decision I would overrule, it would be Citizens United. I think the notion that we have all the democracy that money can buy strays so far from what our democracy is supposed to be.

Sometimes people say unkind or thoughtless things, and when they do, it is best to be a little hard of hearing — to tune out and not snap back in anger or impatience.

The emphasis must be not on the right to abortion but on the right to privacy and reproductive control.

Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don't want to have too many of.

To be human is to be broken and broken is its own kind of beautiful.

I can't imagine that I would have been cast in the role, without Jamie Lee giving me a thumbs up.

Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre.

Advertising is what you do when you can't go see somebody. That's all it is.

No matter what federal program one selects - Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the drug war, the income tax and the IRS, education, foreign interventions and wars - they are all a giant mess.

Any attempts at autobiography before the age of eighty seem pretty self-involved to me. There are a lot of smart middle aged people but not many wise ones.

So I'd be quite happy to have a three-hour Lincoln/Douglas style debate with Barack Obama. I'd let him use a teleprompter. I'll just rely on knowledge. We'll do fine.

You can't work on that scale without trust. I learned that from working with Robert Mapplethorpe.

Never let an impossible situation intimidate you. Let it motivate you - to pray more, trust more, expect more.

I'm a really good swimmer.