Music breaks my heart constantly.

I'm lucky because I have so many clashing cultural, racial things going on: black, Jewish, Irish, Portuguese, Cherokee. I can float and be part of any community I want.

Smiling is definitely one of the best beauty remedies

Smiling is definitely one of the best beauty remedies. If you have a good sense of humor and a good approach to life, that's beautiful.

I have six brothers and sisters. We all look totally different: blonde hair, curly hair, green eyes, dark eyes, dark skin, light skin. It's just how it is.

It's downright undignified how many blazers I've bought over the years. And will continue to buy. They immediately give shape and add authority. With the perfect blazer, anything is possible.

Fail fast. Fail often... The most talented people in the world have bad ideas. That's a good thing to learn.

I don't think any other emotion is the equivalent of laughter. So I do whatever I can to laugh all the time and to hide my pain.

I was like, 'Oh, my God, girls are so pretty and soft. No stubble burn! What am I doing with guys?' [I] haven't dipped back since, but I was very appreciative of the experience.

People don't believe this, but Hollywood really is a meritocracy.

You can never stop discovering music.

People believe the only alternative to randomness is intelligent design.

I think the hardest part of being a working mom is that I miss my kids a lot.

All movies in China are censored. Out of 600 movies produced in China, only 60 are allowed to show in theatres.

We all know the leopard can't change his stripes.

I just got a body wave because I wanted it to look good when it was down.

The destiny of the colored American ... is the destiny of America.

I am a big fan of music in terms of storytelling device.

Who is one's audience, the spiritually hostile professional art world or one's visually insensitive Christian neighbour?

I'm predisposed to think that as a people, we're hardwired to understand things through the telling of stories. I think that as human beings it's part of who we are.

She is our moon. Our tidal pull. She is the rich deep beneath the sea, the buried treasure, the expression in the owl's eye, the perfume in the wild rose. She is what the water says when it moves.