You can't take responsibility for everything. You can't have that kind of control. At some point, it's all out of our hands.

I'm still the little southern girl from the wrong side of the tracks who really didn't feel like she belonged.

Fear is a pair of handcuffs on your soul.

You just sort of let them go for a while, but it was time to have something done to my teeth. I'm glad. It's going to be good. Tom Cruise has braces now, too. I'm right in style.

You are not an extra in somebody else's film. You are the star in your own life.

I am desperate and vulnerable. ... I am always terrified.... Beauty can sometimes be so very troublesome.

Success is a relative quotient, and fame can be ephemeral. An Oscar is something that becomes a part of your record, a tangible acknowledgement that your efforts have made a difference.

So many people are called but few serve as actors, you know what I mean?

I often say the last role I played that really touched me and where I was able to access what I really am was Bonnie, which is kind of sad when you think how early in my career that was.

Years are not important, my dear.

I still have, I hope, a lot of years and there are still a lot of things I want to do.

To judge a man means nothing other than to ask: What content does he give to the form of humanity? What concept should we have of humanity if he were its only representative?

It is doubtful that real personal change can occur without the conscious and painful process of self-criticism that is required to reject power and ego.

I am going to the USA to catch sight of a wild porcupine and to give some lectures.

No writer need feel sorry for himself if he writes and enjoys the writing, even if he doesn’t get paid for it.

My own mind is my own church.

Don't worry about not fitting in. The things that make people think you're weird are what makes you you, and therefore your greatest strength.

Research, though toilsome, is easy; imagination, though delightful, is difficult.

I never thought of myself as a writer.

I am comforted by the assurance that there will be beautiful music in heaven, and for that I am most grateful.

I think the pop chart today is entirely market-driven. And it has nothing to do with public taste. And it has nothing to do with moving music forward. It's simply a market chart.