Don't think for one minute, whoever you are, that you're not important. You're so vitally important to stand up and be heard and do what it is you do.

Quit thinking about your weight and start thinking about your worth and who you are and what you haven't done yet. What you want to accomplish.

I don't know what happiness is. I have periods of feeling joyous and peaceful and excited about what I'm doing, but I am also frequently very sad.

Motherhood is given the brush-off in our society. 'Oh, I'm just a mom,' you hear women say. 'Just' a mom? Please! Being a mom is everything. It's mentorship, it's inspirational, it's our hope for the future.

Had there not been a Mary Todd, there would not have been an Abraham Lincoln. She found him when he was a young lawyer and really a bumpkin. No one knew of him, but she recognized his brilliance.

The whole world is waiting. The whole world needs you.

To watch how lovingly your children parent their own children is to know profound achievement.

I MUST go to what desperately frightens me - the chance of failure.

People really don't understand what actors do.

In the 1970s and 1980s, I got to do some great work. The Oscars are really nice, but the best part is that I had the opportunity to do that kind of work.

The only thing that matters to me is getting to the work - getting to do the work. And I don't really care where it is: whether it's on stage or on television or in film.

I haven't had an orthodox career.

You can't help but feel all the human-rights issues.

I've done some good work and some not-good work.

I'm looking for a bunch of new tchotchkes that represent the new part of my life.

You know, people really don't understand what actors do.

The opportunities I've had to play really complex characters - which haven't been a lot, but some - you never get over them.

The Oscars are really nice, but the best part is that I had the opportunity to do that kind of work.

I always wanted to be a great actor.

I wanted to be Katharine Hepburn-ish - there was a bit of nobility about her.

I've had such an odd career.

I had to let my ego go a long time ago.

I mean, the only thing that matters to me is getting to the work - getting to do the work. And I don't really care where it is: whether it's on stage or on television or in film.

I did comedies for 10 years and I learned a great deal.

Never, ever, have I felt really accepted in Hollywood.

'Forrest Gump' is filled full of moments where your heart just cheers.

There are not a lot of places for an actor to explore what it's like to be a woman in her 60s. There aren't any films about it and there very few TV series about it.

When you're old, you are more certain of who you are, and that may be a good thing or a bad thing.

There was really a snobbery from people in film - they did not want people who had come from television. It was the poor relation of show business, and especially situation comedy.

There are parts of me that I feel are beautiful, but they don't have anything to do with my nose.

My last son is leaving to go to college; my grandchildren are being born. My mother is living with me.

If I hadn't fought back, I might have been Gidget forever.

I've never had my heart broken. It's a very sad state of affairs. I think everybody should have their heart broken. I don't think it says anything good about me at all.

I'm so vigorous, and I so take it for granted, because I've always been a real physical person.

I was just lucky enough to grow up in a time when they actually had drama departments in schools.

I think the first thing I did was several scenes from Romeo and Juliet.

I really have no ulterior motive in taking on certain roles. I have no larger issue that I really want to show people. I'm an actor, that's all. I just do what I do.

I never really address myself to any image anybody has of me. That's like fighting with ghosts.

I joined the Actors Studio and began to work with Lee Strasberg, and that changed my work.

I have never been beautiful in cliche terms.

I came from a real working-class show business family.

I wouldn't mind having my heart broken because it would mean that I had that much feeling connected to somebody. And that would be really great.

The roles... the deep roles that I've gotten to play have turned my course. They've changed my life experience.

Last year I was diagnosed with osteoporosis. I was over 50, Caucasian, thin, small-framed, and I have it in my genetic history. It was almost a slam-dunk.

I would take plays and I would cut out all the other dialogue and make long monologues because I felt the other kids weren't taking it as seriously as I did.

I was raised to sense what someone wanted me to be and be that kind of person. It took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else's eyes.

But there isn't any second half of myself waiting to plug in and make me whole. It's there. I'm already whole.

You lose your habitual behavior, which allowed you to sort of zone out. You have to be here, you have to be now, you have to be present.

My agent said, 'You aren't good enough for movies.' I said, 'You're fired.'

I grew up in a show-business family, but we were working-class show business. There was nothing glamorous about it. You had great things one day and the next day, nothing.