I think growing up in a big family taught me a lot of problem solving and how to share and compromise, and that's been helpful in my marriage.

People always assume that I'm some sort of party girl, and that's such a misconception because I like staying home.

People should dress the way they want. Any rules for age or shape are silly.

If you're in a series, you can't quit, you can't work in the theatre and you can't do a movie when you like.

If you have a child, you're improvising with rules all day long, and some of them are total lies.

Graham Norton makes me laugh. I love him. I'm not kidding. I watch him on BBC America every week. He's so fast.

It was very flattering when Manolo Blahnik named a shoe after me.

I believe in God, but in my own unconventional way. We're not affiliated with any organisation, and I have no religious education of any kind, but I definitely have my own kind of ideas about it.

There are occasions that I love to be fashionable and enjoy, you know? But the work day of a mother doesn't include a hair making team or any consideration of your shoe.

I love Jennifer Hudson! She is so lovely on screen. She is so buoyant and youthful off screen as much as on.

My mother was a master juggler. If you ask her, she'll say she was a wreck. There's plenty of screaming that went on in the house, but I think it was necessary just to be heard. There were eight children!

I wanted a family, but before I had a family, I was a career person. I've tried to marry those two things, and sometimes it is successful, and sometimes it is not.

I cringe inside when anybody gives me something. I don't know why. I just get embarrassed.

What I've learned about being a parent is how much you sort of secretly learn from everyone else and how valuable it is.

I don't know how an actress is supposed to observe and create new stuff if she hasn't been on the streets, brushing up against humanity. You have to have a life.

Most of my friends in New York are single women or gay men.

I don't believe in email. I'm an old-fashioned girl. I prefer calling and hanging up.

In a relationship, when does the art of compromise become compromising?

To be in a couple, do you have to put your single self on a shelf?

I write about sex, not love. What do I know about love?

If two people have only one thought between them, something is very wrong.

Do we need distance to get close?

Balls are to men what purses are to women.

Can you make a mistake and miss your fate?

My dream was to be a working actress that would be working in theater.

I still like getting dressed up and having the opportunity to borrow beautiful dresses, but as a mother - and as somebody who's schedule isn't always my own - I don't shop a lot, or think about clothes a lot.

The beautiful thing about New York is, you have to expose yourself to other people the minute you step outside the door. There is no choice. And I love that.

You can't live in New York City and be the most important person in town; you just can't. There are too many other important people here.

I do wait in line, and I do take the subway, and I do my own grocery shopping, and I do take the kids to school. But it almost doesn't matter to a certain segment of the populace.

We all live in a time where we're supposed to have choices and how do we wrangle that and how do we make the best choices for ourselves and our families. It has nothing to do with feminism.

One of the things that's great about New York is that it is not a one-industry town. It has education, academia, the service industry, arts, publishing, theater, politics, fashion, finance, as well as movie-making.

I love, love, love being an actor - it's still the hardest and scariest thing I do, outside of parenting. But I've always been someone who likes a busy day.

We didn't have a lot when I was growing up, and it's the best thing that happened to me because I appreciate everything. I developed a strong work ethic, and I don't take anything for granted.

So we strive for perfection in the areas in which we can control, and that isn't necessarily what provides contentment and joy for ourselves and, more importantly, for our children.

And if you are a parent, introduce your children to their neighborhood library. It will give them a real sense of independence to have their own library card and enjoy borrowing books.

When I go to a premiere I like to borrow lovely clothes and shoes from designers. It's like the library: if you return them in good condition, you get to borrow more. I'm very lucky.

When real people fall down in life, they get right back up and keep walking.

I like my money right where I can see it... hanging in my closet.

When men attempt bold gestures, generally it's considered romantic. When women do it, it's often considered desperate or psycho.

Follow your instincts and do not let other people's opinion of you become your opinion of yourself.

You can't be friends with a squirrel! A squirrel is just a rat with a cuter outfit.

I don't judge others. I say if you feel good with what you're doing, let your freak flag fly.

It's like the riddle of the Sphinx... why are there so many great unmarried women, and no great unmarried men?

I developed a really strong work ethic, and I don't take anything for granted.

A squirrel is just a rat with a cuter outfit!

My job requires me to put on a little dress and run around the streets of New York in heels. But I also had the financial means to hire a yoga teacher to come to my house while my sitter watched the newborn. For 95 percent of the world, that's not realistic.

As a woman, I have an inherent need to be all things to all people, to make certain everybody's taken care of. I know I can't sustain that level all the time, so I'm finding the proper balance and it's made me infinitely happier.

I'm very, very concerned about the Bush presidency. I'm worried about the kinds of cuts in domestic programs that mean something to a lot of people, including members of my family, who depend on certain things from the government.

I remember when I came home from the hospital after having my son, I wore a Narciso Rodriguez black coat. Then, I was using this fragrance that I had created. I walk by that coat, and it still smells like that fragrance. It takes you right there.

I love Matthew Broderick. Call me crazy, but I love him. We can only be in the marriage we are. We're very devoted to our family and our lives. I love our life. I love that he's the father of my children, and it's because of him that there's this whole other world that I love.