"I can take any truth; just don't lie to me."

"A man who graduated high in his class at Yale Law School and made partnership in a top law firm would be celebrated. A man who invested wisely would be admired, but a woman who accomplishes this is treated with suspicion."

"To have ego means to believe in your own strength. And to also be open to other people's views. It is to be open, not closed. So, yes, my ego is big, but it's also very small in some areas. My ego is responsible for my doing what I do - bad or good."

"I arrived in Hollywood without having my nose fixed, my teeth capped, or my name changed. That is very gratifying to me."

"There's a part of you that always remains a child, no matter how mature you get, how sophisticated or weary."

"There is nothing more important in life than love."

"I love things that are indescribable, like the taste of an avocado or the smell of a gardenia."

"I don't care what you say about me. Just be sure to spell my name wrong."

"I knew that with a mouth like mine, I just hadda be a star or something."

"Nobody on this earth has the right to tell anyone that their love for another human being is morally wrong."

"I love road trips! My husband and I love that. We bought a truck with a bench seat so we could put the dog in the middle."

"My biggest nightmare is I'm driving home and get sick and go to hospital. I say: 'Please help me.' And the people say: 'Hey, you look like...' And I'm dying while they're wondering whether I'm Barbra Streisand."

"I only began to sing because I couldn't get a job as an actress."

"I must have got my detailed, obsessive streak from my father, who was an English teacher, because my mother wasn't like me at all."

"The audience is the best judge of anything. They cannot be lied to. Truth brings them closer. A moment that lags - they're gonna cough."

"It is every woman's dream to be some man's dream woman."

"I hated singing. I wanted to be an actress. But I don't think I'd have made it any other way."

"What does it mean when people applaud? Should I give 'em money? Say thank you? Lift my dress? The lack of applause - that I can respond to."

"When I was maybe 5 or 6 years old, the neighborhood girls would sit on the stoop and sing. I was known as the kid who had a good voice and no father."

"I think when I was younger, I wanted to be a star, until I became a star, and then it's a lot of work. It's work to be a star. I don't enjoy the stardom part. I only enjoy the creative process."

"I think of myself as a girl from Brooklyn."

"I remember when I was 5 living on Pulaski Street in Brooklyn, the hallway of our building had a brass banister and a great sound, a great echo system. I used to sing in the hallway."

"They're called 'angels' because they're in heaven until the reviews come out."

"Around people I don't know, I'm totally at a loss."

"Success to me is having ten honeydew melons and eating only the top half of each slice."

"I don't enjoy public performances and being up on a stage. I don't enjoy the glamour. Like tonight, I am up on stage and my feet hurt."

"I always wear the same thing at home. I can't be bothered with jewelry. My pants have elastic waists. I like to be comfortable. There are so many more important things to worry about."

"If I hear a record once, I usually never listen to it again. I rarely listen to music - unless it's Billie Holiday."

"Sometimes you resent the people you love and need the most. Love is so fascinating in all its forms, and I think everyone who has ever been a mother will relate to this."

"I don't like talking about myself and I don't like talking about the work."

"On a very basic level, many people think celebrities have too much already, so we shouldn't be entitled to our political opinions."

"Directing is so interesting. You know, it just sort of encompasses everything that you see, that you know, that you've felt, that you have observed."

"I'm not that ambitious any more. I just like my privacy. I wish I really wasn't talked about at all."

"Marlon Brando. The finest actor who ever lived. He was my idol when I was 13. He's done enough work to last two lifetimes. Everything I do, I think: Can Brando play this with me?"

"Why is it men are permitted to be obsessed about their work, but women are only permitted to be obsessed about men?"

"My mother never really thought I could become anything."

"I got sent to a health camp when I was about 6 years old, and we all had to wear the same starchy blue uniform. The lady who took care of me after school knit me a burgundy sweater. It was the only thing that gave me any individuality."

"I'll see a celadon green room in an 18th century New Hampshire house and just fall in love. Colors stay in my head."

"I do have friends that are Republicans, and we have very spirited conversations on a whole range of issues. I am often baffled by why they are Republicans, but I enjoy the dialogue and can move beyond politics to find common ground in my personal relationships."

"I was raised on the streets, in hot, steamy Brooklyn, with stifled air."

"I don't read music. Not even essentially. Not even nonessentially."

"When I was working a lot, I felt guilty as a parent. I couldn't pick up my son every day from school, bake him cookies and that kind of thing."

"Most awards, you know, they don't give you unless you go and get them - did you know that? Terribly discouraging."

"I'm tired of malicious articles slandering me."

"Why am I so famous? What am I doing right? What are the others doing wrong?"

"I'd started going to acting classes at 14, played 'Medea' at 15 and really wanted to be a classical actress."

"Performing, for me, has always been a very inner process."

"I still like my antique clothes."

"I'm interested in the truth, and unauthorized biographies are not. Yes, I would like to correct those errors someday."

"I also have intense relationships with furniture... probably because we practically had none when I was growing up."