You have to come in and be that character when you walk into the room. That's what one of my first acting teachers taught me. You know don't go in there being Jennifer and then expect to flip and change because they're not going to have that imagination.

Girls are taught to sing high and pretty like Antony not low and from the guts like Nina Simone. But we're slowly trying to change that. There are so many things we're not told growing up and it's our true feminist responsibility to take the truth to the people who need to hear it.

We think that democracy can change a lot of things but we're being fooled because democracy is not the election. We've been taught that democracy is having elections. And it isn't. Elections are the most horrendous aspect of democracy. It's the most mundane trivial disappointing dirty aspect.

We are taught you must blame your father your sisters your brothers the school the teachers - but never blame yourself. It's never your fault. But it's always your fault because if you wanted to change you're the one who has got to change.

I was brought up in a car family my dad loved cars and I was taught the art of making an Austin 7 operate.

My first car was an '84 Ford Taurus. It caught on fire from me trying to change the fuel pump so that wasn't good at all. Dried leaves on the ground while I was trying to change the fuel pump. Don't do that. Do it on concrete.

The idea that maybe you don't have to own a car if you only need one occasionally may catch on just like time-sharing caught on in real estate.

I'm lucky because my dad taught me to be frugal and save. And that's important because I want to know that I don't have to take an acting job for two or three years if I don't want to and that I'll still be able to make my house and car payments and buy food for my dogs.

My daughter Lila loves the smell of gasoline - she always says 'Mummy keep the door open ' when I'm filling up the car. I've heard it is one of the most preferred scents in the world - maybe that's something to study for my next fragrance!

Writing fiction is for me a fraught business an occasion of daily dread for at least the first half of the novel and sometimes all the way through. The work process is totally different from writing nonfiction. You have to sit down every day and make it up.

In the NFL a lot of times everyone gets caught up in the business side of things. For them it's all about money and it really leaves a sour taste in your mouth.

A guy named Charlie Beacham was my first mentor at Ford. He taught me the importance of the dealers and he rubbed my nose in the retail business.

Negro banks as a rule have failed because the people taught that their own pioneers in business cannot function in this sphere withdrew their deposits.

If you like a person you say 'let's go into business together.' Man is a social animal after all but such partnerships are fraught with danger.

Creative people don't behave very well generally. If you're looking for examples of good relationships in show business you're gonna be depressed real fast. I don't have time for anything else right now but work and my daughter. She's my first priority.

At her birthday my seven-year-old daughter will say that she wants these big cakes and certain expensive toys as presents and I can't say no to her. It would just break my heart. But when I was little for birthdays we just played outside and we were happy if we got any cake.

With my daughter we do arts and crafts we read a lot we listen to music and we cut the strings off balloons and bounce them around after birthday parties.

Every day every birthday candle I blow out every penny I throw over my shoulder in a wishing well every time my daughter says 'Let's make a wish on a star ' there's one thing I wish for: wisdom.

Laughter is the best medicine - unless you're diabetic then insulin comes pretty high on the list.

Laughter is not a bad beginning for a friendship and it is the best ending for one.

The things we know best are the things we haven't been taught.

Experience taught me a few things. One is to listen to your gut no matter how good something sounds on paper. The second is that you're generally better off sticking with what you know. And the third is that sometimes your best investments are the ones you don't make.

I've always taught that a poor economy is the best opportunity for salespeople because the naysayers and grumblers have already given up leaving more territory more opportunities to be successful than in a good economy when virtually all salespeople are out there giving it their best.

Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship and it is far the best ending for one.