Anderson Cooper

Our skin is very thin. It doesn't take much for us to jump off a ledge or to kill one another. It can happen very, very quickly.

My dad grew up really poor in Mississippi. I paid attention to that because I thought that's a healthier thing to pay attention to than, like, some statue of a great-great-great grandfather who has no connection to my life.

The whole celebrity culture thing - I'm fascinated by, and repelled by, and yet I end up knowing about it.

I've been addicted to TV since I emerged from the womb.

I am sort of drawn toward places in the world where there is struggle and conflict.

I can begin to understand how anchor monsters are made. If you're not careful, you can become used to being treated as though you're special and begin to expect it.

Most gyms now have TVs. You can prop up reading material on the cardio equipment.

Obviously I was well aware that I had what people consider a privileged upbringing. My mom was never a bake-cookies sort of mom. I really had no reins whatsoever.

From the time I was growing up, if I felt that there was some, like, pot of gold waiting for me, I don't know that I would have been so motivated.

I tend to relate more to people on television who are just themselves, for good or for bad, than I do to someone who I believe is putting on some sort of persona. The anchorman on 'The Simpsons' is a reasonable facsimile of some anchors who have that problem.

That's the thing about suicide. Try as you might to remember how a person lived his life, you always end up thinking about how he ended it.

When a big event happens, people turn on to CNN, not only because they know there will be people there covering an event on the ground, but because they know we're going to cover it in a way that's non-partisan, that's not left or right.

There are some people who are Burger King people, and there are some people who are McDonald's people.

My mother has been famous for longer than anyone else alive.

The fact is, I'm gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn't be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud.

If someone knows me and likes me or my work, they're more likely to allow me to tell their story. But it also cuts the other way.

Who's, like, inherited a lot of money that has gone on to do things in our lives?

Anyone who has experienced a certain amount of loss in their life has empathy for those who have experienced loss.

I wanted to be Amish when I was a kid. You just wear black and white - what could be better? One less thing to worry about.

When my mom turned 91, I wanted to use the time that we have left in our lives to get to know each other as adults.

I've always loved reporting from the field most of all. There's something about doing live TV and being there as it happens that's always appealed to me. I think there's great value to bearing witness to these events as they're actually happening.

I'd like to have kids at some point. I think I'll have a family someday.

To realize that your mother's love life has been far more interesting than one's own is a weird thing to discover.

I think being gay is a blessing, and it's something I am thankful for every single day.

Anyone who says theyre not afraid at the time of a hurricane is either a fool or a liar or a little bit of both.

You might try the gym from time to time. It really is something you can incorporate into your life pretty seamlessly.

Anyone who says they're not afraid at the time of a hurricane is either a fool or a liar, or a little bit of both.

My mom's made it clear to me that, like, there's no trust fund.

A lot of people know the name Gloria Vanderbilt, but they don't really know the whole story behind her, the real person that she is.

Never too late to change your relationship with somebody in your life.

I imagine a lot of people tune in simply to watch reporters get bitch-slapped by Mother Nature, and frankly, who can blame them?

I don't have much experience, but the few times when I would go on a date with a girl - like when I was 12 - there was a lot of sharing, and a lot of talking, and a lot of asking how I am. They thought we were dating, and I was sort of hoping to meet their brothers.

I realized I didn't want there to be anything left unsaid with my mom. I didn't want there to be questions that I still had about who she was and what her life was like. And I didn't want her to have questions about me as an adult.

I'm concerned about heart disease. I've raised money to fight heart disease; my dad died of it.

I think being gay is a blessing, and it’s something I am thankful for every single day.

I suppose if you've never bitten your nails, there isn't any way to explain the habit. It's not enjoyable, really, but there is a certain satisfaction - pride in a job well done.

I have a friend - I send her one text and I get 20 texts back. Guys don't want a million texts. It's exhausting.

When you lose a parent at ten years old, the world seems like a much scarier place. It makes complete sense to me that I took survival courses when I was a teenager and started going to war zones as a reporter. I didn't ever want to be taken advantage of, and I wanted to be able to take care of those around me.

If I'm hip, we've got a problem in this country. I really shouldn't be held up as any model of hipness. If anything, I think I'm sort of old school in my approach to objective reporting and not wearing my opinion on my sleeve. There's a lot of that in American TV news these days. Too much, in fact.

I understand why people might be interested. But I just don't talk about my personal life. It's a decision I made a long time ago, before I ever even knew anyone would be interested in my personal life.

I think you have to be yourself, and you have to be real and you have to admit what you don't know, and talk about what you do know, and talk about what you don't know as long as you say you don't know it.

I've always giggled like a 13-year-old girl at a Justin Bieber meet and greet. There's nothing I can do about it but I've never not been able to stop.

I lose my wallet all the time, and I break my phone all the time.

If I end up hosting 'Joker's Wild,' please shoot me.

Misquoting drives me bananas.

A lot of compelling stories in the world aren't being told, and the fact that people don't know about them compounds the suffering.

If you learn the language of loss early, I think you seek out others who have experienced the same thing, who speak that same language of loss.

In my real life, I wear a T-shirt, gray or white, and the same pair of jeans. Literally, the same pair of jeans every day.

I think it's a good thing that there are bloggers out there watching very closely and holding people accountable. Everyone in the news should be able to hold up to that kind of scrutiny. I'm for as much transparency in the newsgathering process as possible.

I think the notion of traditional anchor is fading away - the all-knowing, all-seeing person who speaks from on high. I don't think the audience really buys that anymore. As a viewer, I know I don't buy it.

The world reacts very strangely to people they see on TV, and I can begin to understand how anchor monsters are made. If you're not careful, you can become used to being treated as though you're special and begin to expect it. For a reporter, that's the kiss of death.

I am boring. I'm fine with boring.

I've never been a Burger King person. I'm a total McDonald's person.

The tide of history only advances when people make themselves fully visible.

When I was younger, I talked to the adults around me that I respected most about how they got where they were, and none of them plotted a course they could have predicted, so it seemed a waste of time to plan too long-term. Since then, I've always gone on my instincts.

Not to sound too Dr. Phil all of a sudden, but I think the key to survival is to embrace one's past and to not run away from it. And to come to some sort of relationship with it or understanding of it.

If you feel like an outsider, you tend to observe things a lot more.