It was also wonderful to have the prospect of playing with Jack Nicholson. It was a terrific part, a terrific script, with Alexander Payne and Jack Nicholson. You can't get any better than that!

The Oscar changed everything. Better salary, working with better people, better projects, more exposure, less privacy.

It was also wonderful to have the prospect of playing with Jack Nicholson. It was a terrific part, a terrific script, with Alexander Payne and Jack Nicholson. You can't get any better than that!

Jack made it very comfortable for me on the set. We'd met socially before but never worked together. You know, he's very professional, very disciplined and he's always prepared and knows his lines.

Alexander Payne's very specific. His scripts are always complete when you start working on them.

I try to always stretch myself to fit the characters that have been presented.

I look for a role that hopefully I feel empathy with and that I can understand and love, but also that has that challenge for me to play - a different kind of role, a different type of character, a different time period.

I think that being in an environment is a much richer experience than just working on a soundstage.

Every time an Oscar is given out, an agent gets his wings.

After winning the Oscar, I was committed to do 'Fried Green Tomatoes,' but I didn't know what the next thing would be after that. It was a scary time. But the advantage of TV is the regular work. All you need is a hit series, I guess.

And people are always saying: 'Well, you go to Hollywood and you get yourself a film career or a TV series, and then you can do anything you want. Because then you've got the clout.' That had always sounded like a lot of hooey to me, but now I think it's true, unfortunately.

Drama comes more naturally to me. It's the comedy you really have to delve into.

For a long time I did not want to do television because I did not want to get stuck playing the same person. I wanted the ongoing challenge of a variety of roles.

I have always had a problem with my weight.

I have to pay the bills just like everybody else, but it also pays my soul to work.

I haven't talked much about being an ovarian cancer survivor because I don't really want to define myself that way.

I hope I look skinnier in 3D. I hope I don't look three times as fat. That'll be disappointing.

I want to be defined by my own essence.

I was never an ingenue. I've always just been a character actor. When I was younger, it was a real problem, because I was never pretty enough. It was hard, not just for the lack of work, but because you have to face up to how people are looking at you.

I went from years of honing my craft to sudden recognition. It was quite a life changer.

I'm not a stunning woman.

I'm not that conservative. I do feel - I guess I'm more of a Democrat at heart, although I've never affiliated myself with a particular party.

I'm very lucky to be able to do what I love to do, and I hope I can keep doing it for a while.

My mother used to tell this corny story about how the doctor smacked me on the behind when I was born and I thought it was applause, and I have been looking for it ever since.

The roles I was lucky enough to get were real stretches for me: usually a character who was older, or a little weird, or whatever. And it was hard, not just for the lack of work but because you have to face up to how people are looking at you.

Vanity is a vital aid to nature: completely and absolutely necessary to life. It is one of nature's ways to bind you to the earth.

You have to want to be in the company of those you're making films about.

I don't sit down and relax very much. I don't desire to.

The fear of being deceived is the vulgar version of the quest for Truth.

Good schools underpin not only our economy, but the social fabric of our lives.

With our divine connection we are always in touch with the solutions we are seeking.

My father wasn't too crazy about me. I loved him anyway. One of the things I regretted for a long time was that he died before he could see that he would be proud of me. I was actually more what he wished for than he thought.

Everyone knows a lot about me without actually knowing me at all.

Courage is a special kind of knowledge: the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared and how not to fear what ought no to be feared.

I have a pathological fear of being on my own. When I'm with my own thoughts, I start to unravel myself, and I start to think really dark thoughts, self-destructive thoughts.

It seems inevitable that the magic of the written word will fade.

As humanity goes online, it's becoming an extremely advanced, large-scale processing unit.

First you learn a new language, profanity; and second you learn not to discipline your dogs when you're mad, and that's most of the time when you're training dogs.

I think if you set yourself specific goals, that's quite a lot of pressure.

I never want people to feel like they aren't gay enough or straight enough. It's about what's in your heart.

It is easier to know men in general, than men in particular.

Take pride in your work at all times. Remember, respect for an umpire is created off the field as well as on.

A long iron rod rocketed straight through the very forefront of Phineas Gage's brain. It's kind of an unusual part of the brain: you can suffer pretty severe injuries to it and often walk away from the injury. It's not a part of the brain that's necessarily vital for your biological self. But it is very important for personality.

I've always believed the mission is greater than the man.

The leads are often the boring part.

Hands up if you're ready to do something you'll regret this weekend. Go forth! You have my blessing.

Lipstick is always in, whether it's matte, creamy, glossy, and so on.

It's hard being on a new network, a smaller network.

When I was young my Father used to tell me that the two most worthwhile pursuits in life were the pursuit of truth and of beauty and I believe that Alfred Nobel must have felt much the same when he gave these prizes for literature and the sciences.