I do it because I want to exercise people's compassion and I do it because I really believe that for some reason what I do is important and meaningful.

After 14 years, it better be a real marriage, you know? We do have a great time together. We are really lucky.

Hollywood is sexist and age-ist, and that covers all the bases, I guess.

I don't know if you're married, but sometimes there are times where one is really together with their partner. And then there are times when you're both just in your own thing, but you're there together.

While it is challenging working with a kid, because they're so of the moment all the time. My acting style is to try to take something from my life that the character can relate to and that I can relate the character to.

I do it because I want to exercise people's compassion and I do it because I really believe that for some reason what I do is important and meaningful.

I think in this movie, every time I see his work, I'm blown away by it because he, to me, he really embodied the character so powerfully and so real, so truthfully to me.

I was very young when we got married and I don't know why it worked out like it did or how I was smart enough to know that this was the right guy, but somehow I got lucky.

Sometimes when you do a part, the wall between you and the characters can be very porous. You can sort of move in and out of your character's persona and being. And that just couldn't happen on this one because of working with him.

I've always been able to let stuff go when I'm done with work.

I feel my job as an actor is to explore all sides of humanity.

It's that I'm 39. I feel hot and sexy, actually... I feel it inside myself. I don't feel dried up and tired and no longer interested in sex is what I'm trying to say.

Whether it be in a small movie or a big movie, I would always be attracted to this role.

Hollywood movies are run on fear and they don't want to make bold choices. They, generally, speaking want to keep things status quo. That's not really interesting for me.

I think it's important to do great work.

I do know that I have to work hard for every single thing that I get, really hard, and that's okay.

Ultimately, you know, I'm a grown-up, I've been in this business a long time. I've got kids. I've got to do my stuff. But I also need to keep it there so I can bring it up again the next day at work or whatever.

I have too much respect for the characters I play to make them anything but as real as they can possibly be. I have a great deal of respect for all of them, otherwise I wouldn't do them. And I don't want to screw them by not portraying them honestly.

You know, I grew up with brothers so I'm used to being the only girl.

Shame is such an intense emotion. It just can drive you.

We do spend time talking about it and we puzzle through it together. We ride the roller coasters together - the high highs and the low lows.

He put a ring in the toe of a stocking. On Christmas Eve, we opened our stockings and it was there at the bottom of the toe. Then he got down on his knees and he was shaking.

Some of the best roles are for women in these independent, smaller movies.

It's not that I don't see myself as hot and sexy. Don't get me wrong. No, it's not that.

I think that certainly my choices empower me.

I can't get hired in a studio movie. Everything is so uphill.

I think it's important to do smaller films because I think that's where a lot of new things are happening.

It's easier in some ways being on the life raft and the other guy's in the boat and you can row alongside and be supportive. In some ways, that's an easier role.

Also everyone's hearts are in the right place when you do a small movie. You're not doing it for the money; you're not doing it for the possibility of an Oscar nomination. You are doing it because you love the material.

But when you're in something together, it's very hard to be objective and you're very subjective.

It's not always thankless. Let's face it - it's not always thankless. I've gotten a lot of really great recognition and I've worked with amazing people.

The final causes, then, of compassion are to prevent and to relieve misery.

The super power that I would choose would be compassion. Because that's what I think it takes to make it through life-an understanding, a give and take. It saves an awful lot of resentment.

Something called 'the Oklahoma Standard' became known throughout the world. It means resilience in the face of adversity. It means a strength and compassion that will not be defeated.

At the end of the day, love and compassion will win.

The law has no compassion. And justice is administered without compassion.

If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.

Bush promised a foreign policy of humility and a domestic policy of compassion. He has given us a foreign policy of arrogance and a domestic policy that is cynical, myopic and cruel.

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

Mama was my greatest teacher, a teacher of compassion, love and fearlessness. If love is sweet as a flower, then my mother is that sweet flower of love.

You can do and use the skills that you have. The schools need you. The teachers need you. Students and parents need you. They need your actual person: your physical personhood and your open minds and open ears and boundless compassion, sitting next to them, listening and nodding and asking questions for hours at a time.

Happiness and peace will come to earth only as the light of love and human compassion enter the souls of men.

I am so proud of Michigan's citizens for the kindness and generosity they have shown in assisting in this endeavor. It is truly heartwarming to see the compassion shown for those in need.

Some people are filled by compassion and a desire to do good, and some simply don't think anything's going to make a difference.

Compassion brings us to a stop, and for a moment we rise above ourselves.

What President Bush has done speaks more than words about his feeling of compassion and commitment to people.

Human it is to have compassion on the unhappy.

No, you're not allowed to be bossy when you're married. You have to learn compromise, and compassion and patience.