TV happens. And once it's happened, it's gone. When it's gone, you move on, no tears, no tantrums, no videotape.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you'll have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either of them might run out.

Like many women my age, I am 28 years old.

Reading is a discount ticket to everywhere.

The movies we love and admire are to some extent a function of who we are when we see them.

You can map your life through your favorite movies, and no two people's maps will be the same.

Linda Tripp has shown that a true friend is an archivist, a biographer.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. The older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Every day each of us wakes up, reaches into drawers and closets, pulls out a costume for the day and proceeds to dress in a style that can only be called preposterous.

Good art is art that allows you to enter it from a variety of angles and to emerge with a variety of views.

In twenty years you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.

Barbie is just a doll.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts, don't put up with those who are reckless with yours.

You can figure out who you were by which movies you loved when.

Don't waste time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind.

TV happens. And once it's happened, it's gone. When it's gone, you move on, no tears, no tantrums, no videotape.

'The Hunger Games' isn't for everybody. But neither is 'Anna Karenina.'

A line from one of my 1997 columns - 'Do one thing every day that scares you' - is now widely attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, though I have yet to see any evidence that she ever said it and I don't believe she did. She said some things about fear, but not that thing.

Chicago is constantly auditioning for the world, determined that one day, on the streets of Barcelona, in Berlin's cabarets, in the coffee shops of Istanbul, people will know and love us in our multidimensional glory, dream of us the way they dream of San Francisco and New York.

For some Chicago expats, food is the medicine that blunts the pain of separation.

Here's a thing about the death of your mother, or anyone else you love: You can't anticipate how you'll feel afterward. People will tell you; a few may be close to right, none exactly right.

I couldn't have foreseen all the good things that have followed my mother's death. The renewed energy, the surprising sweetness of grief. The tenderness I feel for strangers on walkers. The deeper love I have for my siblings and friends. The desire to play the mandolin. The gift of a visitation.

On an average day, we allow ourselves the fiction that we own a piece of our workplace. That's part of what it takes to get the job done. Deeper down, we know it's all on loan.

One thing you might want to learn before you attend the world's largest ukulele lesson is how to say ukulele.

Opening day. All you have to do is say the words and you feel the shutters thrown wide, the room air out, the light pour in. In baseball, no other day is so pure with possibility. No scores yet, no losses, no blame or disappointment. No hangover, at least until the game's over.

The first gay person I ever met was surely not the first gay person I ever met.

Worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum.

Chicago is constantly auditioning for the world determined that one day on the streets of Barcelona in Berlins cabarets in the coffee shops of Istanbul people will know and love us in our multidimensional glory dream of us the way they dream of San Francisco and New York.

Understand that friends come and go but with a precious few you should hold on. The older you get the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts, and don't put up with people that are reckless with yours.

Replace the words "have to" with "get to" and watch how the cold rain on your life changes to sunshine.

The tender heart, the broken and contrite spirit, are to me far above all the joys that I could ever hope for in this vale of tears.

Rumors of sneezing, kissing, tears, sweat, and saliva spreading AIDS caused people to panic.

Next to a circus there ain't nothing that packs up and tears out faster than the Christmas spirit.

It is better to write of laughter than of tears, for laughter is the property of man.

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.

It is acceptable to bring someone to tears if it explains to them in an emotional way why a product, a service, or a candidate is the right person, is the right thing to do.

I will never forget my beautiful days with you in Shanklin, they are certainly the most pleasant ones of my life. Look, I have tears in my eyes just to think about it. I am furious to be here, it is the end of happiness for a whole year.

When I first found out that I was an Idol finalist, I cried tears of happiness. I was just so happy, and my family was there and the fact that got to see that moment and share that moment with me was just everything to me.

Tears are the summer showers to the soul.

Remember me with smiles and laughter, for that is how I will remember you all. If you can only remember me with tears, then don't remember me at all.

Christmas carols always brought tears to my eyes. I also cry at weddings. I should have cried at a couple of my own.

Pitching... sometimes I did so poorly, it brought me to tears.

Disney has the best casting. If he doesn't like an actor he just tears him up.

When a child can be brought to tears, and not from fear of punishment, but from repentance he needs no chastisement. When the tears begin to flow from the grief of their conduct you can be sure there is an angel nestling in their heart.

Two aged men, that had been foes for life, Met by a grave, and wept - and in those tears They washed away the memory of their strife; Then wept again the loss of all those years.

And the smile that is worth the praises of earth is the smile that shines through tears.

Some words having to do with the death of the people in the World Trade Center attack had been added, and when I got to it, I had this overwhelmingly emotional experience. I struggled to get through the words; tears were streaming down my cheeks.

I listened to it last night for the first time since we started this project. I went out to my car and put it in and went to an empty parking lot and just listened and read the little pamphlet that came with it. After two or three songs I burst into tears.