Molly Ringwald

I wish I had been more prepared, both for success and for failure, when I was younger.

When I was turning 40, I felt that there were no books out there that hit the spot in terms of what I wanted to read.

I just did in my early twenties what most did when they were teenagers, being free and exploring and making mistakes, but I did it in France. I did it privately.

You can't be 16 forever.

I don't really believe in regret. I think you can always learn from the past, but I wouldn't want a different life.

I just needed to leave Hollywood.

Whatever it is that gives you that confidence will vary from person to person, but I do believe that it is the key to succeeding at anything in life - career, relationships, anything.

I have a very independent spirit.

I didn't have parents who were, you know, racing to get a reality television show, you know? Or looking to benefit in some way from their daughter's fame.

I'm so associated with being young and being with a teenager.

I've been called the Women's Auxiliary of the Brat Pack.

John Hughes had such a huge impact on filmmaking.

Originally I considered myself a singer.

I never felt terribly comfortable in the public eye.

I think when people hear about a celebrity writing a book of any kind, the assumption is that it was dictated to a ghostwriter.

When you say you're 40, you can't call yourself an ingenue any more.

I like to say, jazz music is kind of like my musical equivalent of comfort food. You know, it's always where I go back to when I just want to feel sort of grounded.

People feel like they grew up with me.

I never really felt like I belonged in California.

I felt all the things that other teenagers felt. I was insecure in lots of ways, over-confident in others. I was very emotional. Excitable.

I do regret, as I described in my book, the time that I shaved off half of my eyebrows thinking that I could draw them in better - and they would grow back anyway.

I used to sing with my father's jazz band and then when I was ten years old a musician friend of his suggested that I try out for the first west coast production of Annie.

You never know when you read a script how it's going to turn out because so much depends on the collaboration between people. If I'd been in some of the movies I turned down, maybe they wouldn't have been a success.

And to be honest, most actors are incredibly solipsistic.

The cover I was really excited about was 'Seventeen' magazine. To me, it was much bigger than 'Time.' 'Seventeen' was where I wanted to be.

In life, there is always that special person who shapes who you are, who helps to determine the person you become.