Don’t compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got. There is no yesterday, no tomorrow, it’s all the same day.

We need to reshape our own perception of how we view ourselves. We have to step up as women and take the lead.

I was raised to believe that excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism. And that’s how I operate my life.

I’m tough, I’m ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay.

When a man gives his opinion, he’s a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she’s a bitch.

So here is the quick way of working out if you’re a feminist. Put your hand in your pants. a) Do you have a vagina? and b) Do you want to be in charge of it? If you said “yes” to both, then congratulations! You’re a feminist.

I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided to do, was to fulfil my profession, which I entered before my husband was in public life.

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.

If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.

I’m a feminist because I believe in women… It’s a heavy word, feminism, but it’s not one I think we should run from. I’m proud to be a feminist.

The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it.

Women have to harness their power – it’s absolutely true. It’s just learning not to take the first no. And if you can’t go straight ahead, you go around the corner.

If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito.

Instead of looking at the past, I put myself ahead twenty years and try to look at what I need to do now in order to get there then.

I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived. Curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.

A woman is like a tea bag – you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.

I am the American Dream. I am the epitome of what the American Dream basically said. It said, you could come from anywhere and be anything you want in this country. That’s exactly what I’ve done. I am where I am, because I believe in all possibilities.

If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.

Never dull your shine for somebody else.

The question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.

I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naïve or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman.

Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.

Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.

I myself have never been able to find out precisely what a feminist is. I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat.

I am an example of what is possible when girls from the very beginning of their lives are loved and nurtured by people around them. I was surrounded by extraordinary women in my life, who taught me about quiet, strength and dignity.

I'm very accepting with my age. It's like notches on your belt: experience, wisdom, and a different kind of beauty. There comes a day when you've become comfortable in your skin.

It's tough when take 1 is technically okay and take 2 has better acting. Out here (Hollywood) they print the first one. That's the one where we all hit the mark on the floor and who cares about the acting.

Ramblin' was in my blood.

Rumor grows as it goes.

I think there's always this idea in your head, but you have to allow the film to take its own course.

I would have had my patent long, long ago, and it would have run out long, long ago. I would have made, maybe, $100.000, much less that the patent has brought me now.

I try to be as honest as I possibly can about the contradictions within my own heart and thereby get to something 'true' and revealing and important about contemporary American culture and human nature.

Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.

I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue unexercised and unbreathed that never sallies out and sees her adversary but slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for not without dust and heat.

Indecisiveness wears a person out.

I'm not a movie guy, I'm not a TV sitcom guy, but whatever seems to fit and is funny is good for me.

Mum always taught us that compassion and kindness were the most important things in life, that it was better to be kind than right.

No man is an island. You can ask people for help and they can ask for your help in return.

Co-writing the 'True Blood' comic is a dream come true both as a performer on the show and as longtime comic fan. It's a real privilege to build on the rapidly growing 'True Blood' mythology.

If the lilacs bloomed earlier, it could mean we had a milder winter, so look out for potential insect outbreaks.

Geography does not define you love does.

People who think I have insulted Ireland or Limerick or my family have not read the book!

I think Americans should have a policy of love. That should be the foreign policy, love. Export Love.

I wanted to be a painter when I was a kid. And then, I had to make a living. I had a child when I was in high school, so I kind of had that work phase in my life.

I think I would like to be a monk. I really considered Catholicism a few years ago, but there were some things that I just couldn't reconcile.

The same thing I did in 2013 is what I'm trying to do in 2014, which is continue to improve, continue to shock people. You know, I have several projects coming up between 2014 and 2015, and hopefully by 2015, I'll have another hour of stand-up material where I'll be able to go on the road and tour again.

If you want to do anything, do it now, without compromise or concession, because you have only one life.