The way we EXPERIENCE the WORLD around US is a direct REFLECTION of the world within us.

The sad truth is that the civil rights movement cannot be reborn until we identify the causes of BLACK suffering, some of them self-inflicted. Why can't black leaders organize rallies around RESPONSIBLE sexuality, birth within marriage, parents reading to their CHILDREN and students staying in SCHOOL and doing homework?

I think a winner has to be a master of PREPARATION, they have to be a master of CONNECTION, EXTREMELY COMPETITIVE and have really high standards for themselves and the PEOPLE around them.

If I have FREE time, I WANT to go to the beach, walk around a shopping mall, go grocery shopping. LIVE a little BIT of life.

I don't LIVE in Hollywood. I don't have celebrities as friends. I LIKE them, but I don't pal around with them. I just live in the Midwest, a REAL NORMAL world.

One in 200 stars has habitable Earth-like planets surrounding it - in the galaxy, HALF a billion stars have Earth-like planets GOING around them - that's huge, half a billion. So when we LOOK at the night sky, it makes sense that SOMEONE is looking BACK at us.

The excitement LIES in the EXPLORATION of the world around US.

I STARTED out in the 1940s, SINGING around the clubs of CLEVELAND, Ohio, where I grew up. There was a WOMAN in showbusiness, a contortion DANCER called Estelle 'Caldonia' Young - she was named after the song Caledonia Caledonia.

Don't ever CRITICIZE yourself. Don't go around all day LONG thinking, 'I'm unattractive, I'm SLOW, I'm not as smart as my brother.' God wasn't having a bad day when he MADE you... If you don't love yourself in the right WAY, you can't love your neighbour. You can't be as good as you are supposed to be.

At my high school, there were ALWAYS KIDS carrying acoustic guitars around, which is why I named my BAND the Mountain Goats. I didn't want to seem like one of those GUYS who brought his guitar to the party WHETHER you asked him to or not.

At the time the world was all upside down. The American people were beginning to MOVE around a LOT. The OLD hometown ties had been pretty much broken. The theme of Farmer TAKES a Wife appealed to people. Everybody was HOMESICK. And it sold and sold and sold.

Do activities you're PASSIONATE about - which make your heart and SOUL feel perky - including things like working out, cooking, painting, writing, yoga, hiking, walking, swimming, being in nature, being AROUND art, or READING inspiring BOOKS.

Fairy tales opened up a DOOR into my imagination - they don't conform to the reality that's around you as a CHILD. I started reading when I was THREE and read everything, but I WANTED to be an actress.