“I was born wise. Street-wise, people-wise, self-wise. This wisdom was my birthright.”

You must all, somewhere deep in your hearts, believe that you have a special beauty that is like no other and that is so valuable that you must not abandon it. Indeed, you must learn to cherish it.

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.

I believe that rewards in life are deserved. Every reward is the fruit of discipline, of dedication and of sacrifices. And of stubbornness.

Mistakes are a part of the dues one pays for a full life.

Luck assists fortune, you need to catch the moment. Otherwise the opportunity fades.

I know how to say ‘no’ in twelve languages. That’s enough for a woman.

A woman’s dress should be like a barbed-wire fence: serving its purpose without obstructing the view.

And as I walk round the park I always think, ‘Maybe round the corner I am going to find something beautiful.’ I always think positively. It is very rare that you find me in a mood that is sad or melancholic.

I think the quality of sexiness comes from within. It is something that is in you or it isn’t and it really doesn’t have much to do with breasts or thighs or the pout of your lips.

I still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up.

As far as beauty is concerned, in order to be confident we must accept that the way we look and feel is our own responsibility.

After all these years, I am still involved in the process of self-discovery. It’s better to explore life and make mistakes than to play it safe. Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life.

Transformation is something I cannot explain – too much analysis might destroy it.

You can always dream. Life is full of dreams that you can fulfill.

Many people think they want things, but they don’t really have the strength, the discipline. They are weak. I believe that you get what you want if you want it badly enough.

Success, I would find out, is interior. It has to do with self-fulfillment and the joy of living.

The typical conditions for the birth of a bull market are here: you have a changed country, you have a deep fall in growth and everybody is perplexed by the rise of stocks.

At this very moment enormous numbers of intelligent men and women of goodwill are trying to build a better world. But problems are born faster than they can be solved.

We are all just humans trying to survive in this crazy world, in the spaces between birth and death.

Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences…our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging.

Every day that is born into the world comes like a burst of music and rings the whole day through, and you make of it a dance, a dirge, or a life march, as you will.

Her mother was a cultivated woman – she was born in a greenhouse.

I am not a home breaker and I can never be. I haven’t been brought up to create havoc in other people’s homes.

I am not very comfortable about dancing at weddings and New Year parties. Maybe it’s because of the way I have been brought up; I wouldn’t want my family to feel that cringe moment. Dance is an art for me.