“politics … is the hottest, most dangerous subject in the land. It’s not only a conversation-wrecker, it’s a friendship-wrecker, a family-wrecker, a job-wrecker, a future-wrecker.”

[On being indecisive and changeable:] On my gravestone I want inscribed: ‘On the other hand, maybe I should have lived.

Homogeneity is much to be admired – in milk, for instance – but not for parties.

A good laugh makes any interview, or any conversation, so much better.

If it’s a woman it’s caustic, if it’s a man it’s authority, If it’s a woman it’s too pushy, if it’s a man it’s aggressive in the best sense of the word.

A conversation isn’t a competition.

This is what I tell, especially young women, fight the big fights. Don’t fight the little fight… Be the first one in, be the last one out. Do your homework, choose your battles. Don’t whine, and don’t be the one who complains about everything. Fight the big fight.

Most old people … are disheartened to be living in the ailing house of their bodies, to be limited physically and economically, to feel an encumbrance to others – guests who didn’t have the good manners to leave when the party was over.

The news media in general are liberals.

To not sing with an orchestra, to not be able to communicate through my voice, which I’ve done all my life, and not to be able to phrase lyrics and give people that kind of joy, I think I would be totally devastated.

I don’t know about you, but I can never get enough David Letterman.

A Hot Fudge Sundae and a trashy novel is my idea of heaven.

Wait for those unguarded moments. Relax the mood and, like the child dropping off to sleep, the subject often reveals his truest self.

I also found that for myself, since I’ve had no religious education, it was so interesting to see the different versions of heaven and what life on earth means.

Because there are so many shows on and because I’ve been so hands-on – I’ve had a piece on almost every single week – I don’t know how to cut back on that. You really can’t.

Parents of young children should realize that few people, and maybe no one, will find their children as enchanting as they do.

A great many people think that polysyllables are a sign of intelligence and refinement so they think they will impress others with their command of obscure words.

Without sex, we would be dangerously invulnerable. We might believe we were not ridiculous. We wouldn’t know rejection and humiliation so intimately.

Good books put a finger on emotions that are deeply our own – but that we could never have described on our own.

I discovered that the most dangerous mask is the one worn by intelligent people because they are clever at their disguise.

Before Alar, there was EDB, a potent human carcinogen allowed in the grain supply and other food for more than a decade after it was known to be dangerous.

There is nothing more dangerous than a girl who is aware of the flames inside her, and all the damage she can do.

You are a dangerous collection of all my favorite things. An old soul, a heart of gold, and hands that make my body sing.

I think what’s happening in the world – there’s nothing more dangerous than a wounded beast, and the patriarchy is wounded.

Boxing is dangerous. Anything can happen, so you need supreme confidence. That’s why I represent myself like nobody can beat me, because I need to truly believe it.