“I started going to acting school when I was 14, and I would always have my own take on things.”

I do have friends that are Republicans, and we have very spirited conversations on a whole range of issues. I am often baffled by why they are Republicans, but I enjoy the dialogue and can move beyond politics to find common ground in my personal relationships.

I like simple things. Elastic waists, so I can eat.

The result [Republicans winning the Senate] would be devastating for reproductive choice, the environment, civil liberties, Social Security and health care, as well as corporate accountability.

I don’t feel like a legend. I feel like a work in progress.

I hear these melodies. I hear horn lines and string lines. That’s what’s fun about recording with an orchestra.

I’m sure that I don’t know everything I want to know. I have so much more to learn.

My friend Quincy Jones says we won our first Grammys together in 1963. I have no recollection. I don’t even remember the room. When he showed me the picture, I remembered what I wore. But it’s like awards don’t mean anything.

It’s like an American tradition. A person gets successful and then he’s supposed to change for the worse. It’s silly.

The dream – you never achieve it. The excitement of life lies in the hope, in the striving for something rather than the attainment.

Issues of foreign policy have a place in every election for President.

Everyone has a right to love and be loved, and nobody on this earth has the right to tell anyone that their love for another human being is morally wrong.

I’m not that ambitious any more. I just like my privacy. I wish I really wasn’t talked about at all.

Myths are a waste of time. They prevent progression.

The idea of a liberal media bias is simply a myth. If only it were true, we might have a more humane, open-minded, and ultimately effective public debate on the issues facing the country.

Why don’t you have a cup of coffee at least? I, um, I’m a little low in sugar and I don’t have any cream, but it’s real coffee.

Around people I don’t know, I’m totally at a loss.

An acting teacher once told me, ‘Greet everything with yes… Even if you abandon one idea for another one, saying yes allows you to move forward.’

Sponsors obviously care more about a ninety-second commercial and want to pay you more than any guest star gets for a ninety-minute acting performance.

I’m a tough old broad from Brooklyn. I intend to go on acting until I’m ninety, and they won’t need to paste my face with make-up.

I just want to keep acting and better my craft and see how far it goes.

They say an actor is only as good as his parts. Well, my parts have done me pretty well, darling.

I had heard about how people struggle and how hard it is to get into acting. But I did not care because it’s something I love.

I think we need to get back to truth-based news. It won’t be easy, but we better do it because otherwise we’re not acting on information.

Singing is about telling a story. When you are onstage, you get to be your own self… When acting, you’re someone else.