“I’ve never been a big fan of gossip. Being a victim of it, I knew how much it hurt.”

Actually, I’m happiest in Williams-Sonoma in New York. That’s a wonderful cooking store.

Every relationship you have, you’re learning and growing and taking something from that.

I have a strong sense of myself. That gives me a sense of security, you know?

The food, the lesson, the chef, the ingredients – all the best of the best. I see why Le Cordon Bleu is world-renowned.

The Gucci woman can be the equestrian woman, the woman in the suit, the woman in the flowy bohemian dress, or the couture woman.

I would have to read the script and feel for a character. And if I feel in my gut for a character, I know that that’s somebody I have to play.

Everybody on our cast is very musically talented, except for me.

So, it’s cool that, yes, Hal Jordan is a superhero, but my character is a real-world hero in her own life.

Since my kitchen is the most important part of my home, I want to be creative and innovative, not only in its aesthetic, but also in the tools that I’m using to cook.

There is something about New Orleans that embodies passion; I’ve never seen that before.

Wanting to be an actor and wanting to be famous are different.

I have smuggled so many ingredients across so many borders, like shallot confit from Thailand, or a new sauce from New Orleans not approved by the FDA.

You can’t really go wrong as long as you’re true to yourself.

I grew up with the mindset that when you get home from work, you go to dinner and watch a movie. I don’t want to be going to a club and taking off my panties.

I always want to wear clothes that my children will one day look back on and say, ‘Oh, you looked amazing – why didn’t you keep that?’ Not, ‘Oh my God – I can’t believe you wore that.’

I have a tight-knit Southern family.

We live in a society obsessed with public opinion. But leadership has never been about popularity.

There have been only 268 of the past 3,421 years free of war.

We are special because we’ve been united not by a common race or ethnicity. We’re bound together by common values. That family is the most important institution in society. That almighty God is the source of all we have.

I have always been pushed by the negative. The apparent failure of a play sends me back to my typewriter that very night, before the reviews are out. I am more compelled to get back to work than if I had a success.

I’ve always been a night owl.

I’ve been anxious but not depressed. I’m an incorrigible optimist.

I don’t know why it is that I have always been happier thinking of somewhere I have been or wanted to go, than where I am at the time. I find it difficult to be happy in the present.

It is but another of the proofs which are heaping up in American industry to-day that whatever is good for men and women – contributes to their health, happiness, development – is good for business.