I've always been part of comedy. One of the things about our family was that if we were reasonably funny with each other particularly my two brothers and myself when my father was upset with something you'd want to make sure in some way you made him laugh. Because when he didn't laugh you were in trouble!

We don't have the luxury of time. We spend more because of how we live but it's important to be with our family and friends.

I like playing music because it's a good living and I get satisfaction from it. But I can't feed my family with satisfaction.

My dream maybe because of my family of course was to be a painter. I chose in one moment the direction of textiles from textiles I went to fashion.

My family has very strong women. My mother never laughed at my dream of Africa even though everyone else did because we didn't have any money because Africa was the 'dark continent' and because I was a girl.

There's a sort of sibling moratorium when you're establishing yourself as an adult. So much of your energy has to be focused on other things like work and kids. But when people become more settled siblings tend to regroup because now you're building a new extended family.

Touring is tough. You're almost in a haze because you don't really know where you are half the time: You're in a hotel room one moment and the next thing you know you're onstage performing for 60 000 people then you're back on an airplane. It's very hectic and I couldn't do it without my family.

On the one hand the idea of marriage and the sort of traditional family life repulses me. But on the other hand I long for it you know what I mean? I'm constantly in conflict with things. And it is because of my past and my upbringing and the journey that I've been on.

But you know we have a very normal family. We've had our ups and downs. You know we've had our issues but we've had great cause for celebration.

My family can always tell when I'm well into a novel because the meals get very crummy.

It has to be real and I think a lot of the problems we have as a society is because we don't acknowledge that family is important and it has to be people who are present you know and mothers and fathers both are not present enough with children.

I was lucky. My family is wonderful. And it's funny because most of my best friends come from very large families. So it always felt as if I had lots of siblings though in the end I had to leave them and go home. I kind of got the best of both worlds as a kid.

My family truly believes they are better cooks than I am. They see me as Giada not as a celebrity chef. To them I'm just me - their granddaughter niece etc. and they're older and wiser. I like that because it keeps you grounded.

Because I didn't have brothers I was always interested in the kids down the street that had four brothers in their family so I became one of them - but it was not my family.

If I'm diagnosed with cancer I might become despondent but someone young might not and they might need connections with somebody outside their circle of family because their family is so despondent.

The countries who do the best in international comparisons whether it's Finland or Japan Denmark or Singapore do well because they have professional teachers who are respected and they also have family and community which support learning.

I grew up in a family where the internalized understanding was that the kids were going to grow up into a better world. I worry because I don't think my kids are going to have that. The world is very scary. The world would be scary without the choices the current administration made but they just exacerbated it. And it ticks me off. I want my kids to have a good life.

My rule is whatever you were calling me four years ago is what you should be calling me now because I don't like it when my family or close friends call me Nicki Minaj. To me I'm not Nicki Minaj when I'm with them.

It's a little known fact that one in three family pets gets lost during its lifetime and approximately 9 million pets enter shelters each year. That's why it's a wonderful thing to get your pet microchipped and registered with your contact information because then they can be located and the owners can track where their pets are.

I text a lot people because it's how I stay connected with all my family and friends when I'm on set and traveling.

At one point in my life I was very involved with social causes. I'm still involved but now I have a family and it's important to me.

There is only one way to solve the alleged crisis of the erosion of 'family values.' And that is to get right down to the root cause of the problem.

At this time when I turn 50 because so there's many of my friends and family who didn't get to see 50-years-old and so I'm celebrating for them too.

From very early on in my childhood - four five years old - I felt alien to the human race. I felt very comfortable with thinking I was from another planet because I felt disconnected - I was very tall and skinny and I didn't look like anybody else I didn't even look like any member of my family.