Growing up my whole life my mom was telling me how incredible and special I was and that I was going to change the world. I think it's important for girls to know that they can change the world that they do have an impact.

It's about getting the kids up and fed getting one to school getting the other down for a nap going to the grocery store picking one up from school getting the other one down for another nap cooking dinner... I live my life at these two extremes. I'm either a full-time stay-at-home mom or a full-time actress.

I must admit even though I'm the product of two Jewish parents I think the Irish temper got in there somewhere so I'm going to check Mom's genealogy.

I remember when I was 11 I told my mom 'One day I'm going to buy you a house.' And she said 'Boy don't you be making promises you can't keep.' I was like: 'No Ma it's not a promise. I'm going to buy you a house one day.'

Not to be weird but I still have an ongoing relationship with my mom even though she passed away and I've been surprised at how much I've been able to convey to her. Now I sound like a total weirdo but that's true.

Isn't it so weird the day you wake up and you're just going with the flow? And you just suddenly are a mom.

I didn't understand that I could sing until I was like 11 or 12. My mom heard me singing around the house and she said What are you doing? You really can sing! So then I started going to school and singing to the girls.

Fortunately when you're a mom the responsibility of caring for your child can keep you going.

My mother was a personal friend of God's. They had ongoing conversations.

I once heard two ladies going on and on about the pains of childbirth and how men don't seem to know what real pain is. I asked if either of them ever got themselves caught in a zipper.

What I would say to the young men and women who are beset by hopelessness and doubt is that they should go and see what is being done on the ground to fight poverty not like going to the zoo but to take action to open their hearts and their consciences.

I saw six men kicking and punching the mother-in-law. My neighbour said 'Are you going to help?' I said 'No six should be enough.'

If we became students of Malcolm X we would not have young black men out there killing each other like they're killing each other now. Young black men would not be impregnating young black women at the rate going on now. We'd not have the drugs we have now or the alcoholism.

It is necessary for him who lays out a state and arranges laws for it to presuppose that all men are evil and that they are always going to act according to the wickedness of their spirits whenever they have free scope.

Some men can live up to their loftiest ideals without ever going higher than a basement.

Old men are dangerous: it doesn't matter to them what is going to happen to the world.

On bad days I think I'd like to be a plastic surgeon who goes to Third World countries and operates on children in villages with airlifts and then I think 'Yeah right I'm going to go back to undergraduate school and take all the biology I missed and then go to medical school.' No. No.

Nobody could tell us or really had a very good idea if there were a massive release of radiation what kind of medical treatment people were going to need and this or that or indeed whether there would be medical personnel around.

Yet it looks as if the thing we use to solve our problems with is the source of our problems. It's like going to the doctor and having him make you ill. In fact in 20% of medical cases we do apparently have that going on. But in the case of thought its far over 20%.

I have been recently diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome an autoimmune disease which is an ongoing medical condition that affects my energy level and causes fatigue and joint pain.

I was going to have cosmetic surgery until I noticed that the doctor's office was full of portraits by Picasso.

I got married at 22 and remained in an abusive marriage for 10 years. I made up my mind that that was never going to happen to me again. I made a brave step to walk out in a society when you didn't walk out of an abusive marriage. It was mental and physical abuse.

Traditional marriage between a man and a woman has been a cornerstone of our society for generations. If we are going to change that it ought to be done by the will of the people.

I know there are a lot of readers that think I've got a very crappy marriage just because of the things going on with Rick and Lori but there's really nothing that's been like a mirror. I'm just making this stuff up.