There are a lot of downsides to being male. We age faster and die younger. But give us this: we're lifetime baby-making machines. Women's reproductive abilities start to wane when they're as young as 35. Men? We're good to go pretty much till we're dead.

When I was younger my whole sense of self-worth was based on whether or not I was working which was awful. And I had a baby at 20 years old so it wasn't just about me. At around the age of 30 there was a stretch where I wasn't working - certainly not on anything I liked anyway - and I started to do other things.

You hit a certain age and - especially because of TV - the young cooks coming up say 'You're a sellout because you're doing something other than what you should be doing.' 'Top Chef' is a double-edged sword for me: There's a whole group of people who will not come to the restaurants because they assume I'm not in them anymore all I do is TV.

Love with very young people is a heartless business. We drink at that age from thirst or to get drunk it is only later in life that we occupy ourselves with the individuality of our wine.

At a young age I was interested in comic books which was really how I learnt to read. The name Cage came from a comic book character called Power Man.

What I really tried to do with Helen was make her show this sad side of her. She was married off at 16 was so young and living in this castle that can't leave because of how she looks and married to a man she hates and three times her age.

Music has always been my protection against the world from a very young age. I feel safe inside of a jam.

I could always sing from a really young age but my voice was really weird. I used to make my mum turn up the radio every day in our house. She was well into music so I got that from her.

With the song 'This Christmas' I wanted to do something that was kind of different. I mean Donny Hathaway is an amazing artist. So I wanted to bring my flavor to the song so when people over the age of 45 or 50 hear it they'll be like 'OK he did his thing with that record.' It's like I can appeal to everybody and not just a younger demographic.

Michelle Pfeiffer hasn't been finding a lot of work recently because she doesn't like what a woman her age is offered. That's a real double standard. You get Sean Connery who gets older and older still playing opposite young ladies but it doesn't work the other way around.

It's not the normal way to look at things but I experienced death at a really young age and because of that it's been part of my mental landscape that death is really very possible.

We grew up in a very creative environment and were exposed to the arts at a very young age so it's not a surprise that all of us are in some form of the arts.

If you explode onto the scene at a very young age there are so many people pulling you in different directions. It takes time to recalibrate and see what's important.

You have to be desirable. And that's why so many woman of my age or even younger are pushed to Botox and plastic surgery all the things that people say 'Why do women do this?' Where do you go in your 50s in your career?

I prefer younger men. In some ways they are much more open to a woman being stronger and independent then some of the men my age.

I don't believe in happy endings but I do believe in happy travels because ultimately you die at a very young age or you live long enough to watch your friends die. It's a mean thing life.

I learned from a very young age that if I pursued the things that truly excited me that they would reward in more important ways like happiness.

Age is a terrible avenger. The lessons of life give you so much to work with but by the time you've got all this great wisdom you don't get to be young anymore.

My sister and I shared a bedroom our entire lives and I believe she discovered the Beatles when she was about 11 and I'm four years younger. So from the age of 7 until 17 we had nothing but Beatles paraphernalia in our room even those little stuffed Beatles that went on stands that are dressed as the Sgt. Pepper band.

I never had little brothers so I was totally not used to hearing a lot of cussing at a young age! I learned what 'pull my finger' meant the hard way.

No no I was only funny on stage really. I I think I was funny as a person toward my classmates when I was very young. You know when I was a child up to about the age of 12.

Young man the secret of my success is that an early age I discovered that I was not God.

I was taught from a young age that many people would treat me as a second-class citizen because I was African-American and because I was female.

I've been very competitive by nature from a young age whether it was eating a bowl of pasta faster than somebody else or always wanting to be the first one in line.