Motherhood has a very humanizing effect. Everything gets reduced to essentials.

There are some days when even I think I`m overrated, but not today. (When accepting Emmy for _"Angels in America" (2003) (mini)_).

Part of Emmy acceptance speech for _"Angels in America" (2003) (mini)_: "Glenn [Close] is my friend so I know she`ll forgive me, Helen Mirren is an acting god, and no one has put a better performance on film than Judy Davis in "The Judy Garland Story". The only one in the group is Emma Thompson, who will hold a grudge for the rest of her life. But who cares?"

I loved being someone so certain. Because certainty is just so attractive in people. To me, it`s a completely bogus position - for me. Because, you know, I`m listening to every side. But it`s so nice not to have to listen to all the different sides. To be so clear and on your track and sure. It`s a fabulous thing. Unfortunately, it leads to fanaticism. [on her role in The Manchurian Candidate (2004)]

I mean, come on; when you have people writing these things, that you`re the greatest thing that ever ate scenery, you`re dead. You`re fucking dead. How can you even presume to begin a new character? It`s a killer.

I have always regarded myself as the pillar of my life.

I really, really depend on the other actors for the confirmation of who I think I am," she says. "And so it`s important to me to work with good people that are not worried about how they look. You know. Real actors. They`re your blood.

It`s a lesson I learned in drama school: the teacher asks, how do you be the queen? And everybody says, `Oh it`s about posture and authority.` And they said, no, it`s about how the air in the room shifts when you walk in. And that`s everyone else`s work.

I try to lead as ordinary a life as I can. You can`t get spoiled if you do your own ironing.

[accepting the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical 2007] "I think I`ve worked with everyone in the room! I have!"

I don`t want to spit in the eye of good fortune, but it was weird. I felt like I`d butted in line in front of Lucille Ball, Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn. Hello? How did this happen? I was only the sixth woman to receive it, but they found 26 men to give it to. I thought that was embarrassing. [on her Lifetime Achievement Award from the AFI]

[On life as a young actress] When I was 20 I busked to afford accommodation. One night I hadn`t earned enough, I actually slept in the open in Green Park [in London]. The view was of the Ritz Hotel and I vowed I`d stay there one day. And I have.

There`s no road map on how to raise a family: it`s always an enormous negotiation. But I have a holistic need to work and to have huge ties of love in my life. I can`t imagine eschewing one for the other. - on her marriage

I don`t know what I`d do without my husband. I`d be dead, emotionally at least, if I hadn`t met him. He`s the greatest. - On her husband

[on Dustin Hoffman] He`s energized and the greatest combination of the generous and the selfish that ever lived. He wants to be the greatest actor who ever was.

It would be nice to have a woman President. I think half the Senate should be women, half of Parliament, half the ruling mullahs. But that will never happen, darling!

My God, I was settling in for a long winter`s nap. I`ve been nominated, like 789 times, but it hasn`t been since the Mesozoic Era that I`ve actually won. (on winning a Golden Globe for _Adaptation._ (2002))

It`s hard to negotiate the present landscape with a brain and a female body. (On her struggles as an actress earlier in her career)

Sometimes under-preparation is very good, because it instills fear and fear is galvanizing. It makes you break out of yourself. If you`re prepared, then you think you`re ready, and if you think you`re ready, then you`re not ready.

But ... in my own experience of male and female directors, people have a much, much harder time taking a direct command from a woman. It`s somehow very difficult for people.

"Oh boy, no matter how much you try to imagine what this is like, it`s just so incredibly thrilling right down your toes." [On winning the 1983 Best Actress Oscar for Sophie`s Choice (1982)].

I get nervous calling myself an artist. I feel I`m more like an interpreter or a violinist, you know.

I think I was wired for family. You know how they say people are wired for religion, or wired for this or that? I always knew I would like to, if I could find the right person, have a family. I can`t imagine living single.

Someone once said that sometimes studio heads don`t want to cast films with the image of their first wife in the role. It`s just rather unpleasant for them. So they like the idea of the new one.

Let`s face it, we were all once 3-year-olds who stood in the middle of the living room and everybody thought we were so adorable. Only some of us grow up and get paid for it.

I love doing comedy, but people just don`t give me enough of a chance. It`s one of the reasons I enjoy The Manchurian Candidate (2004) so much. It`s because I actually get a chance to be funny.

I thought it was really fun, you`ve got to understand, but I didn`t think it was a serious way to conduct your life. You know, I had a sense of mission. I was a true child of the `60s. [on her view of acting back in college]

(On whether Madonna should play Eva Peron in the film version of Evita (1996) instead of her): "I can sing better than she can. If Madonna gets it, I`ll rip her throat out!"

You can`t get spoiled if you do your own ironing.

In 1978: "I`m looking forward to bigger parts in the future, but I`m not doing soft-core scripts where the character emerges in half-light, half-dressed."

"I had it (smoking), it stinks". "Entertainment Tonight" (1981).