«We stand a chance of getting a president who has probably killed more people before he gets into office than any president in the history of the United States.»

I was told I had an overabundance of original sin.

Now, Tim has been really, really busy, and it`s been my job now to kind of deal with everything. And trying to figure out how we balance that, logistically it`s a nightmare. But these little jobs make it much easier.

I feel my family`s needs are a priority. I`m not comfortable with the idea of serving the many and ignoring my family.

In the U.S., they just want to know who you`re sleeping with.

I`m a native New Yorker. Everything to do with New York feels like my family.

When I tell people I`m a comedian they say, `Oh, are you funny?` I say, `No, it`s not that kind of comedy.`

It`s still not easy to find roles that offer more complex images of women.

It will be great when it`s not such a big deal when a woman gets a good job.

When you start to develop your powers of empathy and imagination, the whole world opens up to you.

It is a different world than when I was growing up, and you started to just kind of maintain at thirty-five and just hope you can hope it together. People are a lot more vital than I am and doing all kinds of things and leading really important movements.

Do you really have to be the ice queen intellectual or the slut whore? Isn`t there some way to be both?

So I would hope they would develop some kind of habit that involves understanding that their life is so full they can afford to give in all kinds of ways to other people. I consider that to be baseline spirituality.

I look forward to being older, when what you look like becomes less and less an issue and what you are is the point.

Everyone has a responsibility towards this larger family of man, but especially if you`re privileged, that increases your responsibility.

I think that parents are supposed to be sexual. Anybody`s parents. Even kissing your mate, to kids it`s like they don`t even want to go there.

Children reinvent your world for you.

Just because I haven`t yet had any project surgery, I`m not going to knock it, because I think women have the right to do whatever they want to their bodies that make them feel good about themselves.

If you walk down the street and see someone in a box, you have a choice. That person is either the other and you`re fearful of them, or that person is an extension of your family. And that makes you at home in that world and not fearful. So really it`s very self-serving.

I think sometimes what happens is that all of this feeling out of control manifests itself in trying to control your body; whether it`s an eating disorder or talking about getting your nose fixed, as if that`s going to be the solution to all the pressure.

To know that once you decide to look at life outside of the narrow limits of just your world and start to understand that you can make a difference in very simple ways - in volunteering and all the way up to bigger world problems.

We stand a chance of getting a president who has probably killed more people before he gets into office than any president in the history of the United States.

Before our kids start coming home from Iraq in body bags and women and children start dying in Baghdad, I need to know, what did Iraq do to us?

I try to live my life every day in the present, and try not to turn a blind eye to injustice and need.

Making love is like hitting a baseball. You just gotta relax and concentrate.

I think I`m an actor because I have very strong imagination and empathy. I never studied acting, but those two qualities are exactly the qualities that make for an activist.

The only time I`ve really been away from my kids to do work was doing Shall We Dance because they both were in camp and it was the first time in twenty years that I haven`t been with my kids.

The only thing I can talk about is just forgiving yourself, because I do not have everything together. And so I tell people: No, you should see my house, it`s a mess.

I`m tired of being labelled anti-American because I ask questions.

You guys ask really long questions. In the U.S., they just want to know who you`re sleeping with.

Despite the statistics, nothing is hopeless, nothing is futile. We can do so much to protect children with awareness, knowledge, and a lot of love.

I thought the whole point of feminism is that you`re not supposed to be defined by gender. I don`t understand the reasoning behind that, because I wouldn`t vote for Condoleezza Rice, and I hated Margaret Thatcher.

People probably think of me as Debbie Downer. I have become kind of a joke in terms of activism for some people. But it is like worrying if your slip is showing when you`re fleeing a burning building. You have to prioritize.

I think I`ve survived because I`ve gone through a number of incarnations. Sometimes they need somebody sexy. Sometimes they need somebody smart. I`ve managed to be able to morph myself into parts.

You have to be careful not to be upstaged by your breasts. I`ve gotten curvier as I`ve gotten older. Directors cast the men they want to be and the women they want to have.

"I look forward to being older, when looks become less of an issue and who you are is the point." Family Circle, 4-18-06

I think one of the reasons I haven`t married Tim is that I hate that couples assumption - that once you`re committed to someone you stop treating each other as individuals. I like getting up knowing I am choosing to be with that person.

I didn`t realize that everything was supposed to fall apart at 40. So I just slid past 40 and 50. When you`re an outsider and not paying attention to the rules the hurdles are a little lower.

It`s still not easy to find roles that offer more complex images of women. I do a lot of smaller parts that I find interesting - as opposed to the big, splashy movies that you get paid more money for.

I remember going to great lengths to celebrate disappointments like not getting a job. I`d take whatever little cash I had and go out to dinner. I saw loss as an opportunity to change direction.

I`m certainly not an expert, but Tim and I just celebrated 17 years together, which in Hollywood years I think is 45. I think the key is just focusing on this one person and not keeping one eye on the door to see who might be better.

I haven`t yet had any plastic surgery, but I won`t knock it. I think women have the right to do anything they want to their bodies that makes them feel good about themselves. It`s hard to be in this business and be viewed on a screen that`s huge. You can see every single line. But I think it`s an aesthetic choice for the individual. I don`t like it when surgeons take a perfectly interesting looking woman and she ends up looking like a female impersonator with these gigantic breasts. It`s just so extreme and that worries me. I think everyone is looking the same.

It`s always so painful to watch yourself. That never changes. I still sit there and think, `Oh, that scene is missing? Wasn`t I good? What happened there?`

The largest party in the United States is the 50 percent who don`t vote.

You`re so lucky in Ireland, England and Spain. Everyone there already knows what it`s like to have inexplicable terrorist violence.

On Thelma & Louise after her nomination for best actress, 1992, "I was surprised that the film struck such a primal nerve. I knew when we were filming that it would be different, unusual and hopefully entertaining. But shocking? I guess giving women the option of violence was hard for a lot of people to accept."

Sexuality ... is something that develops and becomes stronger and stronger the older you get... If you can continue to say yes to life and to maintain a certain generosity of spirit, you become more and more of who you are.

"How will the bombing of Baghdad, a city of five million, accomplish a regime change?"

I think the good news and the bad news is Hollywood`s not political. The only thing they punish you for is getting old and fat.

I never think about humiliating myself. I keep focusing on wanting to do a good job.

My children were embarrassed at my Lincoln Center Tribute. I forgot they would show film clips and my children hadn`t seen anything. Every time something a little racy would come on like `The Hunger,` I`d look at my 13-year-old, who was shielding his eyes.

The largest party in the United States is the 50 percent who don`t vote.

The thing that`s bad about breasts is that you have to choose between having a mind and having breasts. It`d be nice if you could have both. Anyway, I think my breasts have been highly overrated.

People will like you for the wrong reasons your entire life, even if you don`t have parents who are celebrities. They will like you because you have a car or you have money or your breasts are big.

If I were 22 and trying to build a career, I don`t know who`d be watching the kids as happily as I do. It takes so much to get me to break out of domestic paradise. There`s hardly anything that interests me as much as my family.

I think the only reason I remain an actor is that you can never quite get it right. So there is a challenge to it.

I feel I`ve always been on the outside and always on the edge of an abyss. The women I portray, and the woman I am, are ordinary but maybe find themselves in extra-ordinary circumstances, and what they do is at great cost.

I choose projects I can talk about for days because now you do publicity for as long as it took you to shoot the movie.