I didn't know a time when there wasn't a war because I spent all my time from the age of two or three to eight in a coal cellar really.

'Dallas' hit a chord back in the late Seventies and Eighties because it was the age of greed: here you have this unapologetic character who is mean and nasty and ruthless and does it all with an evil grin. I think people related to JR back then because we all have someone we know exactly like him. Everyone in the world knows a JR.

I basically get stereotyped a lot in terms of being a girl and writing 'chick' music for teenage girls or something. I think if anything the press kind of because of my gender and my age tends to kind of relegate my work to this sort of special-interest group. It's part of the cultural dynamic I guess.

What goes on in Europe concerns us greatly because if Europe comes apart the E.U. comes apart then you're going to have enormous impact on America that's a very big trading partner of ours and people own securities around the world in this day and age.

Even from a very early age I knew I didn't want to miss out on anything life had to offer just because it might be considered dangerous.

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.

The age in which we live this non-stop distraction is making it more impossible for the young generation to ever have the curiosity or discipline... because you need to be alone to find out anything.

To separate children from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.

It's ironic that at age 32 at probably the greatest moment of my career with The Godfather having such an enormous success I wasn't even aware of it because I was somewhere else under the deadline again.

I first learned that there were black people living in some place called other than the United States in the western hemisphere when I was a very little boy and my father told me that when he was a boy about my age he wanted to be an Episcopal priest because he so admired his priest a black man from someplace called Haiti.

I lived the true American dream because I was able to pursue what I set as my goals at a very young age.

I'm not skinny for the wrong reasons. It's not because I'm bulimic or anorexic or doing drugs. Compared to a lot of actresses my age I'm actually overweight.

It's sad actually because my anxiety keeps me from enjoying things as much as I should at this age.

My mother enjoyed old age and because of her I've begun to enjoy parts of it too. So far I've had it good and am crumbling nicely.

Old age is a special problem for me because I've never been able to shed the mental image I have of myself - a lad of about 19.

Old age is ready to undertake tasks that youth shirked because they would take too long.

Discrimination due to age is one of the great tragedies of modern life. The desire to work and be useful is what makes life worth living and to be told your efforts are not needed because you are the wrong age is a crime.

Swing voters are more appropriately known as the 'idiot voters' because they have no set of philosophical principles. By the age of fourteen you're either a Conservative or a Liberal if you have an IQ above a toaster.

And in my own life in my own small way I've tried to give back to this country that has given me so much. That's why I left a job at a law firm for a career in public service working to empower young people to volunteer in their communities. Because I believe that each of us - no matter what our age or background or walk of life - each of us has something to contribute to the life of this nation.

No matter what age you are or what your circumstances might be you are special and you still have something unique to offer. Your life because of who you are has meaning.