Peace with the Palestinians will open ports of peace all around the Mediterranean. The duty of leaders is to pursue freedom ceaselessly even in the face of hostility in the face of doubt and disappointment. Just imagine what could be.

I love to deer hunt and fish and drive down the back roads in my truck. All those things basically equal freedom to me - and not having to return that message or call from my record company or management. At some point I need to recharge.

So sometimes the facts are good and sometimes the facts are bad the important thing from the point of view of a principle as broad and important as freedom of speech is that the courts articulate and set forth in a very protective way what those principles are.

It is the people who scream the loudest about America and Freedom who see to be the most intolerant for a differing point of view.

A lot of people out there pay good lip service to the idea of personal freedom... right up to the point that someone tries to do something that they don't personally approve of.

I felt extremely uncomfortable as the focal point in the spotlight. I really like the behind the scenes role because all my freedom is there.

But I found that disappointing people is a good thing because disapproval is freedom.

Freedom isn't free. It shouldn't be a bragging point that 'Oh I don't get involved in politics ' as if that makes someone cleaner. No that makes you derelict of duty in a republic. Liars and panderers in government would have a much harder time of it if so many people didn't insist on their right to remain ignorant and blindly agreeable.

If Jesus Christ was who He claimed to be and He did die on a cross at a point of time in history then for all history past and all history future it is relevant because that is the very focal point for forgiveness and redemption.

The impetus behind going to graduate school was a year after graduating from college spent in Dallas working at the dog food factory and Bank America and not having met success in my chosen field which at that point was being an actress.

Music can also be a sensual pleasure like eating food or sex. But its highest vibration for me is that point of taking us to a real understanding of something in our nature which we can very rarely get at. It is a spiritual state of oneness.

Whatever I'm doing I'm in that moment and I'm doing it. The rest of the world's lost. If I'm cooking some food or making soup I want it to be lovely. If not what's the point of doing it?

I like doing food as a focal point on my table. It is not like going out and buying flowers or candles which are expensive.

Recipes are important but only to a point. What's more important than recipes is how we think about food and a good cookbook should open up a new way of doing just that.

At one point I had to shove as much food in my body as possible to pack on calories. My trainer wanted me to do six meals a day and not go two hours without eating. If I would cheat on eating one day I could tell - I'd drop a few pounds.

Food can become such a point of anxiety - not because it's food but just because you have anxiety. That's how eating disorders develop.

I've always believed fitness is an entry point to help you build that happier healthier life. When your health is strong you're capable of taking risks. You'll feel more confident to ask for the promotion. You'll have more energy to be a better mom. You'll feel more deserving of love.

I have come close to producing films. But generally by the time they hit the screen there's about 50 people with producer credits so what's the point. I usually find scripts I like with no money attached and take them to producers that I know and try to raise finance.

At this point I don't get hired a lot because people don't think I could finance a movie.

You don't have to do everything by the time you're 30. Or 40. All you need is a work ethic. It's what allows you to push through moments of disappointment and self-doubt and fear.

My greatest fear is disappointing the reader so each book has to be better than the one before.

There are no guarantees. From the viewpoint of fear none are strong enough. From the viewpoint of love none are necessary.

There's a confidence that comes from youth and not knowing better. But there comes a point as an actor when you do know better and that is when the fear starts.

I woke up full of hate and fear the day before the most recent peace march in San Francisco. This was disappointing: I'd hoped to wake up feeling somewhere between Virginia Woolf and Wavy Gravy.