When I was asked to be Writer in Residence at Edinburgh I thought you can't teach poetry. This is ridiculous.

As they say one thing led to another and ultimately the British and Irish governments asked me to serve as chairman of the peace negotiations which ironically began six years ago this week.

I have many times asked myself whether there can be more potent advocates of peace upon earth through the years to come than this massed multitude of silent witnesses to the desolation of war.

When I was elected President nobody asked me to negotiate between Israel and Egypt. It was not even a question raised in my campaign. But I felt that one of the reasons that I was elected President was to try to bring peace to the Holy Land.

When your country is in a costly war with our soldiers sacrificing abroad and our nation facing a debt crisis at home being asked to pay your fair share isn't class warfare - it's patriotism.

Our platform calls for a balanced deficit reduction plan where the wealthy pay their fair share. And when your country is in a costly war with our soldiers sacrificing abroad and our nation facing a debt crisis at home being asked to pay your fair share isn't class warfare - it's patriotism.

I was lucky enough to be the lady that was asked to be Maria in the Sound Of Music and that film was fortunate enough to be huge hit. The same with Mary Poppins. I got terribly lucky in that respect.

I've been asked to do action-oriented movies in the past and they just haven't been right for me.

I never think it's right to chew gum in front of other people but a lot of times I'll come in for a meeting chewing gum and I'll forget I'm chewing it. Then you don't want to swallow it because it stays in your system for seven years or something so I've asked to throw it away. I've started to wonder if that's why I didn't get certain movies.

I grew up when I was 15 when I had my first opportunity in movies. I watched every great movie for a year and a half and since then I've asked myself how I can emulate such artistry. That's really my motivation. I want to do something as good as my heroes have done.

I think if you do something effectively whether you're the lover or the comic or the action guy or the villain like I play movies are very expensive to make. Chances are you'll get asked to play that part again.

Somebody asked me about the current choice we're being given in the presidential election. I said Well it's like two of the scariest movies I can imagine.

I have asked myself once or twice lately what was my natural bent. I have no doubt at all: It is to look at each day for the evil of that day and have a go at it and that is why I have never failed to have an acute interest in each morning's letters.

When I got my very first phone call that I'd hit the 'New York Times' list I had a small rush of 'I've made it!' But the next morning it occurred to me I didn't know what it was so I called my agent and asked what being a 'New York Times' bestselling author really meant. He informed me that I was now a thousand pound gorilla.

My personality when tasked with creating meals goes something like this: Is there a way we can make this more difficult? Because let's do that. I don't mean to complicate things. It's just - why buy pre-packaged potato salad when you can spend your morning boiling potatoes and flipping out because there's no dill in the house?

I'd asked around 10 or 15 people for suggestions. Finally one lady friend asked the right question 'Well what do you love most?' That's how I started painting money.

I went to the bank and asked to borrow a cup of money. They said 'What for?' I said 'I'm going to buy some sugar.'

So you think that money is the root of all evil. Have you ever asked what is the root of all money?

When I was seven I asked my mom if I could be on TV and she said if I really wanted to I could. I got an agent and booked my first audition.

Well I was eight years old and I have an older cousin who is three years older than me and she was doing acting commercials and modeling at the time and... to see my cousin doing that was really inspiring and I wanted to do it. So I went to my mom and I asked her if I could do it and for the acting part of it she made me study for a year.

I was class mom at the preschool one year and I was pretty much asked not to do that again!

I'm so proud to represent the people of South Florida. I was so honored when President Obama asked me to serve as chair of the Democratic Party. But there's one job I'm even more proud of and that's being a mom to my three kids Rebecca Jake and Shelby.

I grabbed my mom and I went to the couch and I said 'Mom I want to ask Jesus to come into my heart.' And I got on my knee and I asked Jesus to come into my heart forgive me of my sins and make me a child of God.

I once heard two ladies going on and on about the pains of childbirth and how men don't seem to know what real pain is. I asked if either of them ever got themselves caught in a zipper.