Thank you for sending me a copy of your book - I'll waste no time reading it.

The real trick to auditioning is just letting go of trying to please them. Make it your own. That took me a long time to learn.

If you say I just yell on records, that means you ain't a real fan of me, and I would never even give your comment the time of day.

You spend most of your time as an actor unemployed, so you're not going to hear me complaining that I haven't had a day off in three weeks.

'Star Trek' never grabbed me. Every time I hear about Klingons, I think of those little lint balls that stick to your clothes in the dryer.

What's valuable to me has become clearer as I've got older. To me, it's about the value of your time and your day and the value of the people you spend it with.

The main thing for me is I really like strong endings. If there's a strong ending, you can take more time in the beginning, your first act can be really quite different.

There certainly was a time when I started when people looked at me as the secretary to Dr. Buss. Being the boss' daughter amongst your peers, you gotta show up every day.

Sometimes, it's hard for me to communicate my discomfort because I want to be respectful. At the same time, I've learned that you have to ask people on your team to help you out.

The basic idea of retirement income is, to me, to get a check, two checks every month, one from your fixed income and one from equity account. And you want them to grow over time.

I remember, at MIT, we had to write an essay about something mathematical that you do in your extra time. I basically wrote about how dance, to me, was geometry: it was all shapes.

Some of the actors who came to cinema much later than me have tried their hand at direction. But, I don't intend to wield megaphone anytime soon, since it is tough and requires a lot of your time.

With a play, for me, there's no time to sit back on it. You're living on your instincts. And every night there are subtle changes and adjustments, because what's in front of you is a living, breathing audience.

People make suggestions on what to say all the time. I'll give you an example; I don't read what's handed to me. People say, 'Here, here's your speech, or here's an idea for a speech.' They're changed. Trust me.

My first ambition was to be a show jumper. I did a bit of dressage as part of it, and the dressage trainer saw me and said, 'Why are you wasting your time with the other stuff? You should be concentrating on this.'

I haven't had an orthodox career, and I've wanted more than anything to have your respect. The first time I didn't feel it, but this time I feel it, and I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!

You look at a surgeon as you would a secular priest, almost, if it's your child, if it's your sister on the operating table. That was an idea that very much has interested me and I've wanted to explore for some time.

Wherever we roll, it didn't really matter, chicks would come to me no matter what. Even before anything. But a lot of the time when it doesn't happen, you have more fun anyway, because you can hang out with your boys.

I sift through the scripts offered to me and see what is worth attempting, because I think there is no point in wasting your time in doing something which you are not too keen on. I try and do whatever I feel interested in.

People often think that losing your job is one of the worst things that can happen to someone. And, in some cases, that might be true. But for me, unemployment can be the time and the motivation to finally go after my goals.

Give your child quality time. If you're going to be with him for two hours, then disconnect from absolutely everything. Look at him in the eyes - get to know your baby. Sitting there as you watch TV is not quality time to me.

You don't really want to play your brother. You want to play your brother in a championship game because not only does someone lose, someone's going to win a championship, too. To me, that's the only time you're really looking to do it.

The hardest thing for me was probably the different roles in the Performance Center because when you go to the Performance Center and become a WWE Superstar, you're on a different schedule. But in the indies or in Mexico, you have your time.

Speaking as a parent, I don't think parents think all the time about structures. I know from conversations I've had with other mums, I'll ask: 'Is your child's school an academy or a local authority school?' - and they'll look at me blankly.

The highest compliment I could ever receive about my kids - and I can say that this does happen frequently - is when the in-flight crew say to me, 'Your children are wonderful. They are so well-behaved.' Every time I am told that, I could weep.

My coach keeps telling me to say I'm not going to retire. I should just go through the motions and see what I feel every year and see if I really want to do it, but personally, I want to do it, but my coach says just take your time, don't rush.

In California, the lines on the road are just a suggestion. They're in the left lane with the left indicator on, so naturally it's time to turn right! Are you kidding me? In your Prius? I know, you're saving the Earth by trying to kill the people!

There's so much attached to playing shortstop that you lose your concentration on hitting, unless you're a natural hitter. There's so much to think about in the field, you don't have time to think about what you did at the plate last time. 'How did he get me out?'

My hairstylist taught me a trick for my hair. You section off your hair and put them up in these crazy little knots and then it looks like you curled your hair. It's saved me so much time 'cause on the road you don't have time or plugs to plug your curling iron in.

Every time a young girl comes in and asks me for advice, if you start your conversation with, 'How hard is it as a black woman,' or, 'How hard is it as a woman,' I turn you around. Because I cannot - we cannot look at the roadblocks and see the road at the same time.

These days I have to be extra nice in stores. It never fails that whenever I look as bad as I can possibly look or I am sort of cranky because the store is out of something, that is precisely the time when someone one will recognize me and say: 'I really like your show.'

To play Hillary Clinton? I'm kind of winging it. No, are you kidding me? I prepared obsessively. I mean, as much as I could in the time that I was given. Of course, with someone like Hillary Clinton, obviously, anything you want is on YouTube and at your fingertips there.

Any time anyone says anything nice about me, whether it's Lady Gaga or your neighbor, it's a nice feeling, I'm very grateful for it. It's very helpful for your career. Every time someone says something complimentary it introduces you to their audience. It gives you credibility.

Find a poet whose style you like, emulate that style, then deal with things that you know about - don't waste your time looking for your own style.' I wish I could remember who told me that, because I'd like to congraulate him. I've emulated all the old guys - Tennyson, Alexander Pope.

I remember the first time my friend Colin Lewis, who used to be a judge with me on a show on MuchMusic called 'disBAND,' told me, 'I think I just found your next favorite artist to adore.' He sent me The Weeknd, and he was completely spot on. The Weeknd is literally on every playlist I have.

Even a liberal city will have a prehistoric homophobe. After a show in Washington State, this guy came up to me and said, 'Your shows was a lot funnier before you started in on your agenda.' I told him, 'Please, please keep people like you from coming to my show. I'm glad you had a bad time.'

My sister told me: 'You need to have a baby so that you've got someone to look after you when you're old.' And I was like: 'Hang on - I thought that's what the NHS was for? Unless the NHS is that screwed by the time I'm old, you've literally had to give birth to your own medical professional.'

The idea of trust-fund guys who live in Brooklyn in their 30s is really interesting to me. There's a time and a place where that kind of bohemian lifestyle is appropriate, soon after college, in your 20s. But there are people still living that many years later; they haven't evolved to the next phase.

I like a director who is very observant and is watching what I'm doing and noticing what I'm doing but is giving me time to figure it out. They don't jump right in and give you a note before you've had time to really search on your own with how to do a scene. I like a director that encourages me to be playful.

The more confidence you get as far as games under your belt, time spent with the guys, time in an offense, dealing with all the bull crap that you deal with in this profession. At some point you're kind of like, 'Screw it. I'm going to be me and do everything I can to win and if they don't like it, then oh well.

I keep a $2 bill rolled up in every pair of boots I own because one time, an older guy came up to me at a farmer's market I was playing in Memphis, handed me a $2 bill, and said, 'Stick this in your boot.' And when I stood back up, he handed me a $100 bill and said, 'Thanks for listening to me. Stick this in your pocket.'

I don't look at my instrument as having one specific role; I was raised to go as far as you can. But Raphael Saadiq hated my bass. He told me to throw it away. And playing in Snoop's band, there was a time when my bass was more annoying to everyone than helpful. They would get on my case: 'Can you make your bass sound like more of a bass?'

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