I love a man with a great sense of humor and who is intelligent - a man who has a great smile. He has to make me laugh. I like a man who is very ambitious and driven and who has a good heart and makes me feel safe. I like a man who is very strong and independent and confident - that is very sexy - but at the same time he's very kind to people.

I really hate sitcoms on television with canned laughter and stuff. What really makes me laugh is the real-life stuff. I've got a dry sense of humor.

When you say a friend has a sense of humor do you mean that he makes you laugh or that he can make you laugh?

Feature-length film comedy is harder to pull off than the episodic sitcom - it doesn't have the same factory machinery up and running teams of writers putting familiar characters through permutations - but that doesn't explain the widening quality gap that makes movie humor look like a genetic defective.

Humor does not diminish the pain - it makes the space around it get bigger.

If you've never felt that you quite got a hold of it you just feel that before you die you've got to try and get it right once. And hope that the experience you have makes up for the some of the diminishing energy.

Music is something that always lifts my spirits and makes me happy and when I make music I always hope it will have the same effect on whoever listens to it.

There's hope for everyone. That's what makes the world go round.

If you're lucky enough to be involved in a film that's about something very real and that you hope will continue to hold up in 20 years' time it just gives you more energy and makes it feel all the more worthwhile.

A lot of people because of my contempt for the false consolations of religion think of me as a symbolic public opponent of that in extremis. And sometimes that makes me feel a bit alarmed to be the repository of other people's hope.

Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense regardless of how it turns out.

Hope is the only bee that makes honey without flowers.

I would describe myself as emotional and highly strung. If something upsets me it really upsets me. If something makes me angry I get really angry. But it's all very upfront. I can't hide it. I'm also loyal and I hope I'm fun.

Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense regardless of how it turns out.

It's like if you can't focus on a movie for 90 minutes without looking at your phone then don't go to the movies! You've got some issues so you should probably stay home and work on those issues and not distract everyone with lights and sounds oh my gosh the tapping on the screens it makes me crazy!

For President Obama 'home of the brave' are not just the last words of our national anthem but also a call to action. This is why the president's policies and our platform include incentives to train and hire our troops returning home. Not only because of our moral responsibility but because it makes for a stronger more secure American economy.

I love my parents. But I'm almost 28 and it's not fun to be asked 'What are you doing today? What do you want for dinner? When are you going to be home?' It just makes you feel like a kid. It's this juxtaposition of feeling annoyed and really lucky to have people who love you so much.

It's like now you're actually complaining because you're making $9 million and guys are making more? If it makes you that upset quit. Leave the game. Go home then and try finding another job that's going to pay you that.

Family makes a house a home.

Oh stuff the critics. I don't care. Too many people are snooty about classical. Look I wasn't brought up in a home where we listened to classical music. It was a singing teacher that thought it would be best for my voice. Then I moved into crossover. And if that makes the music accessible to more people then great.

The wonderful world of home appliances now makes it possible to cook indoors with charcoal and outdoors with gas.

Buy with your heart not your head. You can look at all the aspects that make a purchase practical but that kind of thinking makes it an investment rather than a home.

Students never think it can be the teacher's fault and so I thought I was stupid. I was frustrated and would come home and cry because I couldn't do it. Then we got a new teacher who made math accessible. That made all the difference and I learned that it's how you present it that makes it scary or friendly.

As much as I would love to be a person that goes to parties and has a couple of drinks and has a nice time that doesn't work for me. I'd just rather sit at home and read or go out to dinner with someone or talk to someone I love or talk to somebody that makes me laugh.