We're all works of art in progress.

I'm doing the best I can with the ravages of time on my body and I'm a work in progress. I can't write a memoir because I can't do it this week or next week... I try to be an inspiration to the young to respect their older people; we can't stay the same, but we do the best we can with what's left. You can't whine about stuff, you have to learn to eat humble pie along the way and keep going, because the alternative is going to happen.

My mother was harsh and constantly told me I had jug ears and heaven knows what else. But she was devoted and a hard worker.

I'm loath to do interviews. What comes out is generally not what I meant or thought I was saying or thought they were asking.

I'm totally formed by my mother's interest in fashion. As a Hungarian immigrant, she couldn't afford clothes. She made all her clothes from patterns. It was not dépassé to make your own clothes, it was a respected skill and it was financially expedient. I learned that doing it yourself, having self-discipline and working went hand in hand. To work passionately at something is the key. I'm fortunate and blessed to have had, for the most part in my life, the privilege to work at something I'm passionate about.

We were so poor that my mother would often leave me in a foster home until she could raise enough money to rent rooms for us.

I don't live for stuff and things, and if I had to live in a cardboard box, I would put curtains on it.