I began to be impressed by what made a good book-how you needed to have a sensible story, a plot that developed, with a beginning, a middle, and an end that would tie everything together.

A song doesn't just come on. I've always had to tease it out, squeeze it out. 'No thesaurus can give you those words, no rhyming dictionary. They must happen out of you.

Grab your coat, and get your hat Leave your worry on the doorstep Just direct your feet To the sunny side of the street.

There aren't more lady songwriters for the same reason that there aren't more lady doctors or lady accountants or lady lawyers; not enough women have the time for careers.

If you don't have a story that will hold the audience, you won't have a successful show.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning could write a poem two pages long. Could she have brought it to a music publisher?

In a show or a movie, one must work with many people. Many women just don't have the time for it.