When I was your age, I used to treat the crust like it was just there to hold the good stuff in. I used to leave the whole back end of it on the plate. As I got older, I learned to appreciate the crust.

My sense of religion is Einstein's sense of relativity. I don't believe in God. I believe that energy never dies. So the possibility exists that you might be breathing in some other form of Moses or Buddha or Muhammad or Bobby Kennedy or Roosevelt or Martin Luther King or Jesus.

I'm blessed. I have a 13-year-old girl's eye and a 14 year-old boy's eye. I've been given the gift of sight by people who decided to donate organs. I try to do as much organ-donor work as I can.

When I'm on the road with concerts, people ask me to autograph my CDs, but more and more they come up with the cookbooks.

I believe there's a common ground in what all gifted writers write. It has to do with their wish to turn darkness into light.

I moved to New York to go to Julliard Drama School. Didn't sing a single note of music.

One of the greatest gifts that 'Homeland' has given me is it's affirming on a daily basis.