There are roles I am never considered for. Meryl Streep roles, let's say. Why not? I really wanted to do 'Ironweed,' for example, because the depression era in this country was one of the best for multiracial people, because everybody was poor. Everybody lived in the tents, and under buildings, and under gratings, together.

[On lightweight movies:] Fun movies. They were never meant to cure cancer, only to take away the mind.

If you get a little gassy, you've got to let it go. So people used to say to me, 'You're like a whoopee cushion.'

That's the thing about Mother Nature, she really doesn't care what economic bracket you're in.

I am the American Dream. I am the epitome of what the American Dream basically said. It said you could come from anywhere and be anything you want in this country. That's exactly what I've done.

In the dark times, if you have something to hold on to, which is yourself, you'll survive.

[On her monologue as the thief 'Fontaine':] People always got things. People always want things. So I provide a service.