Anderson Cooper

From the time I was growing up, if I felt that there was some, like, pot of gold waiting for me, I don't know that I would have been so motivated.

Not to sound too Dr. Phil all of a sudden, but I think the key to survival is to embrace one's past and to not run away from it. And to come to some sort of relationship with it or understanding of it.

I still feel like I'm learning a lot and have a lot to learn and improve on.

I am sort of drawn toward places in the world where there is struggle and conflict.

I rarely asks people for advice or permission when I'm planning on doing something I feel strongly about. That only opens the plan up to be crapped on.

I suppose if you've never bitten your nails, there isn't any way to explain the habit. It's not enjoyable, really, but there is a certain satisfaction - pride in a job well done.

If I'm hip, we've got a problem in this country. I really shouldn't be held up as any model of hipness. If anything, I think I'm sort of old school in my approach to objective reporting and not wearing my opinion on my sleeve. There's a lot of that in American TV news these days. Too much, in fact.

There's a number of places I've wanted to go but it's been determined too risky or that I'm relatively well-known, and therefore it might not be wise for me to pop up in this place.

When you lose a parent at ten years old, the world seems like a much scarier place. It makes complete sense to me that I took survival courses when I was a teenager and started going to war zones as a reporter. I didn't ever want to be taken advantage of, and I wanted to be able to take care of those around me.

I have a friend - I send her one text and I get 20 texts back. Guys don't want a million texts. It's exhausting.

I have no interest in jumping out of an airplane or any of the things people do for thrills, to push their limits and all that. To me, that seems foolish, and there's no point.

I wanted to be Amish when I was a kid. You just wear black and white - what could be better? One less thing to worry about.