Ryan Murphy

I was very much raised by my grandmother, who actually was Bette Davis - looked like her, acted like her, talked like her. Probably, it was just out of my love and affection for my grandmother that I was interested in Bette.

I love Larry Kramer's advocacy, and I love him as a person, and I think young people need to see that story.

I love 'Girls' on HBO because it's brave and cool.

I've always been sort of, 'I love it,' or, 'I hate it,' and I think, as a result, I've always been a polarizing person. You either love me or you hate me. There's not a lot of 'Hmmm.'

I love crispy, cool sheets.

All the things I have done at one point or another have fallen out of fashion, and there's nothing better than trying to bring something back to life.

You've not felt the pain of rejection until a television show based on your own life is canceled.

The only way to get through the life I had was just to have a big head of steam and determination.

I loved musicals, and I loved Barbra Streisand, and I loved Louis Malle. My tastes were very bizarre, but the thing they all had in common is that they took me out of my life and made me feel something.

I actually think actors both are drawn to playing real-life historical people and are terrified.

When I talk to young people, I always tell them the biggest lesson I learned was that you shouldn't care about the outcome. If it fails, it fails. Every failure will groom you for your next big reward.

Sometimes in entertainment, when people have done the Academy Awards - like, for example, in 'The Bodyguard' - I just didn't believe it; it didn't feel authentic.