I had really great parents who always gave me lots of opportunity for choice, but I didn't always realize how rare that was for a girl for them to say, 'You can be a mom or have a career or do both or do something we haven't thought of yet.'

Being a teen is past for me. Worrying about the world and my place in it is not.

There's nothing like reading about a world that feels dead to throw your own beautiful, colorful life into sharp relief.

In my own life, I'm pretty good at choosing between good and bad. It's the choices between good and good I find the most difficult to make.

To be a director, you have to think you're the best. Ever since I went to film school, I imagined that you have to think deep down that you want to be Martin Scorsese or you want to be P.T. Anderson. Like, am I as good as those guys? Absolutely not. I feel like I keep learning, and I feel like I keep getting better.

I am a teacher. It's how I define myself. A good teacher isn't someone who gives the answers out to their kids but is understanding of needs and challenges and gives tools to help other people succeed. That's the way I see myself, so whatever it is that I will do eventually after politics, it'll have to do a lot with teaching.

Of the five most important things in life, health is first, education or knowledge is second, and wealth is third. I forget the other two.

People like me who grew up in a working-class town, who don't have a college education, you don't usually hear from us.