I didn't go to drama school or anything, and I learned on the job. And it's nice to have the chance to pretend to be other people. As a singer, though, I feel there's much more of me in that. I've written the songs, I'm singing them, I'm exposing my feelings.

Music just makes sense to me. I don't ever worry when I'm singing. It's the safest place. I am a bit of worrier.

Nobody can raise your kids like you can yourself.

Acting is something that I really love when I am doing it, as it is interesting and fun to pretend to be someone else, but I don't ever miss it when I am not doing it.

I hope that most of us believe that we actually would all benefit from living in a more equitable society. If that's not happening, we're squandering human potential.

Scholars are deeply gratified when their ideas catch on. And they are even more gratified when their ideas make a difference - improving motivation, innovation, or productivity, for example. But popularity has a price: people sometimes distort ideas and, therefore, fail to reap their benefits.

Americans are right to believe the American Dream is fading. But that dream only became a possibility for white men as a result of the labor struggles and reforms of the New Deal, and it began to extend to minorities and women only after the civil rights and women's movements of the 1960s and 1970s.

On a personal level, my mom is my biggest inspiration. She's always been an idol for me. I used to dream about growing up and being like her.