myself

Any decision I make is based on myself, and the only person I have to give an explanation to is God.

Allowing myself to love God completely has obviously shed light on my self-love because he loves me more than I could ever love myself.

I am God's vessel. But my greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live.

I just find myself happy with the simple things. Appreciating the blessings God gave me.

People face difficulties, no matter who you are. I faced difficulties with a lot of things. I face opposition every day, but I didn't kill myself and now, thank God, I'm here.

I'm really aware of the conversations that surround young actresses in Hollywood. I always get myself into a hole with these conversations, and I get weirdly quoted, and I sound militant and like I'm not thankful at all, and I'm so thankful of everything that's happening. But I'm an active observer of the machinations of this world.

I still don't look at myself as a star. I've always had a thankful heart.

There's a tremendous difference between alone and lonely. You could be lonely in a group of people. I like being alone. I like eating by myself. I go home at night and just watch a movie or hang out with my dog. I have to exert myself and really say, oh God, I've got to see my friends 'cause I'm too content being by myself.

I want to let my fans get to know a little about me. I'm very thankful for everything they've done for me so, of course, I'm going to let them into my world a bit. But I really am a very private person, and I love kepping my life to myself - that's how I've always been.

I have a fine level of recognition in the business and among the acting community now, so I consider myself one of the lucky ones. If I didn't think that, there would be something wrong with me. I'm grateful and thankful for what I've got.

I'm thankful for all the things that this job has given me and my family. But probably the thing that I am most proud of throughout my career is that, not only myself, but my family and the people around me have just been regular people, which we are.

It's not that I don't value my life. It's just that I love taking chances, testing myself, stepping over the line.

It's been quite a roller coaster ride, but I've grown and learned a lot about myself. The greatest thing is being able to interact with fans and touch people's lives... for that I give thanks.

All I ever wanted really, and continue to want out of life, is to give 100 percent to whatever I'm doing and to be committed to whatever I'm doing and then let the results speak for themselves. Also to never take myself or people for granted and always be thankful and grateful to the people who helped me.

I didn't see myself any different from my white counterparts in school. I just didn't! I thought I could do what they did. And what I didn't do well, I thought people were going to give me the opportunity to do well, because maybe they saw my talent, so they would give me a chance. I had no idea that they would see me completely different.

When I left for college, I told myself that this was a chance for reinvention. No one on the other side of the country knew that I was an introvert, so maybe if I tried not acting like an introvert, I wouldn't be one.

I have questioned myself about the brutality in the last few novels. Actually in 'The Leopard,' in hindsight, I feel I went a little bit too far with screaming blood. There are a couple of scenes that I regret and wish I had the chance to rewrite. 'Phantom' has less blood.

You don't have the judgment after you've had the drink. If something truly catastrophic had happened that evening, I don't know how I could have lived with myself. I feel like I've gotten a second chance.