Carly Simon

As a child I used to read Gone with the Wind over and over again. I wanted to be Scarlett O’Hara. I never wanted to believe that it was possible that there could be infidelity. I never wanted to be believe that it was even possible for a man to look another way, even for a moment. My bubble of monogamy was pierced in a harsh way.

I’ve sworn never to read any reviews ever again except those that are pointed out to me as nice ones. I would say that most of us who are considered in the artist realm just take it so terribly, and, you know, it can kill ya!

Fear came in so much in my life that it did everything but completely stop me.

From the first time I saw a picture of him, James Taylor was it — the ultimate Orpheus of all my fantasies.

One of the things about creativity is you can be in denial about these things. When I found out I had cancer, there were four hours in which I was pounding my head on the marble kitchen top saying, “I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it.” But then I felt as if this little army in uniform was flooding me. They had come to help me fight it. I felt really strong about it after that. It was one of the strongest periods of my life.

I never identified with the feminist movement in a strong way. I just kind of lived it. I didn’t politicize it. I didn’t follow any written rules to what it meant to be a feminist. I had my own sense of what was right and wrong.

I learned another thing from the hurt my cousin gave me – never to give that kind of hurt to anyone else. My revenge was to change a bad feeling into a good one. If I’m working with you and I sense you’re feeling a little insecure, I try to make you feel great. That’s how I get rid of my old hurt. If I don’t do that, my hurt grows and makes me mean and vengeful. But if hurt can change to kindness – that’s something Mama showed me – the world becomes a little less cruel.

I know what it’s like to be married and to live in a house with a garden, but it’s not something I’m striving for at the moment.

To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there.

Now that the baby is coming, I will do a lot more balancing. I’m going to be a real mommy.

The best thing about having a sister was that I always had a friend.

I owe much to mother. She had an expert’s understanding, but also approached art emotionally.

Every day, people serve their neighbors and our nation in many different ways, from helping a child learn and easing the loneliness of those without a family to defending our freedom overseas. It is in this spirit of dedication to others and to our country that I believe service should be broadly and deeply encouraged.

Nothing can stop me from loving my brother.

[On his mother] She certainly ran her own race… I thought my mother was nuts.

Nobody loves me but my mother – And she could be jivin’, too.

Those who have never had a father can at any rate never know the sweets of losing one. To most men the death of his father is a new lease of life.

It’s much worse to read criticism about your son than yourself.

There’s no other love like the love for a brother. There’s no other love like the love from a brother.

I have real good parents. They poor. They have regular, poor jobs and what not. They real good people and what not; I was just raised in a bad society.

I am an example of what is possible when girls from the very beginning of their lives are loved and nurtured by people around them.