Ellen DeGeneres

I collect old portraits. They're all just interesting pictures of people, and you just kind of wonder who they were and what they were. There's a guy - I don't know who he is, but he's wearing a suit. He's got his arms folded, and he looks like he sold insurance or something. I'm just wondering why someone painted him. ”

I'm not an activist; I don't look for controversy. I'm not a political person, but I'm a person with compassion. I care passionately about equal rights. I care about human rights. I care about animal rights. ”

Trying to get the talk show, looking back on it, we had to beg a lot of station managers to pick up the show because people thought no one would watch it because I'm openly gay. ”

A kid should be told that you can have feelings. ”

I say always follow your passion, no matter what, because even if it's not the same financial success, it'll lead you to the money that'll make you the happiest. ”

I wanted to have money; I wanted to be special; I wanted people to like me; I wanted to be famous. ”

I had everything I'd hoped for, but I wasn't being myself. So I decided to be honest about who I was. It was strange: The people who loved me for being funny suddenly didn't like me for being... me. ”

It's not like I grew up playing pranks on people, and I was not that girl in school. ”

My father was a first reader in the Christian Science Church, which is similar to being a preacher. There was no drinking, smoking or cursing. ”

I'm probably the most honest person you'll ever meet - to a fault, like, I-will-hurt-your-feelings honest. I'm sure if I lied about anything, it would have been silly, but I haven't retained that information. ”