I have acquired many wonderful principles from my family, and I intend to follow these for the rest of my life.

Being Miss Universe is much more than having a sash and a crown. It is about taking pride in my commitment to serving as an ambassador to my country - and to women everywhere.

I'm just a normal girl who dreams, who fights for what I believe.

I consider myself a woman endowed with inner beauty.

I wish I was super-serious, anguished. I see those actors, and I am like, 'Oh God, they are so cool, and they seem so interesting.' I don't take acting that seriously.

I had a lot of conversations with my family, my close friends, with my pastor, with God, and kind of came to a revelation that maybe I should be honest with myself about who I am and let that person - this woman who has lived inside me for my entire life - finally have an opportunity to live.

A lot of times, you finish a movie, and you're either going, 'Oh, thank God, that's over,' or 'Oh, my God, it's over, and I don't want it to end.'

Campaigning against religion can be socially counter-productive. If teachers take the uncompromising line that God and Darwinism are irreconcilable, many young people raised in a faith-based culture will stick with their religion and be lost to science.