The woman with dark hair, wide hips, and a few extra pounds has always been the essence of beauty in Morocco.

The Western man declares that in order to be beautiful, a woman must look 14 years old. If she dares to look 50, or worse, 60, she is beyond the pale. By putting the spotlight on the female child and framing her as the ideal of beauty, he condemns the mature woman to invisibility.

Educated women armed with computers have defeated extremists by denying them a monopoly to define cultural identity and interpret religious texts. No extremist can say that women are inferior to men without being made a laughingstock on Al Jazeera. Islam insisted on equality between everyone.

In Islamic societies, politicians can manipulate almost everything. But thus far, no fundamentalist leader has been able to convince his supporters to renounce Islam's central virtue - the principle of strict equality between human beings, regardless of sex, race, or creed.

To understand the fanatic rejection of women's liberation in the Muslim world, one has to take into account the time factor. Most of us educated women have illiterate mothers. The conservative wave against women in the Muslim world is a defense mechanism against profound changes in both sex roles and the touchy subject of sexual identity.

Well, Steve Vai joined my dad's band right around the time when I actually started playing guitar. So he gave me a couple of lessons on fundamentals, and gave me some scales and practice things to work on. But I pretty much learned everything by ear.

Make-up is the last thing to enhance your beauty, but it's very important because it builds up your self-confidence and gives you more courage.

I keep up with everything in terms of health, fitness, nutrition, skin care, hair, nails. Really, everything. I'm an avid reader of every women's health newsletter from every hospital in the country.

My efforts to join the fight against breast cancer all began around the fact that women were getting short-changed in the medical arena.

Of capital importance is to have a good diet and exercise a lot.

It's important to maintain an attractive smile as you age. A lighter, less beige, more white tooth color is key, but no Chiclets.

The original theme of 'Beauty and the Beast' is don't judge a book by its cover. Love what's inside.

The human face is the organic seat of beauty. It is the register of value in development, a record of Experience, whose legitimate office is to perfect the life, a legible language to those who will study it, of the majestic mistress, the soul.

Would Jove appoint some flower to reign, in matchless beauty on the plain, the Rose (mankind will all agree). The Rose the queen of flowers should be.

I am very thankful and blessed to have a healthy and happy baby boy and baby mama.

I grew up in North Carolina, and they have a soft drink called Sun Drop. I love the diet version of it. It's the greatest thing on the face of the earth. I always have it in my fridge - bus fridge and home fridge.

Maybe it's oldest-child syndrome, but I have always been competitive, even as a kid with sports. It spills into my career.

Life doesn't get more real than having a newborn at home.

I went to my dad when I was 17 and said, 'I want to be a country music star.' Which every dad loves to hear. And he said, 'I want you to go to college.' So we had a discussion. And I'm pretty stubborn. I'm a lot like him. And he said, 'If you go to college and graduate, I'll pay your first six months of rent in Nashville.' So he bribed me.

The beauty of 'The Hunger Games' and also 'Game of Thrones,' in fairness, both projects have really complex, three-dimensional, contradictory, strong women... The writing of female characters is extraordinary and equal to the men.

So many little girls dream about their wedding day. But with actresses, sometimes it's the inverse, because we get to be the centre of attention, looked up and down, dressed up for premieres all the time. The pull isn't quite as great.

I'm a feminist in the true sense of the word. It's about equality.

For me, it's not necessarily interesting to play a strong, fearless woman. It's interesting to play a woman who is terrified and then overcomes that fear. It's about the journey. Courage is not the absence of fear, it's overcoming it.

I've played a lot of elegance and refinement, so to do something really down and dirty is a great attraction.

I've always been a history lover. I've spent a lot of recreational time walking around historical castles and estates, in Britain and Europe, and so I know what the real thing looks like.

Perfect is very boring, and if you happen to have a different look, that's a celebration of human nature, I think. If we were all symmetrical and perfect, life would be very dull.

Sometimes a woman's looks or sensuality are too readily wrapped up in their power.

I love watching the old movies. I love Katharine Hepburn. I just adore her and everything that she stood for. I find it interesting watching the likes of Gene Tierney and those classic movies of the '40s.

You can think what you like of Madonna - about her political choices and her PR - but you have to respect her courage not to let the critics stop her exploring her potential.

What makes me really happy is a walk in the English countryside. A nice sunset, that British countryside - it means I'm home.

I get accused of having a haughty smugness. I have a lopsided mouth. I can't help it. I was born with it. It looks as if I am smirking. I have had my publicist tell me, 'Don't do that smile on the red carpet.' I'm, like, 'That's my smile.'

I'm cool with the way I look, I'm not an ugly dog, but I don't see myself as a stud or anything.

It's been a huge blessing, being able to travel and have a great life.

I was a total athlete. I loved sports, but when I realized I wasn't going to be a professional athlete, I realized I wanted to be in movies.

I'm the kind of guy that if I don't work out, I will get bigger and look like one of the guys who used to play sports.

My role model is my dad.

In Wyoming, the beauty of our mountains is matched only by the grit of our people.

I don't believe we ought to discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation. If people are in a same-sex relationship, and they want their partner to be able to have health benefits or be designated as a beneficiary in your life insurance, there's no reason we shouldn't do that.

Beauty is nature's brag, and must be shown in courts, at feasts, and high solemnities, where most may wonder at the workmanship.

None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but licence.

Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.

Death is the golden key that opens the palace of eternity.

The stars, that nature hung in heaven, and filled their lamps with everlasting oil, give due light to the misled and lonely traveller.

I also became close to nature, and am now able to appreciate the beauty with which this world is endowed.

If a man can bridge the gap between life and death, if he can live on after he's dead, then maybe he was a great man.

Death can't be considered because, if you're afraid to die, there's no room in your life to make discoveries.

Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today.

My purpose in life does not include a hankering to charm society.

Only the gentle are ever really strong.

Trust and belief are two prime considerations. You must not allow yourself to be opinionated.