I always had short hair, and I hated my short hair. I was always mistaken for a boy, but my mom wouldn't let me change my hair because she was always chasing me around with a hairbrush, and it was always tangled, so she just would cut it off, and she's right: short hair did suit me.

My mom is an excellent mom. She knows I am irascible, prickly, and antisocial. She knows that most human interaction makes me tired and that I either scare people away with precise invectives or trot out the fakest, nicest skinjob of myself because it requires zero effort.

I wasn't one to go out and buy a new car and stereo system and expensive clothes. My mom helped keep me grounded.

People have to understand how important it is for kids to be nurtured by their mom and dad and get the great role modeling when they are young.

When motherhood becomes the fruit of a deep yearning, not the result of ignorance or accident, its children will become the foundation of a new race.

My mom decorated with lots of antiques. I never liked it when I was a little girl - I wanted to live in a modern house. But now I love it.

Being a mom makes you far more compassionate. You have more empathy for people, more love. I was always taught to say thank you, and I'm very grateful. And my kids have that quality, too.

My mom would still be mad if I didn't say 'please' and 'thank you.'

I remember one time when all the nuns in my Catholic grade school got around in a semicircle, me and Mom in the middle, and they said, 'Mrs. Farley, the children at school are laughing at Christopher, not with him.' I thought, 'Who cares? As long as they're laughing.'

When your mom and dad read the paper, they like to know their sons are on the roster.

I can't resist South Indian cuisine, particularly what is prepared at home. My mom is my favourite cook. She can cook a variety of cuisines. I savour her cooking at home, and she's undoubtedly the best.

All of us kids ended up 'doing Mom.' There are four of us who've tried show business. Five if you insist on counting my sister the nun, who does liturgical dance.

My mom and grandma, growing up, one thing they emphasized was that you need to make sure that anything you put on your skin is also digestible by the body. For example, if something isn't safe for me to eat or consume, it's probably not good for your face. So I do a lot of natural remedies.

I was brought up as an only child, and we were very close. But when I was 14, we got evicted. We came home to a padlock, and I looked up at my mom and she was crying, and there was nothing to do.

I am not a woman on Monday, an immigrant on Tuesday, a worker on Wednesday, and a mom on Thursday, I am all of those things all of the time, and I am going to fight for all of those things all of the time.

As others have recently suggested, the term 'gamer' is no longer useful as an identity because games are for everyone. These days, even my mom spends an inordinate amount of time gaming on her iPad. So I'll take a cue from my younger self and say I don't care about being a 'gamer,' but I sure do love video games.

I remember, when I was 7, my dad found a pregnant dog on the railroad track one day and brought her home. So my mom explained about how this dog was married but that her husband had passed away - she didn't want me to even think that a dog could have babies without being married.

I don't want to let my life as a woman pass me by. There's a time to work, there's a time to be young and crazy, and there should be a time to enjoy motherhood. I'm actually looking forward to that.

Something my mom taught me when I was little is that everything happens for a reason.

I am so blessed. I have an incredible wife, children I adore; I'm a very happy man. I've got a great mom and dad and brothers and sisters and stuff, so I've always been happy. And I never stop smiling.

I was raised by my mom. My dad was always traveling, but she allowed me and encouraged me to be close to my dad. So I grew up with three parents: my mom, my dad and my stepmom. Ninety percent of the time I was with my mom, and 10 percent was with my dad.

I definitely got my philanthropic genes from my mom and dad. They taught me from a very early age to always lend a helping hand to anyone in need, and I hope to raise my daughter to be a very kind and charitable person.

I moved from New York to El Paso in 2015, just before my senior year. I was super nervous. My mom, she's in the Army, and she got stationed at Fort Bliss. We packed everything up and drove all the way to El Paso.

My mom has always wished me a daughter just like me.

It's tough growing up where I grew up. My family is very small and really tight. Just being around the neighborhood, my brothers were always around. I didn't want to be in any trouble because I knew my mom or brothers would find out. I didn't want to hurt their feelings. I just tried to do everything right.

Becoming a mom has really thrown me for a loop. I figured I had this job in the bag because I took care of my brother and my nephew. No way!

I think my mom always wanted to play the guitar, and somehow she projected that to me. So I started learning to play guitar when I was five years old, but actually I'd never managed to get the academic side of it. So even up to today, I don't know how to read or write music.

My dad named me Dakota and my mom came up with my first name Hannah. So it's Hannah Dakota Fanning.

I think the most fun part about working on 'Good Luck Charlie' is spending time with everyone, honestly, because everybody on set is like my brother and sister and mom and dad. They're so fun to be around, so that's probably the best part about working there.

My mother thinks I am the best. And I was raised to always believe what my mother tells me.

I lead by example. My kids know what sweat is. They've seen me come home from so many runs and asked, 'What's on your skin? How did you get it?' And I tell them, 'It's from exercise!' So now my son will come home from a bike ride, take off his helmet and say, 'Look, Mom. I'm sweating! I just worked out!'

Learn to expect less from life and more from yourself. Accept the changes that life throws at you. Remember, your destiny is pretty much in your hands. So, as your mom may have told you, keep them clean.

I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her.

There was never a child so lovely but his mother was glad to get him to sleep.

My mom was a terrible parent of young children. And thank God - I thank God every time I think of it - I was sent to my paternal grandmother. Ah, but my mother was a great parent of a young adult.

I like anywhere with a beach. A beach and warm weather is all I really need. I like going to Florida - to Miami and to visit my mom in Fort Meyers.

Food feeds both the body and soul - there are clear reasons to eat a balanced diet, but there are also reasons you cling to your mom's secret chicken noodle soup recipe when you're sick.

My mother used to tell me man gives the award, God gives the reward. I don't need another plaque.

My strength comes from my mom. Just seeing what she had to go through to raise us, she wouldn't make excuses; she wouldn't put her head down. So I guess I looked at adversity right in the eye and took it on.

For everything I do, I think about a 6-year-old girl and her mom that I saw at my concert last night. I think about what those two individuals would think if I were at a club last night. I never want to be arrested, and I never want to get a DUI, those are my moral values.

It is not until you become a mother that your judgment slowly turns to compassion and understanding.

If I could get any animal it would be a dolphin. I want one so bad. Me and my mom went swimming with dolphins and I was like, 'How do we get one of those?' and she was like, 'You can't get a dolphin. What are you gonna do, like, put it in your pool?'

I always had to mask my emotions. I could never show that I missed my mom or my dad, especially when they moved to America. My grandparents were tough. I was not allowed to receive letters that had not been read before. Everything was controlled - everything!

My mom was a housewife and a sponge, who would absorb everything and make it all look like a fairytale when he entered the house. For instance, when he came home, I would always be seen studying with my books open. She always made sure that Dad went back to the shoot happily.

Once you're a mom, always a mom. It's like riding a bike, you never forget.

My mom told me if I ever got a tattoo, she was going to take it off with a potato peeler.

Me and my mom are pretty cool. My mother's Caribbean, and she gets a little spicy, and I get a little spicy back.

Motherhood is the only thing in my life that I've really known for sure is something I wanted to do.

My dad never quit no matter what. He couldn't see, but he never let that stop him. Most people, when something like that happens, they just think their life is over. But that's not true. My dad can still do things like a normal person. He still cooks; he still watches my sister and my brother's baby when my mom's not home.

Dad's Jewish and Irish, Mom's German and Scotch. I couldn't say I was anything. My last name isn't even Downey. My dad changed his name when he wanted to get into the Army and was underage. My real name is Robert Elias. I feel like I'm still looking for a home in some way.