Whenever I start to talk about acting, people's eyes roll back in their heads and they lose the will to live, so I don't think I'm going to go into that.

[after being asked if she had any last words after giving an interview for the March 2007 issue of Redbook magazine] Yes. Please write "Felicity Huffman is smart. And thin.".

I feel ashamed of us. We had an opportunity to lead the world in a different way after 9/11 and we blew it. And I don't know if we'll ever recover. And then we re-elected that bonehead. I want to walk around saying, "I'm so sorry." America's a dichotomy. It's binge and purge. It's really right-wing, and also the left is coming up. It's stuff yourself and then starve yourself.

There are so few perks about getting older. Everything heads south and you become less and less attractive, but one of the perks is that you can usually learn to come home to yourself. You're a little more comfortable in your skin, as saggy as it is. And that's a gift.

In the new millennium, we're fighting against the icon of the perfect mother. I don't know about here, but in America you're not allowed to talk about how it's driving you crazy, or how you don't like it, or how, if you have to give a bath one more time, you're going to pull your hair out. Because then you're considered a bad mom. There's a very established conversation or litany, which is, "Isn't motherhood the best?" To me, that question just isn't applicable. You can complain about your job, you can complain about your husband, you can complain about your friends, but God forbid you complain about your kids.

[on her Oscar nomination] I'm shot into the stratosphere. You can't pasteurize the Academy Award. You can't negotiate it. It is the top. It is the biggest thing ever. I've been hopping around and screaming all morning.

I know as actors our job is usually to shed our skins, but I think as people our job is to become who we really are and so I would like to salute the men and women who brave ostracism, alienation and a life lived on the margins to become who they really are. [acceptance speech at the 66th Golden Globe]

Having it in your pants is really different. Because all your focus goes there. It's like this thing, dangling, which takes all of your attention. It's no wonder that it's all they think about. [on the prosthetic penis she wore for her role as a man undergoing a sex change operation in Transamerica (2005)]

My main experience is that this is a freelance business, and in a freelance business you're always sure your last job really is your last job. With the show comes job security.