Debra Messing quotes:

I was always singing and dancing for my mother when I wasn't glued to the television watching I Love Lucy or the Carol Burnett Show.

When you're passionate about something, you want it to be all it can be. But in the endgame of life, I fundamentally believe the key to happiness is letting go of that idea of perfection.

I mean I love my family very much, but there is a difference when you're reuniting with your family outside of your hometown and reuniting in the family home.

You just hope that you will get the opportunity to do what you love and pay your bills, and that is being a success as an actor.

Project Runway' was my guilty pleasure while my son was napping or nursing.

I love London. I love England. We were out in the countryside and I had the time of my life.

I'm a little commitment phobic, in that I've always been someone who likes to take things one year at a time because as we all know, a year can change everything in your life.

I love London. I love England. We were out in the countryside and I had the time of my life

Yes, women, and men, have to be open to love, because if we're not open then there's no way for us to find happiness. But you can be open to it and still have no control over when it's going to happen.

It's a miracle to be an actor and to know that you have a job to go to a year from now is a rare thing, so I think peace of mind and financial stability come with that. Hopefully I'm a little wiser and have a little more perspective in my life than I did then.

My parents always made education and school the number one priority. They believed that an education is the best gift you can give to your child.

Court TV. I can't stop watching it. I am absolutely obsessed! If I'm not reading a book or spending time with my husband, my friends or my dog, I am watching Court TV.

I think for me it's just a matter of staying keyed into my lifelong friends from New York and family. And, you know, I'm pretty solitary. I'm a homebody. So I don't get out much to get into trouble

It's always been really important for me to try to maintain a balanced life, professional and personal, and this was absolutely something that my husband and I had hoped for.

I think Hollywood has always, you know, there's always been glamour associated to it. And especially in the last ten years there has been a growing sort of obsession with celebrity life and celebrity culture.

I think the institute of marriage is a noble thing. The idea of a partner for life is incredibly romantic. But now we're living to 100. A hundred years ago people were dying at age 37. Til death do us part was a much different deal.

I come from the New York theatre world, and I have a lot of gay male friends, so this friendship of Will and Grace's isn't such a stretch.

But I've become completely obsessed with taking photos on my iPhone. I have like 400 apps.

I'm very devoted to my husband and we've been together for a very long time.

Becoming a mother was the single defining event of my life. It felt like the whole world shifted.

I love to do glamorous things, like wear Valentino.

That whole world of musical theater was my first love. It's where I wanted to be when I was three years old.

Oh my God the fantasies are my favorite thing that we do each episode by far. And the great thing now is that instead of one an episode sometimes we do as many as two. We did one in each of the mini-series. And so far - I mean I keep thinking I can't have another favorite and then they keep topping it.

There's always - somehow a red carpet everywhere. And I think that, you know, it's a fantasyland out here, you know. It's beautiful. It's sunny all the time. You know, there are beautiful people everywhere because you're not allowed to cross the Los Angeles city lines unless you're beautiful or skinny - joking kind of.

To me, nothing is more fascinating or theatrical than real life. These people are in dire situations, where something extreme has happened in their lives.

And because I have a four-year-old son I have become a great baseball pitcher. And, you know, juggler.

I just think of couture clothing as wearable art. So from - to that extent I, you know, I love having the opportunity to just even be able to touch and look at, you know, these pieces of design. In terms of, you know, is it stressful and does it take a lot of time. It's mostly stressful because you're there because you're nominated.

Honesty is probably the sexiest thing a man can give to a woman.

Ask everyone whether they're an actor or a doctor or a teacher or whatever is entitled to his or her opinion. But unfortunately, because actors are in the public eye, whether we want it or not, sometimes our opinions carry more weight or influence than they deserve.

I pay parking tickets. You know, you can try to give 50%, but then they charge you all those penalties! Seriously, I have gotten many, many, many tickets in my life.

My biggest fantasy love affair was with Dustin Hoffman. It's so bizarre. Also Anthony Hopkins.

If I have a pocket, then I'll have lip balm, my keys, and $10 cash.

I was such a late bloomer when it comes to fashion.

'Project Runway' was my guilty pleasure while my son was napping or nursing.

I'll exercise in spurts, usually inspired by a dress that I have to fit into. But once that gown is squeezed into, if I continue to exercise, I get sick or I pull my back. For some reason my body literally rejects exercise.

So my son is very curious, which is fantastic. He loves school. So I don't have to encourage him too much, but I love to do it because I know it's meaningful and words are powerful.

Repeat after me: 'I am doing the best that I can.'

I'd be devastated if my son grows up to be a hetero. I mean, I'd still love him ... but as a parent you just envision a certain life for your child. I mean, if he's straight, think of all the fabulous things he's going to miss out on. When I think my son might never know the joys of having a quarter share on Fire Island and walking through Judy Garland Memorial Park on the way to the Meat Rack.

Well I would say that, you know, I agree in part with that it is fantasy and it is a romp in that, you know, the comedy stems from shining a light on the sort of more extreme aspects of the Hollywood culture. So, you know, anytime you turn up the gas, so to speak, on the stove and make things more extreme it becomes funny. But I do think that, you know, the other half of the show is absolutely relatable and that's been an important goal of ours.

It's the job that I take most seriously in my life and I think it's the hardest job.

I'm fascinated by diamonds. When I put diamonds on, my hands start to shake.

No it was never even discussed because it was, you know, an adaptation of a novel. And we - the mini-series encompassed the whole novel. And so it was always going to be a finite sort of event. And then I imagine when people started to really respond to the show and then we got ten Emmy nominations, USA sort of said, "Oh, I think maybe we have something here."

As scary as change can be and as much as I might resist it, there's always some unkown gift that comes out of it. I really never thought you could begin again. You can.

We just, you know, we're just sort of doing it like Bewitched, because we just think that the character of Kenny is so specific and so outrageous and so fun. And by far the hardest character to cast out of everybody to find someone who was capable of, you know, doing, you know, the comedy and just with the broadness and to be also just a really brilliant actor, you know, to do naturalism.

I don't think it's possible to have a wedding without it being stressful!

Creatively I just enjoy challenging myself in different genres.

It was hard to find somebody who could juggle both. And so we were really just focusing more on that. We figured, okay, if we're lucky enough to find somebody then, you know, the audience will get over it in one episode.

I'm just eating really, really clean healthy foods,

You can't control chemistry. You can't control, you know, just similar aesthetics creatively. And, you know, David and I didn't know each other prior to this. And we get along famously. So it's - I feel very lucky.

Court TV. I can't stop watching it. I am absolutely obsessed! If I'm not reading a book or spending time with my husband, my friends or my dog, I am watching Court TV

I know there must be something I should explore about that with my therapist.

Everything has to do with murder.

I would absolutely be a litigator. I watch Court TV every day.

I don't exercise - that's something I struggle with.

Oh Young Frankenstein - that's right, Body Heat, Raiders Of The Lost Ark. I mean, you know, it - they just keep going on and on and on - Mission: Impossible. And, you know, I think that the writers are having so much fun now with them that, you know, half the time, you know, people are just sitting around saying - trying to think of what's a great movie to copy.

I'm naturally lean and I'm constantly walking.

Do what makes you happy. And when it doesn't make you happy anymore, make a change -- without fear.

I am a fan of all of the same shows that David just listed. And then I also have a weird obsession with Court TV, which is now truTV - I don't know if you know that. Yeah they changed names. I don't know why they did that but they did. It was a little disconcerting to me at first. But I've gotten over it.

Whatever consequences come as a result, in terms of work, I'm fully prepared to embrace because it's a priority to me to be a mother.

You know, unfortunately divorce it happens in Kansas as much as it does in Hollywood. And, you know, women having to start over at 40, you know, for the first time in their life having to find a career and being a single parent and having to date. You know, all of those things happen everywhere in the world. It's not just Los Angeles. So I would defend the fact that there are, you know, there are other reasons to watch than just to get a laugh.

I'm a mom, and I'm always looking for ways to encourage, support, and embolden my son to help make him believe in himself.

It's essentially encouraging parents, teachers, and caretakers to remind children how special they are on a regular basis.

Write hand-written notes daily and commit to supporting the growth and self-esteem of children, because it makes such a big difference in terms of their capacity for learning.

I think that there's etiquette for every means of communication. People are very judgmental and have strict rules. I don't think you should end a relationship with a Post-it note. I know some people who get offended when an e-mail is sent as a "thank you" note instead of a hand-written card.

I'm thrilled because I think that, you know, everyone has gotten what they wanted. You know, I just wanted to be (there) surrounded with the best actors period.

And often when things turn to TV series there are so many different people with different agendas that things can morph. And so, you know, that was why having the executive producer title was important to me because even if I was the star and I had a concern, you know, that concern would only go so far. But having the title of executive producer actually makes them have to actually listen to me complain.

I love every aspect of the show. I've been very involved. It was important for me to be very involved in, you know, all of the creative elements. And so, you know, it - David, you know, being brought onto the show, you know, that - I always just wanted to make sure that we maintained the sophistication and intelligence of (the) - and the comedy that we were able to establish in the mini-series.

And so out of the blue the call did come and said, you know, "Would you be - would you consider turning this now into a series?" And so obviously that was a shock. And all the conversations began. And, you know, and now we're here. Now we're finishing up our last episode right now.

Okay well - no that is a very real thing seven-year-olds asking for BlackBerrys and cell phones and things like that. And that's one of the things I love most about the show is the social satire.

You know, making fun of the excessiveness and the priorities that are most stilted out here which does make it difficult to have a very sort of grounded, normal life because there's really nothing normal about Hollywood.

Well I remember the first thing that from coming from New York that just stunned me and I couldn't understand was that you valet park for everything. Even - you valet park to go to the dry cleaner. And that, you know, that just blew my mind. I was like, okay, you have to pay $5 to a guy to just drop off your dry cleaning. And so that, to me, was nuts - the fact you're always arriving.

You can see with the proliferation of magazines, you know, that just focus entirely on that. So it just - it seems like there (was) a lot of fodder and a lot of stories and fun things to poke fun at and highlight.

And that's just a terrifying and terrifying thing. And all the photographers and, you know, it's a different, unnatural setting that no one can prepare you for. But, you know, I just try and have as much fun as I can for as long as it lasts because I know it's a privilege.

Well first of all I was nine weeks pregnant at the time and no one knew it. So it was - it had a whole other meaning for me not just because I had to let the dress out, you know, every few days before the actual day. But, you know, because that was the, you know, more important than anything else that was going on in my life. But in terms of actually winning I think I had been nominated four or five times before then. And every one of my co-stars had won up until that point.

I had already just sort of decided okay it's just never going to happen. So when they - when my name was called it was an out of body, you know, just glorious moment. It shouldn't mean that much. But, you know, I'd be lying if I didn't say that it meant the world to know that my peers appreciated what I was doing.

Oh it's fantastic because I get to whip people like David into shape and tell them to go get me coffee. Kidding - okay.

We have so many different options now and ways to communicate digitally. But I don't think anything is more meaningful or powerful than a hand-written letter.

And I don't know where to find Ashley Danfield and all the other lovely commentators who show me live courtroom trials. To me, you know, I'm obsessed with it. Like I think maybe if I wasn't an actor I'd be a litigator. But, you know, it's always just shocking to see what happens in real life because most of the things that you see on those trials if you tried to write them into a TV series you would say oh gosh, no one would believe that would ever happen. But yet they always do in real life.