Quotes from Valerie Harper

Stop working so hard at being interesting and focus on what's outside yourself. There are universes out there that need to be explored. And, an interested person is extremely interesting.

I had always wanted a steady job in this business, a show that lasted.

Do not tell somebody how to vote, just go up to them and tell them what Fahrenheit 9/11 meant to you. Fahrenheit will probably not win an Academy Award, but if you put it first on your list, it will become a nominee.

Knowing that you have something you have to deal with, rising to the occasion, builds character.

Don't go to the funeral until the day of the funeral. Live this day.

That's very unusual for an actor, to have gainful employment that they are secure in, that they know is going to be there year after year.

Mine's called leptomeningeal carcinomatosis. It's incurable. It's terminal. And it's in a tiny space - a huge area all around the brain and up and down the spine. But it's small area where the spinal fluid is. It's microscopic. You can't see it. It isn't lumps that they can say, 'Oh we can zap that.'

Miracles occur, or people die the next day.

I've always felt very strongly about human rights for blacks, women, and gays. Our Constitution is about equality for all - that's got to mean something to all of us.

I really got the 'Rhoda' flavor from studying my stepmother, Angela, who's Italian, not Jewish. There's really so little difference between the speech patterns and family attitudes of Jews and Italians in the New York area, anyway.

Luck is not an acceptable substitute for early detection.

I'm basically an actress, not a comedienne, and if something comes along that appeals to me, I'll do it.

I'm not dying until I do.

Don't live in fear of dying.

Above all, learn to live when you're dying.

I used to get some ego thing out of saying I wasn't a star, just an actress. Forget it. I'm a star. I wanted it. I worked for it. I got it.

Though I'm 75, I'm not looking forward to death, but it's there for all of us.

I have had a magnificent run.