Cara, ever since you told me at the age of four that you wanted to be Claudia Schiffer, while you were naked in the bath with a sponge on your head, I knew you were destined for great things.

I think people have to sharpen their eyes and look. I always feel like a big sponge: I feel like I learn lots of things by osmosis, and I feel that I'm always absorbing. I mean, when people say, 'What is your inspiration?' I could throw up. I mean, I'm inspired by the fact I get up in the morning. And I'm still here.

Clearly, for an organization to move on, it is the job of the leader to be that sponge that takes the stress from inside and the outside.

Children are very smart, in their own stupid way. A child's brain is like a sponge, and you know how smart sponges are.

A sponge has that much absorbent capability and after a while you can pour water over it and nothing stays.

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.

I'm a sponge for historical images of black people and black history on film.

I started in the kitchen of a Holiday Inn in Birmingham. I wanted to be a sponge, wanted to learn and progress. I knew I didn't want to work in a hotel forever, but I had some good teachers there.

I started out modeling at a young age and surrounded myself with different brilliant minds. I have so many people to get educated from, and I've been a sponge.

A sponge sees everything? A sponge sees nothing.

Written by a sponge dipped in warm milk and sprinkled with sugar.

You have to imagine you write a show about a sponge and you think that maybe a few people will think it is funny, some college students, but it takes off. It is truly shocking - to the point where it is bizarre.

If I'm seeing you, you're going to influence me. I'm sorry - I'm just that way. I'm a big sponge. You can't copyright an aesthetic.

New Orleans lives by the water and fights it, a sand castle set on a sponge nine feet below sea level, where people made music from heartache, named their drinks for hurricanes and joked that one day you'd be able to tour the city by gondola.

I feel like I'm kind of a bit of a sponge in a way. Like, if people around me are going through things, I find it very hard not to be empathetic.

I'm like a sponge: I like to listen.

Well, getting behind the camera is something I've always wanted to get involved with. Ever since I was doing movies like 'Zathura' I was very interested in all the different jobs on set and kind of soaking all the information up like a sponge.

I think one probably absorbs things like a sponge and things emerge without your always being aware of it.

I was actually born in New York. We lived there until I was three so I grew up watching Sesame Street and hearing the accent. You are a sponge at that age, soaking everything up.

I colour my hair mousy brown and I wear makeup only on stage. I use Laura Mercier - something called Biscuit, I think. I run one tiny sponge over my face and cover the red blotches. If I've got some rouge, I'll bung it on my mouth and cheeks.