Forest Whitaker: "I wasn't sure what was going to happen tonight, but I thought something magical was going to happen, because I could feel the breath on my neck. And to me, that's like my ancestors speaking to me . . . telling me, 'We're with you.'"

Jennifer Hudson: "I'm going to go to the Vanity Fair party and the Governor's Ball. That'll be it, I'm not a partier. I'll sit down with myself and have my own private party."

Melissa Etheridge: "This is the only naked man that will ever be in my bedroom," Melissa Etheridge told the press backstage, holding up her historic Oscar: the first ever song victory for a documentary. She admitted she was surprised that her tune beat the music from one competitive film. "'Dreamgirls' is what music and movies are about," she said. "It's a musical, and it's what I grew up loving. Had there not been three songs . . . you might be talking to a different person here."