Quotes

(on marital plans) I've always been very sceptical about marriage, because I only want to do it once; I want to do it the right way.

I've learned that success comes in a very prickly package. Whether you choose to accept it or not is up to you. It's what you choose to do with it, the people you choose to surround yourself with. Always choose people that are better than you. Always choose people that challenge you and are smarter than you. Always be the student. Once you find yourself to be the teacher, you've lost it.

I remember sitting down in Joel Silver's office and Joel going, "Do you want to do this film?". I remember going, "I would like to do it, but I would love to talk about the character", and it was almost like I had said the biggest joke.

The only reason I haven't married yet, is because I take it too seriously.

Fame means when your computer modem is broken, the repair guy comes out to your house a little faster.

I have no desire to maintain a lifestyle. I am a horrible celebrity. If I am out in public, I dress like a pig.

The Acadamy Awards shouldn't even nominate Meryl Streep anymore. She should just be given an award every year. There should just be the Meryl Streep category.

Everyone told me to pass on Speed (1994) because it was a "bus movie".

I'd rather take risks than make something that's cookie cutter.

The first Miss Congeniality (2000) gave me the chance to do broad comedy that had nothing to do with being the romantic interest. The girl-next-door thing went away with that film and I tend to do characters that I want to be more like. In the beginning, though, I was sort of the "action girl". And then with While You Were Sleeping (1995), I was the romantic-comedy girl. But when I took time off, I thought, "There's something I'm missing here." I literally had to start from scratch.

I don't like to talk about personal things. And by keeping it private, you have a better shot at a healthy relationship. I learned at a young age that there are certain things you just don't talk about.

I don't think there's ever what could be called a "chilled state" in my head.

My goal now is to remember every place I've been, only do things I love and not say yes when I don't mean it.

[on motherhood] If I'm blessed with that, I hope I am the best version of me that I can possibly be. (People magazine)

Movie sex scenes are never romantic, and you're never swept off your feet. It's always very technical. I'm counting the beats: Okay, we're supposed to kiss for two beats, then I say my line, then they want another kiss for four beats. I'm going, One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three and break. It's like choreography. Sometimes, you have actors who feel it's their job to get as far down into your throat as possible. You're like, Excuse me, I like you, but not that much.

Why do you need one? I don't understand why there needs to be a love interest to make women go see a film. I think society sort of makes us feel that way - that if you don't have a guy, you're worthless.

On Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997): That was a mistake but, in retrospect, how are you supposed to know?

(On how it felt and what it said about life that she was nominated for a Razzie and an Oscar for Best Actress within two days in 2010): That life is perfectly balanced.

I used to be an optimist, but now I know that nothing is going to turn out as I expect.

[Contrasting highs in her professional life with lows in her private life] Whoever established the high road, and how high it was going to be, should be fired.

The sexiest man alive? My husband and then, Keanu!! (2006)

[on Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011), her film about 911] The story is about honoring people's grief, while giving them permission to have it. And I loved that it showed generations in pain, and how they healed each other by listening and talking.

[on being changed by motherhood] I cry at everything now... I've become more open to surprises and feelings.

[on her largely solo performance in Gravity (2013) simulating being adrift in outer space] I actually never thought about being alone on screen for such a long time until I started doing press, and everyone asked me if that made me nervous, and then I started panicking. I was mostly concerned about the Vomit Comet. I was literally acting off of nothing for up to 10 hours a day, with headphones my only connection to Alfonso [Cuarón, director]. We made a catalog of music clips - whale sounds, Radiohead, weird screeching of metal - and I memorized them. I would say, "Okay, give me No. 4. That's not working. Try No. 2. That's better, that's getting me to the emotion I need.".

[on Gravity (2013)] It's about rebirth. How do you let go in the worst possible situation so you can have some kind of release and peace? Life is not going to stop coming at you. In the end, you just have to say, "I have no control." Your time is precious. Are you really going to waste it worrying about this stuff?

[Responding to morning news of her 2nd Oscar-nomination in 2014] I don't think it ever stops being an absolute thrill, but I do have an immediate leveler. I still have to get up and make lunch for a little person, and pray - please, dear God - that he eats something I put in his lunchbox today.

What everyone needs is love, unconditionally.

I hate taking selfies. I will not take a selfie that I can't erase. I don't post or do any of that stuff. People have these worlds they post and it's about projecting an image and getting likes. I read a great article about how there's a higher rate of depression because people are looking at everyone else's Facebook [pages] and seeing this picture-perfect life. We're not representing our lives truthfully. Like when you're yelling at your child, you're not taking a selfie of you being a horrible parent. No, you're waiting for the perfect selfie. 'Do I look thinner now?' 'Do I look great?' It's this false projection of one's life. Hollywood has now gone global. Everyone's Hollywood now.

[joking after the success of The Proposal] Box office like this, I'm going to be naked in every film.