Natalie portman quotes

Awards are so unnecessary because I think we get so much out of our work just by doing it. The work is a reward in itself.

I really hate being self-conscious—and being conscious of being self-conscious

Lying is the most fun a woman can have without taking her clothes off.

I'm very interested in people who seem very negative and nasty and to go inside their world and see why they get that way. It makes you a little more sympathetic to them, even though I really don't want to be around those people.

There's always pressure, from other people and yourself. If you're happy with the looks you're born with, then what are you going to do your whole life? We keep thinking up new things and finding better ways of doing things because we're not happy with what we're given.

I'm pretty immature and get pretty embarrassed easily. I would check out once in a while certain shots to make sure that I felt OK because sometimes once you see it you realize it is fine.

Sure. I've never dated a woman of anything like that, But, I mean, I think it's much more the person that you fall in love with – and why would you close yourself off to fifty percent of the people?

You really know a person when you sleep so near to them, or when you eat with them.

I don't love studying. I hate studying. I like learning. Learning is beautiful.

Basically I have, like, five really close friends - girls and guys. I like being friends with both because you can do different things with both.

Microcredit is about giving hope.

Everyone dreams of living in Paris.

I grew up in the classic American-Jewish suburbia, which has a whole different sense of what it means to be Jewish than anywhere else in the world.

And then there is Cate Blanchett. She is different all the time.

Pointe shoes are torture devices. I mean, ballerinas get used to it, but it was definitely a new experience for me. They feel medieval. I was very happy to stop wearing them.

Obviously, in a friendship there are always things, good and bad, that go on between people. You can't take away what's already happened. And if it's something that's really terrible, I think you have to forget about the friendship.

I'm pretty hard on myself in general.

Sometimes just watching a person doing the things they would only do at home lets you know who they really are.

Smart women love smart men more than smart men love smart women.

I was definitely different from the other kids... I was more ambitious. I knew what I liked and what I wanted, and I worked really hard. I was a very serious kid.

I usually dress very casual. Whenever I go out with my friends, I'm always like, 'Can't I just wear sweatpants?'

I don't believe in the afterlife. I believe this is it, and I believe it's the best way to live.

I think that we, women, are so often defined by who our husbands are and what our husbands do. And it's time for that to end.

If you're an actress or a musician, everyone thinks you're hot

We have so much sex in our media that's disassociated from emotions. We have so much separation between feeling, and the emotional and the physical side of sex. They really do belong together.

If I had known my own limitations, I never would have taken the risk, and the risk led to one my greatest artistic and personal experiences.

The more money a woman has, the more educated she is, and the more educated she is, the more she knows about how to prevent pregnancy, and also has more reproductive control - she feels a greater ability to say no to a man when she doesn't have to depend on him for money.

Obviously it's much easier to say that you're going to follow your passions when you're financially secure, but at least we can take solace in the fact that we now have the time to pursue the things that we really want to pursue because now the option of doing things just for the money isn't necessarily there.

Friendship is anything that you get something out of that is very, very important to you. And that's why there are those people who are so close to you that you don't know how you'd live without them. And they are the ones that, even if they do something terrible, you have to keep. Otherwise, you're just going to be lost without them.

I'm always on the phone because I'm usually not with the people I want to be with.

Really, really obscene hip-hop. I love it so much. It makes me laugh and then it makes me want to dance.

I'm going to college. I don't care if it ruins my career. I'd rather be smart than a movie star.

I'm with my friends more than I'm with my parents, but I know more about my parents than I know about my friends. That's something you get out of living with a person.

I always find it a little scary to say that I'm like a character.

I love milk so much! I make a point of drinking a glass of milk every day. So now anyone who did those milk ads with the milk mustaches, they're my heroes.

If you read, your book is kind of your friend, because it's like the book is telling you its story and you're being the listener.

Everyone has to find what is right for them, and it is different for everyone. Eating for me is how you proclaim your beliefs three times a day. That is why all religions have rules about eating. Three times a day, I remind myself that I value life and do not want to cause pain to or kill other living beings. That is why I eat the way I do.

I loved school so much that most of my classmates considered me a dork.

Cute is when your personality shines through your looks.

Jasmine is just the most delicate and beautiful scent.

Sometimes people's reactions tell more about themselves.

The good news is we have the technology and the tools to alleviate poverty on a global scale. All that is standing in our way is education and will.

I love stoner comedies. I smoked weed in college, but I haven't smoked in years.

There's so much else to do in the world. To just be interested in doing films would limit my life.

It doesn't matter if you mean to do the right thing - if you only do bad things. You need to learn how to do right things. Doing is what affects people.

I think you always need to be able to relate to your characters, but that doesn't necessarily mean...you have to understand why they do what they do, but you don't actually have to be like that yourself.

In real life I'm not the one who's playing with guns or smoking.

I was really into dancing, taking six classes a week, and my real dream was to be in a Broadway show.

Breast implants gross me out. I don't think they're attractive at all.

Small loans can transform lives, especially the lives of women and children. The poor can become empowered instead of disenfranchised. Homes can be built, jobs can be created, businesses can be launched, and individuals can feel a sense of worth again.

When you get older, you realize it's a lot less about your place in the world but your place in you. It's not how everyone views you, but how you view yourself

Grab the good people around you. Don't let them go.

Accept your lack of knowledge and use it as your asset.

Sometimes people say something to you and you're like, "I respect you so much, I love what you do, but I disagree. I don't think that's right for the way I see it."

Why are they making rules that say my lover can stay in the United States if they're foreign or share my health care benefits because I'm straight - but if you're gay, you can't have that?

Social networking is playing a huge role in creating awareness and mobilizing support for all kinds of common interests. What better way to use this remarkable tool than to change the world?

I'm not a perfectionist, but I like discipline. I'm obedient, but I'm not a perfectionist. I think it's important to work your hardest and be as kind as possible to everyone you work with. The goal, every day, is keeping focused on that.

You can tell when someone likes you just because you're in a movie, because all they talk about is the movie, and all they talk about is the movie business.

If you can't laugh at yourself, life is going to seem a whole lot longer than you'd like.

I think the opportunities are all over the place - around your corner or in more exotic locales. But everyone finding their own interest - sometimes it's hard to know what you're interested in, I think.

I've dealt with a few method actors, and I don't know if should say this, but I think it's a bunch of nonsense. I think it's film acting and you just have to be on when the camera is rolling.

Going to a party, for me, is as much a learning experience as, you know, sitting in a lecture.

It's a lot easier to make friends when you're younger, because kids are a lot less judgmental than adults. They're more like, "O.K., let's be friends." Not, "So, what's your job?" "What's your marriage status?"

I think that most women know what happens that leads you to a point where you're not even looking for intimacy anymore. You're just looking for the physical side of it and not the emotional side of it.

I've been really, lucky and sometimes you think, 'Why? How did this happen to me - what did I do to deserve this?' And you realize how much it's just luck. And then you see that there's a lot of people who are not as lucky as you are, and I want to like share that luck, you know?

Some relationships aren't true relationships. And it's usually when the other person does something really terrible that you realize it. And that's when it's time to move on.

I'm not convinced about marriage. Divorce is so easy, and that fact that gay people are not allowed to marry takes much of the meaning out of it. Committing yourself to one person is sacred.

There is a lot lacking on the intellectual side and on the values side when being an actor.

I learned to observe other people - that’s sort of what it teaches you. To pay attention. Which can also be a really natural human skill so I don’t think I’m better equipped than other human beings.

Your director is your everything and you devote yourself to them and you want to help create their vision.

Everything you think of that keeps you occupied is a friend.

The moment you buy into the idea that you're above anyone else, is the moment you need to be slapped in the face.

Well, right now, I'm very fascinated with 1920s Berlin. I mean, probably the more interesting thing would be to go to the beginning of civilization or precivilization - like polytheistic times. It would be interesting to see what came before modern religion and culture - what circumstances created the environment or the need for it.

I always ask myself, would I want someone to do something that wasn't comfortable for them just to please me? And the answer is no.

As I look back on it, I'm glad that I had this false image. I was who everyone else - my parents, my friends, society - wanted me to be. I was a pleaser, someone who wanted to make everyone happy, to not let anyone down. Now, I'm not like that.

My father has a general rule. He says if I haven't done it in real life I shouldn't do it on-screen.

You know, I get much more Jewish in Israel because I like the way that religion is done there.

When I was growing up, my mom told me every story that was happening to her. Most of the stories that come to me are through a female voice in my head. My stories seem to naturally be about females.

I can sleep a whole day. If no one woke me up, I would sleep for 24 hours. I think it's a combination of my age and my appreciation for sleep. Sleep is so wonderful. Sometimes you can oversleep and feel like you've waster your time, but I think it's one of the bestways to spend your time.

When I was in nursery school, the teachers asked me, y'know, 'What does your dad do for a living?' So I said 'He helps women get pregnant!' They called my mom and they were like, 'What exactly does your husband do?'

Use Starbucks mints for every occasion—they're the strongest

I've stood up to producers before, and even a director. I saw them being abusive. A lot of people on the set are scared to say stuff when they're not being treated right.

I'm afraid of everything. But maybe when you're afraid of everything, it sort of seems like you're scared of nothing.

Committing yourself to one person is sacred.

I mean the Internet is like the luckiest thing - we have everything at our fingertips right now.

My dad's a doctor, and when I was 8, I went to one of his medical conferences where they were demonstrating laser surgery on a chicken. I was so mad that a chicken had to die, I never ate meat again.

No one will ever love you as much as I do. Why isn't love enough?

Sometimes it's better to forgive and forget. And sometimes, on the other hand, it's better to leave the friendship.

I also feel I'm a positive role model by not putting my education on hold.

Cute is when your personality shines through your looks. Like, when you see someone's personality in the way they walk and you just feel like hugging them every time you see them.

I don't know if the scripts are changing so much. I mean, I've been working for almost 25 years and made over 40 films and I worked with my first female director, on a feature, "Planetarium". And it's still the only one.

We have so much separation between feeling the emotional and physical side of sex.

Part of my reason for being vegetarian was because it practices respect and love for life all through the day, so three times a day, you make a decision to eat things that have not been killed.

I have nice ears. I have no lobes, which was disappointing for a while, but I've gotten over it and learned to love them. Being lobeless isn't the end of the world

I couldn't be anorexic because I like food too much, and I couldn't be bulimic because I hate throwing up too much.

As I get older, I'm more relaxed and less concerned with what people think of me

Our generation has the ability and the responsibility to make our ever-more connected world a more hopeful, stable and peaceful place.

I've wanted to be an astronaut, a doctor, a vet - these are things I've said in interviews. Before that, I wanted to be a mermaid and a fairy.

I'd rather be smart than a movie star.

I think school is so much harder than real life. People are so much more accepting when they are adults.

I was really excited to get to shave my head - it's something I'd wanted to do for a while and now I had a good excuse. It was nice to shed that level of vanity.

I usually run three or four times a week now. Pretty boring, but it's so worth is. It's done wonders for my mood

People who take everything to heart trivia - the most capable of genuinely love.

I'm tough on myself in terms of the standards I want to live up to, but that's also part of my pleasure: Knowing you are being your fullest self. Being your fullest self is a lot of work.

You have to be careful when you're getting feedback because people will give you conflicting feedback all the time, but ultimately you end up following your own inner guide.

People think the film industry is going to corrupt me, but I feel like it's kept me more innocent, in a way. I wasn't really home when my friends were trying pot for the first time. I was always around adults who wouldn't smoke or curse or do anything like that around me. I don't do things that are dangerous to myself. I don't want to hurt myself

If you're listening to music, then the music is your friend; or if you're with a person, then that person can be your friend because you're communicating.

I wonder how people decided that women were supposed to shave their legs and armpits

I'm a Gemini, so I change my mind every day.

I was like a total cliched '80s child. I had Barbies, obviously, as well as My Little Ponies and Cabbage Patch Kids, but I used to destroy them. I used to draw all over their faces and cut off their hair.

We live in a violent world, but since the success of films like Pulp Fiction, it seems every movie has some violence in it, and it's now being used as a form of comedy: audiences are now being encouraged to laugh when people get their heads blown off. I just don't like hearing people laugh at violence.

If we can find ways to love life and be joyful without being wasteful or destructive--that's what's important.

Actually I want to scare away method actors because it's a pain. It's like, 'Come on, what are you doing? It's not real. What are you doing? Oh, you're really brooding. Okay, good. Go to your trailer. I'll see you in an hour.'

I've always tried to separate my looks from all the other aspects of myself. I think girls are taught so much to focus on their looks that they tend to have their personality and intelligence develop slower than boys

It's horrible to be a sex object at any age, but at least when you're an adult you can make the decision if you want to degrade yourself.

I studied psychology in school, and the best psychology is in literature. It's so much easier to understand a character than a theory. You can recognize yourself—or other people—in a different way.

I am not someone who sacrifice all for the cinema, my life will be always more important.

It's always interesting to step into the enemy's shoes, and figure out what they're like.

No one can live without friendship, because what would you do all day without friends?

Ninety per cent of how you learn is watching great people. When you are surrounded by good actors it lifts your performance.

I am a very strict vegetarian. ...I just really, really love animals, and I act on my values.

Love is very much perceived as "I couldn't control myself; it's love." But you can. Everything you do in response is a choice.

The best part about being friends with your parents is that no matter what you do, they have to keep loving you.

We live in a real world. Come back to it.

I want every version of a woman and a man to be possible. I want women and men to be able to be full-time parents or full-time working people or any combination of the two.