If we're all living in ourselves and mistaking it for life, then we're devaluing and desensitizing life.

I don't put the pressure on myself to be a very successful movie star. I want to enjoy being an actor and I want to be challenged by the roles I take.

The reality is that who you are is who you are right this second, not who you were at any moment in the past because it doesn't exist anymore. It's done. It's over.

[We assume] that the self is an actual living thing, but it's not. It's a projection which our clever brains create in order to cheat ourselves from the reality of death.

From about the age of 5, I was aware that I didn't fit. I was the black, atheist kid in the all-white, Catholic school run by nuns. I was an anomaly.

When it comes to emotions, we all feel pain in the same way, everyone, whether you're from Istanbul or Beijing.

When I am out and about I feel watched. It's become second nature. The only time I get to be private is in my work. That is when I liberate the ego. The blessed-out sensation of liberating the ego.

~I've learned the value of absorbing the moment. I remember the first time Ripley saw her shadow. My God, it was like shadows had just been invented. It was the most exquisite moment.~

If I could change my appearance, I would have the gap between my front teeth put back in.

Having children is life-changing, to state the obvious. It's a gigantic shift in your life and I welcomed it.

I'd love to do yoga every day. I don't usually have time, but a few sun salutations go a long way.

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.

Well, I've never left my faith - but have I made a lot of mistakes? But was I fortunate that I was brought up in that Pentecostal church, where I heard about God's love and God's forgiveness.

I did not want to spend the rest of my life not being able to ride in a nice car.

A shiny ring isn't romantic to me. I think thought and love into what you do for the person you're in love with - that's romance.

Thoughts are wonderful things, that they can bring two people, so far apart, into harmony and understanding for even a little while.

It is the nature of intellect to strive to improve in intellectual power.

The real is what resists symbolization absolutely.

Glory to he who brings dispute.

Love is the water of life, jump into this water.

I feel excited about getting older as an actress, too. I think there are some amazing opportunities around the corner and I don't need to hold on to myself or who I was when I was 25.