I do sometimes feel like the paparazzi are really what ran me out of L.A. They're just giving everyone a bad name.
Most people in the world have seen more of me on-screen than my kids have.
Honestly, depending on what stage I'm at in my life, my opinion on plastic surgery changes. I've never been against plastic surgery - I'm against bad plastic surgery. I'm against the overuse of plastic surgery.
Well, I'm very stubborn. I think I have common sense; I'm probably at times a bit tunnel-visioned, but I'm strong.
When I go to work and when I'm in the public eye, I take much better care of myself. Because when I'm not working, I do indulge more.
Just when you think you've got your kids figured out, they change on you. For somebody who's controlling, you can't control it. Of course, I don't think I'm controlling, but that's what I've been told!
When you're young and have a dream, it's pretty simplistic. You don't think about or have any way of knowing everything it can be, and anticipate that.
Even though I don't feel I need approval, it's still important to me to give a good performance. I'm hard on myself.
I like understanding what's underneath, what's really motivating people. When I was younger, I wanted to be a psychiatrist, so I think it has to do with that.
I'm good at disguising my feelings.
When I wasn't working I didn't know what to do with myself and sort of didn't exist, in a way, when I wasn't working, so I was like two different people. I am not like that anymore.
It's fun to explore areas that are taboo that you're not allowed to in real life as an actor.
You can't have a favourite meal, like you can't have a favourite movie or a favourite book or a favourite child.
You've got each other's back. I think if everyone shows up with that attitude, then everybody has a great time, and I think the work is better as well.
![Rudeness is what gets to me [when someone being rude to me in a supermarket]. Yeah. That one does get to me, I have to say.](https://quotes.thefamouspeople.com/images/quotes/michelle-pfeiffer-113031.jpg)
Rudeness is what gets to me [when someone being rude to me in a supermarket]. Yeah. That one does get to me, I have to say.
It never occurs to me that I'd be intimidating to anybody. Maybe I should consider that.
People who are rude to waiters... I don't like that sort of thing. People who take cuts in line... it doesn't fly!
Actually, I think that turning 29 was more difficult, because once I turned 29, I anticipated 30 for the whole year, so by the time 30 came around it really wasn't that bad.
I still look like a duck.
I guess I do a really good job at covering.
I liked getting up at 4 in the morning, driving on the freeway, and going in and stocking shelves and laughing with the stock clerks.
I've been working since I was 14, and my father, being very conservative, has always been strict about my having a savings account.
I'd been taking singing lessons and I had taken dance, because I loved to dance, but I had never considered myself a professional at all.
Maybe I haven't done enough movies, but haven't found that men are more difficult than women.
Women are brought up to think it's acceptable to pay attention to their faces. Men translate their discomfort into their behavior.
My father was very strict, but mostly I just didn't know how to behave on a date.
If I really want to do something, I'll go in and do whatever the director feels that he needs me to do.
I don't believe men want women to have grotesque plastic surgery or be undernourished and bony. All the plastic surgery in the world can't stop you getting older.
I can't imagine myself blowing up supermarkets!
I still think people will find out that I’m really not very talented. I’m really not very good. It’s all been a big sham.
Being from Orange County is in a lot ways very much like being from the Midwest.
I never wanted to have to take a job because I didn't have any money.
I think all actors have a sadomasochistic streak, because acting is kind of brutal, you know.
I was considered the black sheep of the family, neighbours didn't want their kids playing with me.
When I first started out, I said to myself, if this doesn't happen there will be something else that I can do. That seemed possible because I knew how to do so many different kinds of jobs.
De Niro is a classic example of somebody who is iconic and who sort of effortlessly puts actors at ease the moment you meet him. I think it's also just something that he innately does with people.
I decided I needed something that I could feel as passionate about as acting, and something in which I could completely lose myself. I started painting, and I'm still doing it.
It's simple. Eat well, exercise and get lots of sleep but make sure you indulge occasionally. At my age , I think , what the hell , and eat a Krispy Kreme doughnut !
I'm a Taurus. To the bone.
I'm a perfectionist, so I can drive myself mad - and other people, too. At the same time, I think that's one of the reasons I'm successful. Because I really care about what I do.
If you think hitting 40 is liberating, wait until you hit 50; and I was surprised at how liberating it was. The anticipation of something is always much worse than the reality.
It's harder to live the way I live. There are certain places I like to shop and eat where I simply don't go. The paparazzi follow you.
There's always an imbalance with actors and actresses in the industry. And I think because there are just fewer movies overall being made, it's that trickle down effect.
You know what I'd like to do? I'd like to play a bag lady.
I think that I am a compulsive person, but now I'm learning to put those compulsions into healthy things.
If I do a move I don't like, I don't want to get so upset with myself.
I used to do drugs in high school. I've been living in L.A. for almost 10 years, and shortly after I arrived I cleaned up pretty much. Stuff goes on on the set, stuff goes on at parties.
I don't really know what Hollywood is. I've never really known.
I'm always amazed at how consistent people find me and my behavior, when in fact I do feel different all the time.
Men do not take to vanity, because they are taught at an early age that it is wrong to be vain.
I would speak up if I see someone being rude to someone.
I am basically very private, and I'm really nervous about doing publicity.
I've worked with very few actors who have been at all difficult.
Acting is kind of brutal.
I went to court-reporting school to study stenotyping. After awhile, whenever anybody spoke, in my mind my fingers would be punching it out. Even two years after I quit, my mind still did that.
If you're working on something that isn't very demanding, isn't very fulfilling, then you have all this energy to burn, and you can go crazy.
I've never lost my love for acting. I feel really at home on the movie set. I'm a more balanced person honestly when I'm working.
I know that I want to wait for something that I really feel great about.
My favorite food in the world is Mexican food. I'm not a dessert person. I'm more of a crunchy, salty girl. I could live on chips and salsa. I would take a Mexican meal over some fancy French cuisine anytime.
And I'm a really happy person, I enjoy life. I think you see that on people. I think there's nothing more aging than misery.
One of the things I love most about acting is just disappearing in the role, as much as I can. I think that's one of the things that intrigued me about it.
Love humiliates you. Hatred cradles you.
There are certain scenes you do in a movie that are like catching a wave, and you leave work feeling elated - almost as though you've purged something. That's rare, but you do live for those moments.
You have a choice. It may not be a choice you like, but it is still a choice.
You can have it all, but you can't do it all.
I find the less you focus on your flaws, the better off you are. Be yourself and be glad of who you are.
I relax by taking my bicycle apart and putting it back together again.
I do find comedy difficult. I don't know why. Maybe I think about it too much. There's a tremendous amount of pressure to be funny.
I worked so hard for so long - I did a lot of movies. I also worked a lot when my kids were smaller, before they were in school.
There is no question that the older you get, the fewer good roles there are.
I do think that, at one time, being an actress was the equivalent almost of being a prostitute. It garnered roughly the same respect. That's changed a lot, thank goodness.
The value of a good education has never left me.
The whole celebrity thing never is normal and I think the fuller your life is, the more you are able to just kind of call a truce with it on a good day.
I guess I sort of just feel like I am lucky.
When I wasn't working I didn't know what to do with myself and sort of didn't exist, in a way, when I wasn't working, so I was like two different people. I am not like that anymore.
There's always an imbalance with actors and actresses in the industry. And I think because there are just fewer movies overall being made, it's that trickle down effect.
Being a parent is the hardest thing in the world... the psychological toll it takes on you because these lives are in your hands. I take it very seriously.
It's harder to live the way I live. There are certain places I like to shop and eat where I simply don't go. The paparazzi follow you.
I say really stupid things sometimes. When I go back and watch some of my old interviews from when I was younger, I just cringe.
There have been people in my life who have told me I have to put myself out there more. But it's so hard for me to do that.
It takes years for me to trust; I know that about myself. A lot of it is because I am so private, and so reluctant to make myself vulnerable.
You know, when I am working, I take really, really good care of myself. I eat really well, and I exercise, and again, I have this team of people pulling me together every day.
I like understanding what's underneath, what's really motivating people. When I was younger, I wanted to be a psychiatrist, so I think it has to do with that.
I probably would like to do more than I do, because I love working, but I can't work more than I work because I have to do some facetime with the family, and the work that I do is just all-encompassing.
I'm good at disguising my feelings.
When I was very young I never thought I was attractive, because I was a tomboy and I was always the biggest girl in the class.
My walk is consistently made fun of.
Well, I'm very stubborn. I think I have common sense; I'm probably at times a bit tunnel-visioned, but I'm strong.
I'm a Taurus. To the bone.
Even though I don't feel I need approval, it's still important to me to give a good performance. I'm hard on myself.
I feel less pressure to dress youthfully. I'm 50 and everyone knows I'm 50 - who are you kidding? Jeans are my uniform. I have about 15 pairs.
Like all parents, my husband and I just do the best we can, hold our breath and hope we've set aside enough money for our kid's therapy.
I have days when I just feel I look like a dog.
I look like a duck. It's the way my mouth curls up, or my nose tilts up. I should have played Howard the Duck.
For me, getting comfortable with being famous was hard - that whole side of it, the loss of anonymity, the loss of privacy. Giving up that part of your life and not having control of it.
I do portraits. I usually do live models in a class environment, but I've been painting at home more. I really love the human form, and I love faces. I've tried to do landscapes a few times.
I'm a perfectionist, so I can drive myself mad - and other people, too. At the same time, I think that's one of the reasons I'm successful. Because I really care about what I do.
Everybody is vulnerable to being in relationships where they get fooled. I'm no different. It's just human nature.
Somewhere along the line I made the switch and was able to look at the bight side rather than the dark side all the time. Now I look at everything I have and think how lucky I am.
I used to smoke two packs a day and I just hate being a nonsmoker... but I will never consider myself a nonsmoker because I always find smokers the most interesting people at the table.
You know, the more you can meet people from different walks of life, the better it is for you. I think the more you can create situations and experiences that give you new perspective, the better.
People make a lot of jokes about the empty nest. Let me tell you, it is no laughing matter. It is really hard.
