Top 174 Quotes & Sayings by Claire Danes

People confuse fame with validation or love. But fame is not the reward. The reward is getting fulfillment out of doing the thing you love.

I don't want to be an actress. I want to be doing good work that is well written and has good people in it.

Growing up in New York City, I was always encouraged to question authority, and I think I confused patriotism with jingoism.

Oh, I'm full of fear. I care about things; therefore, I have fears. I like to think that I'm brave, which is different. Brave means you're able to admit that you care. If you care, you are vulnerable.

I actually think in some ways that it might be more challenging to be bipolar because it's so mercurial - it's so ever-changing. You can't get any traction. You can't build on a system. Whereas, somebody who has Asperger's, which is certainly a much more forgiving expression of autism, can create models for coping and build on them over time.

Relationships are a constant negotiation and balance.

I wouldn't say that I'm a naturally political beast.

There was a solid year and a half, perhaps two years, after making 'Temple Grandin,' when I didn't do anything. I just didn't have much patience for roles that were silly, or light, or inconsequential.

The Brexit and Trump phenomena are informed by similar forces and social and economic movements. I think it's been really stressful; it's been really scary.

Fame doesn't end loneliness.

It's a very young mistake to assume that life is very serious. I get the joke now.

I like reading novels because it provides insight into human behavior.

Maybe philosophy - I love talking about ideas. Or maybe art history. I was thinking about psychology, then I got really afraid because everybody says it's terribly boring.

I have a huge, active imagination, and I think I'm really scared of being alone; because if I'm left to my own devices, I'll just turn into a madwoman.

I try to eat sensibly. I cheat, but for the most part, I eat in a clean way.

I've always very earnestly tried to do my best, so I just have to trust that and forgive myself for being fallible.

Working gives you this new perspective. You don't take everything too seriously, and you realise that if you don't do too well on a history test, it's not the end of the world.

My character was kidnapped by the Terminator and I was kidnapped by the Terminator production.

When I was 18 I went to college for two years and didn't work for a year which was essential for me, because my identity had been so influenced by my being an actor and I think I just needed to discover what it was to be myself, divorced from all that responsibility.

I just want to be a sane person. I wanna be a person who has a life and who acts.

If you do something that you're not genuinely passionate about, it is a little soul-crushing. Just not worth it.

I would sign on for projects that were meant to shoot in July, and then they would postponed and they would bleed into the following semester, and then I'd take a semester off, and then the movie would collapse.

I have this book club, and we don't read one book; we offer up a few suggestions and create a library over time.

I like reading novels because it provides insight into human behavior. I am really interested in feelings and think they are what define us as a species. When you really get it right in acting, it's an act of empathy. You feel less distant from others, and that is really exciting.

I should be so lucky to be a misfit. I aspire to be a misfit.

Once you get over that peak of puberty, you hit a nice stride.

I think you can become dependent on fame and be as known as you want to be, you know?

I still have a book club with my friends from when I was 5. That's the privilege of growing up in a place where people want to remain. It's a huge gift.

People talk about 'date night,' and it is true: Sometimes you have to apply yourself, or at least apply lipstick to yourself. You kind of have to dress up, just because. You know, wear heels to your own dinner table.

What I needed was a connection to life that was real and lasting.

I have plenty of vanity in my life. I want to look pretty in the world. But it can be this bottomless pit.

It's OK to want to look and feel your best. It's OK to work at being attractive, whatever that means to you. And it's also OK to not expect to be defined by that. It's OK to be powerful in every way: to be big, to take up space. To breathe and thrive.

I've never been interested or particularly good at censoring my experience.

I do know how to fire a machine gun, so be warned! I'm trained!

Most people assume that autistic people are not capable of empathy.

Yeah, there was the Flora Plum thing, where I trained for about a month and I had taken a semester off for that, and two weeks prior to filming, the financing collapsed.

I eat in moderation and try not to worry about it.

I was an actor who happened to be a kid.

I'm only realizing now that I was a child actress because I always took myself so seriously.

Autism does exist on a spectrum, and there are so many manifestations of it, so many kinds of expressions of it. And every case is particular.

You don't realize how useful a therapist is until you see yourself on e and discover you have more problems than you ever dreamed of.

There's certainly something very uncomfortable about the voyeurism involved in being in the press, being an actor, where people have a seemingly insatiable curiosity about, you.

You know, let a few years go by until I hit my midlife crisis. Then that can be documented on film.

Growing up, I wanted desperately to please, to be a good girl.

It's funny with jeans now, because if they don't feel like a pair of sweatpants, I don't have patience for them anymore! I think I'm becoming increasingly lazy.

Growing up in New York with artist parents - a very liberal environment, where we were always encouraged to challenge the status quo - I think for a long time I confused jingoism with patriotism. And that is a mistake.

Acting is a humiliating job, from start to finish.

I'm very vain about my performance. I want to give as honest a performance as I can. But I'm not so worried about being regarded as beautiful when I'm playing a character.

When somebody asks me who I'm wearing, I always see myself with a BabyBjoern, carrying a little tiny Karl Lagerfeld, like, 'I'm wearing Chanel.'

Narciso Rodriguez was my first fashion big brother. He made my wedding dress, which was wonderful.

Counterterrorism isn't really about the nunchakus, the guns and gadgets. It's about psychology.

I could truly have gone through life thinking that women were these venomous creatures. Turns out, they're not.

My goal is always to do something that feels just beyond my reach, and 'Homeland' continues to do that. Every season, they find new ways to scare me. The show is like a diamond that fell from the sky. I'll always feel slightly bludgeoned by it, but in the best way possible.

My first offer was when I was 12, and it was for a soap opera. And I turned it down because I knew that I was an unformed actor, and I didn't want to develop bad habits.

My go-to gifts are scarves from my friend Matin Maulawizada's nonprofit organization, Afghan Hands, which supports disenfranchised women in Afghanistan. In exchange for their beautiful embroidery, the women are given financial aid and classes in math and literacy. The scarves are all stunning and one of a kind.

Acting is the greatest answer to my loneliness that I have found.

I actually haven't been approached a whole lot for television, believe it or not.

I would be a terrible CIA officer in real life.

Some of my happiest moments have been dancing.

I do feel like I've gotten younger as I've aged.