Top 100 Quotes & Sayings by Dia Mirza

I started cooking when I was growing up in Hyderabad, and I was already pretty decent when I was around seven years old.

I always wanted to play a bigger part in the process of cinema, so production felt like a very natural progression and calling.

Digital shows have played a big part in empowering female artists. I'm very lucky to be a part of such projects.

It's important to be a witness to reality as this world can consume you.

My privilege as a celebrity doesn't disallow me pain.

Children are my favorite people, because they inspire me with their optimism and spirit.

I was born and brought up in Hyderabad.

I am never going to stop evolving and growing.

There are many women who are getting the opportunity to play fantastic parts on the web like Huma Qureshi in 'Leila,' Shefali Shah in 'Delhi Crime' and so many others. It gives opportunity to those who are not getting the work that they desire to do because of their age. So web is doing a social service.

It's really the tone that people use to convey things sometimes that can either become a compliment or an insult. It's not always what you are saying, it's about how you say it.

Give me rice, dal and some aachar any day, or a Spaghetti Bolognese.

I have 32 sweet teeth. I love everything from chocolates of all kinds to panna cotta to Khubhani ka Meetha and Double ka Meetha.

Dia is the way my name was originally spelt. When I was applying for my passport for the Femina Miss India Contest, someone spelt my name as Diya. Since it was on my passport, I couldn't do much about it.

I handle my home beautifully. However, I am not just my husband's name.

I grew up on a staple of films where I saw actors like Waheeda Rehman, Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi, Madhuri Dixit, Sridevi playing very powerful parts in films.

What gives you strength at any circumstance is your understanding of yourself.

Beauty is not about good skin, features and figure, but about your nature and habits.

I was told 'You should just do commercials and Bollywood' and Bollywood would be said to me like it's a bad thing.

When I started out, at 19, I was told, by the media and the film industry to do a certain kind of films and work with certain kind of stars. Coming from a non-filmi background, I did not know how to go about it, as there were different people trying to push me in various directions.

When you are an actor you are a very small part of a very large scheme of things.

My father was a German architect and graphic designer, who travelled all over the world, teaching teachers on how to teach. On one such visit to the Max Mueller Bhavan in Delhi, he met my mother.

I think the ability to empathize with another person's experience and go into the trajectory of their journey is challenging.

Fortunately, I have never been a victim of sexual harassment. But there have been instances where I have lost out on work or people have shown disinterest in working with me because I was unwilling to succumb to this unspoken understanding of patriarchy.

Nature is actually the greatest democracy in the world.

Participating in Miss India was a paradigm shift and I had a blast.

It is critical for us to cultivate consciousness and compassion towards our environment, create awareness, galvanize people, and build sustainable innovations for sustainable development.

When I was just four-and-a-half, my parents separated and both my parents remarried.

I calculated that if I live up to the age of 80, then I end up using 450 toothbrushes in my life. All that plastic! So I switched to bamboo toothbrushes years ago.

I get bored of training easily. I constantly need something to invigorate me, which will get me to hit the gym.

I chase dreams that fulfill me and not a dream that somebody else describes to me.

Some people feel divorce is an excuse to not compromise. Yes, in life you have to adapt and compromise. But the questions is - when does it stop? How much is too much, how less is too little? That's a personal choice.

Being married to a wonderful, motivating partner has brought happiness and a greater sense of purpose to my life.

I am in Deepak Ramsay's 'Koi Mere Dil Mein Hain,' where I am a modern girl who wears bold outfits. She makes heads turn wherever she goes. She is not a brat. She nurses this false belief that she can get any man she wants.

I have always believed that an artiste needs to respond to a story first. One has to feel it in order to live it.

Be it acting, writing, directing or producing, I love cinema. I love the art of telling stories and I'm happy doing one of the above or all of the above.

If you are a woman and an actor, it does not mean that you have to contain or limit yourself to just being that.

I can make a mean Kachchi Biryani, and sometimes I bake it, too.

When I was younger, back home in Hyderabad even I faced a stalker. I confronted him and asked him his name. That moment, the boy didn't have an answer.

I was allowed to take my adoptive father's surname. My birth certificate has a different name. My passport has both my adoptive and biological father's surnames.

One should never ignore or be afraid of reporting or calling out a harasser. There is no shame in doing so.

Being pregnant is a wonderful thing. I have never understood why people make such a big deal of it though.

It is extremely empowering when you are making fundamental and critical decisions on different levels of production, till the final showcase on the screen.

People wonder why a man and woman can't be friends after being in love. It is because it's very tough to look beyond the hurt and try to find a common ground to be friends. It's it like a healing wound.

I believe in the power of one and that we are all bound by the thread of oneness and humanity.

I have discovered the virtue of patience and I don't quite believe that taking a break for good reason can be a risk.

I understand its fun to watch a web series up close to your chest is something else, but to see it on a bigger screen and to experience the emotions is magical.

It's really wrong to judge someone because of their beliefs.

Beauty judgements are many and while we think that light skin women have no judgements to deal with. There is this filmmaker I love and respect and I really wanted to work with, once told me 'You are too fair to be in my movies.' And then I have also heard 'You are too pretty to play this part.'

I lost my biological father at nine, but up until then, we celebrated Christmas and Easter too.

I happened to be spotted by a modeling agent who offered me a part-time job at 16. Everything happened very quickly after that - advertising campaigns, fashion shows, editorial shoots.

Don't hold back from being an 'empath.' Don't be afraid of shedding your tears. Feel it. Feel the full extent of everything. It gives us strength.

Every role I have in my kitty is different. None of them resemble the roles I have played in my earlier films.

'Kaafir' has come along because I have never been more aligned with my truth.

The only challenge I faced in the beginning was that no one believed I could seriously see a film through.

The one thing I have discovered is that we all have challenges; the challenges vary, but our response to the challenges makes us people we are.

I think good work, sincerity and discipline speak for themselves.

I'm a minimalist: For a day look, I like earth tones,and at night I go with kohl and a smudgy black eye.

One thing led to another and I was selected from Hyderabad for the Miss India pageant. I remember my mother being really surprised that I wanted to take part!

I've been meditating since 14 years and my mornings are spent in the building garden.

I chose to be part of 'Kaafir' because the story called out to my soul, I need to connect with it.