Top 290 Quotes & Sayings by Jane Fonda - Page 5

In spite of the incident, my experience in Kansas City was wonderful and I thank all the warm and supportive people, including so many veterans, who came to welcome me last night.

I was raised in the '50s. I was taught by my father that how I looked was all that mattered.

My childhood was influenced by the roles my father played in his movies. Whether Abraham Lincoln or Tom Joad in the Grapes of Wrath, his characters communicated certain values which I try to carry with me to this day.

Teach girls to read and to work at something where they can bring home money - and the entire balance of power shifts.

Just saw American Sniper. Powerful. Another view of Coming Home. Bradley Cooper sensational. Bravo Clint Eastwood.

Female listeners are leaving traditional talk radio because of the rough-edged, shouting nature of it.

I am still baffled by those who feel that criticizing America is unpatriotic, a view increasingly being adopted in the United States since 9/11 as an excuse to render suspect what has always been an American right. An active, brave, outspoken (and heard) citizenry is essential to a healthy democracy.

I believe that we have to strive for a transition to a socialist society ... all the way to communism. I mean I think we should, uh, I think we should all study what the word means and I believe that if everyone knew what the word meant we would all be on our knees praying that we would, as soon as possible, be able to live under, uh, within a communist structure.

So much conspires to silence us - because our truths are inherently subversive.

If I can change, anybody can change.

"Strong" to people means "real." It means you believe that's a person who exists, as opposed to some two-dimensional depiction of women.

Mostly actors are progressive because we are accustomed to all the nuances of human life, whereas dictators just try to flatten it all out. So we usually try to stand up to dictators like, well, we won't mention names.

I don't think it's natural for two people to swear to be together for the rest of their lives.

Think of anger as a muscle. The way you express anger isn't the way that I do, or you. If you have a good director, you will find that he's getting you to use an entirely different muscle that you never even knew you had - it's real hard and sore, then after a while it becomes normal. And you discover all these new muscles when you enter a new character - that's what a director does for you.

Get over the feeling that the two words don’t go together - women and power. The fact is, if we don’t put the two together, and don’t understand how power changes complexion in the hands of women, then we’re not going to make it.

When I left the West Coast I was a liberal. When I landed in New York I was a revolutionary.

This toxic striving for perfection is a female thing. How many men obsess about being perfect? For men, generally, good enough is good enough.

Lee Strasberg told me I had talent. Real talent. It was the first time that anyone, except my father--who had to say so--told me I was good. At anything. It was a turning point in my life. I went to bed thinking about acting. I woke up thinking about acting. It was like the roof had come off my life!

Good enough is good enough. We're not supposed to be perfect. We're supposed to be complete.

When you're an older woman [in a movie] you tend to be in - how did you put it? You're the brunt of the joke.

When you're told to be good, you have to get rid of whatever is bad. I sure identify with that.

Denial can be a pathology or a survival mechanism - and sometimes it's both.

Consistency can be a trap, especially if it leads to being consistently wrong rather than to stopping, admitting your mistake, and changing course.

Feminism is about ultimate, limitless reality.

Being Henry Fonda's daughter got me started. But it didn't keep me working.

The skin is our body's envelope, the wrapping that delivers us to the world. If we understand how the skin functions in mid-life and adjust goals and life-styles appropriately, we'll be surprised how much better we can look.

We need women friends, women who challenge us.

I like playing that character who brings love to people, who puts people in a place where they're apt to encounter love.

My identity depended on men for so long. You can be successful and still have the feeling that if you're not with a man you don't exist.

A lot of things affect women differently than men, and women get left out.

What's totally terrifying is that, unlike a musician who has a musical instrument, or a painter that's got a canvas and a brush, acting is us. Our energy, our soul, our spirits. And it's so hard because it's so vul­nerable. You're exposing everything.

Reproductive freedom is a real danger for the patriarchy, because it means that women are empowered.

You know, you're only as happy as your least happy child. So if your kids aren't okay, you're not good.

Rituals are important. I get up. I take the dogs on a walk around to the front and then I pick up the papers. Then I walk around to the front door, then me and the two dogs come in the house and I give them treats. I make coffee. It's the regularity of these kinds of rituals that I find deeply satisfying.

The news is not gender-neutral, but it's usually reported as though it's gender-neutral.

I've worked really, really hard on myself to not be judgmental.

Studios weren't banging on my door to offer me parts... And I thought, well how am I ever going to make movies that speak to my heart and to my values?

When I say women are the agents of change, I really should say women and girls.

I don't like the word 'calculated' because it sounds pejorative. Intentional. Intentional is better, I think. Wild in passion and intentional in expression.

That's what we're all doing: paving the way, finding the roles that have the complication instead of the one that's always got it together or the dedicated housewife or the wild one who smokes cigarettes and sleeps with anybody.

Magazines, books, novels, TV, internet, movies - all of those things is what creates our consciousness.

Women are rising. It's going to get harder before it gets easier, but we can do it if we realize that we have the power. Women will always be the leaders of change.

One of the wonderful things about being an actor is that every director is different.

We need women friends, women who challenge us... I have chosen not to have any more plastic surgery. Sally Field and I have kind of made a pact about that. It's really hard, especially if you're a public person. But I want to give a face to aging.

Women don't make the decisions in the media. Even if you see women on camera, they have to answer to the person upstairs, which is mostly men. Women only hold 3% of the decision-making offices in the media.

I hate to create cynicism about politicians. We just need to invade. Regular people need to run for office and keep their balls and ovaries intact.

I knew that my newfound activism and feminism was going to improve my acting, because I was seeing things not just in very narrow, individual, kind of Freudian terms, but seeing them in a much broader, societal way that was going to deepen and enrich my talent.

When I was in my 40s was I simply produced my own movies because no one offered me anything. But certainly after 50 it's hard for a woman, which is why television is such a welcoming thing.

I left acting for 15 years, and I think it's really nice to have another life. I took too much for granted when I was younger. I didn't really want to be an actor. I didn't really love it. And so I made a lot of mistakes. Oddly, I care much more about it now. I feel like a complete novice.

I'd like to think that I have integrity.