Top 107 Quotes & Sayings by Keira Knightley

It's not everyday you get to do a pirate movie, you might as well go for it.

If only I wasn't an atheist, I could get away with anything.

I always find it much easier when there's one person whose vision you're following, as opposed to many people.

I made a conscious decision to live my life the best way I could and that meant to publicise myself as little as possible.

And we're fortunate if we have parents who are great and loving and inspiring. But, unfortunately, there are people who don't have that.

I really believe that in this industry women have to be very true to themselves about what they're comfortable with.

I didn't know this about myself, but when 'Pirates of the Caribbean' came out I realised that I didn't enjoy a huge amount of recognition. I didn't react to it well, but I think life is about finding out who you are and what you like. So I started doing independent movies and art-house films instead.

I tried college for three months but I was desperately unhappy. I just wanted to perform. I was getting straight As but I had no friends and cried every day.

At this particular time, I probably am more comfortable with myself. Just now I'm having a lovely time.

Well, the thing about great fictional characters from literature, and the reason that they're constantly turned into characters in movies, is that they completely speak to what makes people human.

I wasn't allowed to do commercials. I wasn't allowed to do TV series. I wasn't allowed to do soaps or basically anything that would mean I missed too much school.

I find it quite difficult on studio films because there are so many different executives and things like that that you have to go through, so very often getting that definitive opinion is actually quite difficult.

I don't think that you can fake warmth. You can fake lust, jealousy, anger; those are all quite easy. But actual, genuine warmth? I don't think you can fake it.

Nice is the worst word.

I'm doing a film now with a lot of guys as well, so at the end of that I will be growing a beard.

It's all about perfection, isn't it?

All through my life what I've loved doing is watching movies. I love the escapism of film, I love stories. So it is incredible to be able to be in them as much as I am, to see them from the first stitch in a costume to the end product.

I started working when I was seven, and ever since then I've been saving for an apartment. Even before that I had a little jam jar designated for my apartment money.

I think everybody has the right to a private life.

If only I wasn't an atheist, I could get away with anything. You'd just ask for forgiveness and then you'd be forgiven. It sounds much better than having to live with guilt.

It's impossible. You try to have any kind of relationship with your family, with a man, or with a friend, and you have to be on the phone and the Internet the entire time.

I am a slow reader. I always loved words, which is a strange thing given that I couldn't actually read them.

My mum says that I was born 45, and I do remember at six thinking that I should be earning my own living.

I like watching films when I don't know anything about the people.

Film is a much lonelier process than theatre. You really don't have any rehearsal time in film. You don't shape it together... with theatre, there is a complete kind of family atmosphere. The sociable side of this business is the theatrical side, it really isn't the film side.

I don't have a problem with my body. I'm not just going to strip off all my clothing, but if the part calls for it and I don't think there's any way round, I'm absolutely fine.

It's an interesting thing when you discover something about yourself. To go: 'Wow, I'm not the person I thought I was. I'm in the middle of something and I can't actually deal with it.'

I don't think I can call myself an actress yet. I just don't think my skill level is that high. I hope that with every job it gets better. But until I'm good, I can say I'm trying to be an actor, but I don't think I've completely made it.

I think every girl is looking for her Mr. Darcy.

When I was about 5 I think, I desperately wanted to be a pirate and have the hat and everything.

You already feel unsure of yourself, and then you see your worst fears in print. It really knocked me - which is why, I think, I was working, working, working, because I was trying to run away from the fact that I thought I couldn't do it.

It's fantastic to have the opportunity to work abroad, and do all that, but there is a certain point where you're just like, 'Oh, I'd love to work at home.'

I cook. I go to farmers markets in London and cook really good sort of organic foods.

I find more interesting roles for women in period pieces. I do personally like watching period films; I think you can really get lost in the fantasy of them.

I see the world through my eyes. It's sometimes a strange world.

It's good to know that other people think differently, and that's what makes the characters interesting.

What's nice about playing somebody real is that generally there's more information about them, so a lot of the questions that you'd otherwise have to make up the answers to are already there.

But acting is very much a profession that is you're hot one moment and not the next - and that is totally cool. I think that's what I find most fascinating and most exciting about it - is that it can be gone in a puff of smoke.

My upbringing is why I am the person I am today. I have very wise parents.

A lot of times in cinema today the women are overly sentimental, so I constantly try to do the opposite. I like strident women.

I think sometimes it's sort of easier to be playing a role based on a real person because there's quite often a lot more information, you're not making it up, it's there in books, it's there in research form. But really the questions you ask about the character, and why people behave, and where they come, and how they've ended up in the places they've ended up are the same.

I’ve noticed that the people who started on film still have the ability to see the person in front of them. Whereas for a lot of photographers who have only ever worked in digital, the relationship between the photographer and the person who they’re taking a picture of sort of doesn’t exist anymore. They’re looking at a computer screen as opposed to the person.

I think fashion is like putting on armor. I like that aspect of it, but it's not something I want to think about every day.

I think that there's absolutely no point trying to force your body to be anything than what it is. I think that when you see people who are really pushing themselves to terrifying lengths to achieve what is perceived as being beautiful today, then that's just terrifying, it's really terrifying.

It's a difficult thing when you try and make a film of a book that you really love. You have about two hours to tell the story, and it's never going to be enough.

Humans who see something different than them want to hate it and tear it down. Britain had a government policy that allowed prejudice to destroy someone's life, and today there is still homophobia at home and elsewhere, like Russia or Greece. It's still a relevant discussion. While women have it better than the 1940s or '50s, sexism is still prevalent.

I think you've got to take the risks. There's no point playing it safe, because either you'll get bored or the audiences will get bored. Sometimes, you're going to make mistakes, and that's fine, but you have to take the risks. I think Pirates is one of the prime examples of that with Johnny Depp's performance, and part of the reason that people love it so much is that you watch it and go, "Gutsy, really gutsy!"

I have no idea whether I am completely sane. I don't think anybody is. I see the world through my eyes. It's sometimes a strange world. I hope I don't hurt people. You hope not to hurt yourself too much, either. Maybe that's the definition of keeping yourself in check?

Prince William definitely isn't my type, he's too horsey-looking.

Be happy in your body. It's the only one you've got, so you might as well like it.

They always pencil in my boobs. I was only angry when they were really droopy. For King Arthur, for a poster, they gave me these really strange droopy tits. I thought, well if you’re going to make me fantasy breasts, at least make perky breasts.

Beauty is everywhere. And my photography came naturally without any particular inspirations growing up.

I don't want to deny my femininity. But would I want to be a stay-at-home mother? No. On the other hand, you should be allowed to do that, as should men, without being sneered at.

You have to learn the rules to be able to know how to break them.

I see a pair of shoes I adore, and it doesn't matter if they have them in my size. I buy them anyway.

The most important thing in playing any character is not judging.

I'm obsessed with shoes. I must have hundreds of pairs...That reminds me- I need to go shopping!

Empathy is the main thing, putting yourself in somebody else's shoes and trying not to judge.

I think it doesn't matter where you're from, we all need a bit of romance.

It's obvious to say you can't please everybody and there are always going to be people who are going to say, I just don't like you. There's nothing I can do about that. I'm aware, probably much more aware than my harshest critic, of what my own problems are with my acting ability. I'm very, very critical of myself, and I don't ever want to not be.