Top 232 Quotes & Sayings by Winona Ryder - Page 2

One of my worst fears is being a self-indulgent person.

There's a couple of times that I did it for the... paycheck. Even when I was younger - I remember I did this movie that wasn't good, called '1969.' I totally did it 'cause I could get out of school.

I was watching TV, and there was this oldies-but-goodies film fest, and 'Lucas' came on. I was like, 'Oh my God, I'm an oldie!'

I did this little movie I really love called 'Experimenter,' but that took six years to get made and no money.

It's great concentrating so hard you feel your brain will explode.

Googling yourself is maybe one of the worst things you can do. I did it once, and someone had to talk me off a ledge.

I'm not someone like Norma Desmond who's harking back to her younger days.

I wanted to be just a normal girl flirting with a normal guy. It's like, you meet people, and they know this stuff about you. It's why you want to meet somebody who's in the same business, only because they understand more. But you don't necessarily want to be with another actor.

My favourite performances are by actresses like Bette Davis in 'All About Eve' or Gena Rowlands in pretty much anything - performances that have nothing to do with age.

It was hard to find that transition to adult roles.

My home is San Francisco - that is definitely what I consider my home.

I was fired from a movie because I did 'Heathers!' I was cast in a movie, and the director saw an advance screening and was offended by it and fired me.

I've always been fascinated with twins.

I would have to say 'The Crucible' stands out because it was one of the best experiences I've ever had, but, you know, Arthur Miller being present on the set - which was wonderful and incredible - but, to have him in your eye line is quite intimidating. It's such a beautiful language he created, so that was challenging but exciting.

As a teenager, I worked on Indian reservations, and it was such an incredible culture: the elders are so respected.

When I was young, I was the sweetheart of the press. They loved me but were kind of waiting for me to mess up. I had no skeletons in my closet, no major past to talk about.

The Duffers can be super articulate or very straight to the point. I was really impressed with how they were with each other.

I don't have any interest in being a movie star.

It's like, sometimes I'll watch a movie, and it's got some big star in it playing a working-class person, and the character is in a grocery store, and you can kind of tell, from just watching the scene, that this actor doesn't do their own shopping. So you have to have some sense of reality.

I get sent a lot of scripts where you're just the mom.

I would not want to go back to playing the ingenue.

I was unusual looking - I didn't have the look of that time. If you look at 'Lucas' - and, basically, my first five or six movies - the characters are not described in the scripts as attractive people.

It's all about knowing when to listen to that conversation and - without sounding really hokey - when to tune it out and follow your heart.

I'd rather never have been married than been divorced a few times. Not that there's anything wrong with divorce, but I don't think I could do it if that was a possibility.

It used to be that you commit to something, and then basically you spend your year doing that. Now there's a constant conversation of how you have to keep working in order to remind people that you're around.

I feel like I had to learn how to take care of myself and find out what made me happy aside from just making films.

I did 'Beetlejuice,' and it was a big movie, but it didn't help my high-school experience. In fact, it made it worse. I was a freak and a witch.

I'm used to being told what to say, but not what to think... that's usually left up to me.

Apparently, Bette Davis and a lot of actresses had a hard time in their 30s, too.

I feel a little stronger than people perceive me.

When I'm acting well, it's the most exhilarating experience. When I'm bad, it's miserable.

I can see it in even great actors' performances, when they're phoning it in.

There are certain directors who will start talking to you about something, and suddenly you'll be ready to roll, and you'll realize it was very specific.

It's interesting because, even with 'Beetlejuice,' I was an awkward kid. I started at puberty and went through it on film. Lydia was one of my favorite roles because I related to her a lot.

With 'Ed Wood,' I sobbed. With 'Frankenweenie,' I was crying. With 'Edward Scissorhands,' I always cry. There's always an incredible amount of purity, even if they look a certain way.

My problems seemed so glamorous to other people, and everyone just thought I was so lucky. But then, I was lucky because my family was really there for me - San Francisco was a real refuge.

I've always been super-private and protective of certain experiences and certain friends.

I'm just coming from a more personal - and, I guess, more nostalgic - point of view.

I've been embracing aging. I always have, since I was a kid. When you're the kid on the set for so long, you just, like, daydream about being older.

Some people go to L.A. just to see recognizable people. There are tour buses. But in New York, everyone seems a little less into that.

Even though I never really had to pound the pavement as an actor, I always worked really hard. But, at the same time, I always felt like people thought that I didn't have to struggle even though I was struggling.

I definitely count my blessings. I feel like I've had such a great ride. Early on, to be able to work with some of the people I did, I feel really lucky.

I approached work very seriously. I never went out. I couldn't fathom people who could go out to clubs... I mean, if I had a 6 A.M. call, I had to be prepared. I had to be in bed at a certain hour.

I love getting older. I think it has to do with always being the kid on set.

I was single for a while and dating and... I just didn't know how to do it! I've always been like that: when I was 15, there was a guy I liked, and we made out, and I thought that meant he was my boyfriend.

You have to work to be relevant. If you don't, then people will forget, and the studios won't want you because they won't remember the last thing you did that made money.

I just did what I found interesting. I was so lucky that I was able to do that, especially in the '90s. I was really able to have a life to go back to.

Scorsese would talk to me about this movie 'The Heiress' with Olivia de Havilland. We were talking about this scene in it, and suddenly we were rolling. It was very intentional, and I didn't realize - because we talk old movies all the time.

Part of me feels like when you had a lot of success in your teens and 20s, it gets harder for you in your 30s because people are so attached to you as this ingenue. So even though you're older, they still think of you as that girl - that waifish young girl. And so it was sort of like a struggle.

I went from weirdo teenager to pixie waif to them not knowing what the hell to do with me.

Remember when you were a kid, and everyone used to say, 'Would you rather be interested or interesting?' And to me, it was always like, 'Interested!' How is that even a question? I feel very lucky that I'm just really, really interested in a lot of things.

Usually, the roles that you get offered that are the mom roles are very much the mom role.

There was a time when all that mattered was that you were in a good movie.

On the set for 'Beetlejuice,' it was before people would go watch on monitors, and directors would be next to the camera.

I'm part of the crew obsessed with 'The Wire.' Like, I'm not over that yet.

I am not a person who can really sit around and think about regrets because with every bad experience that you have, there is weirdly something good that comes from it.

I wish I could unknow this, but there is a perception of me that I'm super-sensitive and fragile. And I am super-sensitive, and I don't think that that's a bad thing. To do what I do, I have to remain open.

I don't have a director's mind.

I have my email on my Blackberry, and that's about it.

In real life, and for women everywhere, no matter what their job is, your 30s and your 40s and beyond should be celebrated.