Penelope cruz quotes

It's great working with my sister, because we are very close as a family - my brother, my sister and myself. We have a great relationship.

Maybe I'll make one movie a year, maybe two, but it's not going to be more than that because I have other priorities now.

I can cook a little bit. I can cook a few Spanish dishes. But, in movies, it looks like I cook much better than I cook.

Especially when you are advertising a product, I talk to the photographer and we create a character - it always gives you more freedom because it makes it less about yourself.

I'm very honored to play one of the women in the movie Volver, and it was special acting with all those other talented actresses. Carmen Maura is a legend and it was a thrill to make a movie with her.

When I read a script, I try not to judge the characters. I try to have an open mind and really see what it makes me feel.

If we continue on the path we're on, there simply won't be enough fresh water for everyone.

I like roles that people don't recognize me in.

One thing that I am proud of: I am really capable of laughing at myself.

I'm not like Puff Daddy, I hold my own umbrella.

We had a great connection with Pedro Almodovar from the beginning. Even before I met him, it was so strange. I felt like I already knew him. I loved him even before I met him. It was so powerful. And when I looked at him in the eyes, this was the feeling that I knew I was going to have with him. It gets bigger and bigger every day. I adore him. It's much more than working together. He's a really special person in my life.

If I read a script and the subject stays with me - then that's when I want to go to work. Before, I was very addicted to being on set, and I was doing three or four movies a year for many years. Now, fortunately, I can go to work only when I am passionate about a project, and the rest of the time, I can live my life. I'm not interested in doing movies just as a marathon. When I go to work now, I have much more to give. But the other way, you get empty.

In my house every Sunday, everybody was cleaning the house. There was always music, and everybody was dancing, sometimes naked around the house. Not hippie, but very free.

For 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona,' for example, Woody Allen is one of the greatest American directors, and we really had a very good working relationship. We understand each other really well. He gave me one of the best opportunities somebody has ever given me in my career.

I love learning on the set. But, directing is not something I want to do.

There is a magic factor that is sometimes on a movie set, that is a really, really beautiful thing that cannot be compared to anything else, if you are somebody that is really passionate about acting or directing or the world of movies.

I have had a very singular kind of life since I started working so young, so I am very used to traveling, working, taking time for myself.

Age holds absolutely no fear for me. There is so much enjoyment ahead.

I just try not to label myself in any way. I just have an allergy to labels in general. I can tell you that I am surrounded by very strong women and that I really appreciate that, but I'd rather not label myself.

I am living for every day and trying to have less fear, less worry. But I have always worried about everything; it's in my nature. It's the thing that makes me suffer the most.

I want to be remembered as somebody that tried to respect her integrity as an artist and as a person. And I don't want to be in any box. I don't want to be one thing.

[Winning an Oscar] was a beautiful thing that happened. It is in my house, and every time I look at, I see all the people who are a part of it, all the people who gave me opportunities to work, gave me opportunities to make a living at this thing [acting] that was a dream for me, growing up. And I got to do it, and then again and again and again, and make a living out of being an actress.

I won't go to places where you're going to find more attention. I go to the opposite.

I was happy that I finally could play a mature woman, because I started working when I was a teenager and was always playing characters according to my age.

I never grew up dreaming about a wedding - I don't think about things like that. I don't know how to explain it. All I care about is to be happy.

I had a very curly perm in the '80s, thanks to the 'Way You Make Me Feel' Michael Jackson video. I liked the girl in it.

Madrid is what I call home, but also the States.

It's fun for women to be in a Western. And I had to learn how to handle the guns. I would walk around with the fake guns. It takes a lot of practice to twirl them around - but I can do a lot of crazy things now from movies. I can gallop a camel! Give me a camel, I know how to start it and stop it!

I think superstition has a lot to do with fear: the less, the better.

Pedro Almodóvar asked me to watch italian films again as homework to look at the energy of all those women from the Italian neo-realist films. A lot of them had those characters that represented motherhood. For some reason, in the '50s in Italy, the mother figure was very important - and my character needed to have that energy.

To be able to explore the genre of the musical is nice. It was great to be able to sing professionally, for the first time, and dance, which was something that I did growing up, but I had not done for many, many years.

I would close down all those teenage magazines that encourage young girls to diet. Who says that to be pretty you have to be thin? Some people look better thin and some don't. There is almost a standard being created where only thin is acceptable. The influence of those magazines on girls as young as 13 is horrific.

Being actors we are dealing with the beauty and complexity of human confusion, no? And we are always trying to get answers.

I think most actors . . . We are insecure, in general. I think to be an actor, you need to have an ego, but then, our ego is our worst enemy.

Johnny Depp is so special that he is like a Martian. In fact, that's what I call him, Martian.

I have stepped off the relationship scene to come to terms with myself. I have spent most of my adult life being 'someone's girlfriend', and now I am happy being single.

You cannot live your life looking at yourself from someone else's point of view.

It is a revolutionary experience. That's the best way I can describe it. It transforms you completely, in a second. Nature is very wise and gives you nine months to prepare, but in that moment-when you see that face, you are transformed forever.

My definition of beauty is without rules. It can be the face of a beautiful 90-year-old woman that is full of stories and emotion. Beauty is what somebody's eyes communicate.

I really think insecurity is something that comes with being an actor - I don't know actors who aren't insecure. I do think I kind of lie to myself - there is a percentage of ego involved. And I don't say that's a bad thing - it's good to know that it's there whether we like it or not. But ego is like a lion that we have to keep under control.

I still feel like I have so much to learn. I love that feeling, that next time I go to set, I will be terrified again. I don't want it to be any other way.

When I was on the set, I was not talking on the phone or reading anything else. I was just reading things, listening to music and watching things that had to do with the state of the scene. So it would be a constant, maintaining for the whole day that state. If I had an hour off for lunch, I would put on a movie or something that would help me stay in that area. And at the end of the day, I was like a zombie.

I am a big fan of photography, more of being behind the camera - so when I get the opportunity to work with such great photographers, I always try and learn from their technique.

I have a little bit of an addiction to work. So I'm always hiding in the bathroom with my Blackberry to work when I'm on holiday.

I would always cast Meryl Streep for everything. I would do with something inspired by the work of Guy Bourdin, my favorite photographer.

When I am dreaming at night, I see everything as a shot from a movie. I have cranes and extras in my dreams. I swear to you! It doesn't happen every day, but many nights my dreams are like a movie. I don't see normal movement - I see things in very complicated shots.

As an actress, I really love people like Anna Magnani and Debra Winger. I also think there is nobody better than Meryl Streep.

I don't know why, but women in a hair salon share their deepest secrets.

I've seen my grandmothers grow old and they are so beautiful, every wrinkle in their face tells a story. I want to feel that in 30 years. I would always choose that kind of beauty over that comes from having too much done to yourself.

I was very superstitious when I was a teenager, and I had to fight against that because it made me feel anxious.

I don't do Twitter, Facebook; none of that. My email I do from my Blackberry or my iPhone.

The one philosophy or religion I find I am most close to is the Buddhist one. I think it is the one that respects others and the one that doesn't say that this is the only way. I think happiness is the moment when - if you've forgotten those little things - they suddenly come back into focus for you.

I was 11 when I first said I wanted to become an actress, and everyone looked at me as if I had said I wanted to go to the moon.

My ambition is to be happy.

There's so much more I want to do. I refuse to get to 50 and wait at home for the phone to ring. In Spain, actresses work until they are old. That's my plan.

When I was 16, I got 'Jamon, Jamon.' Of course, I had to lie about my age. And I had to lie to my parents about the content of the script.

I came to Los Angeles for the first time in 1994. I spoke no English. I only knew how to say two sentences: "How are you?" and "I want to work with Johnny Depp."

My mother was very passionate about life and she would do anything for us. And she had to fight alone to raise us. We never had a lot of money for extras or anything. She had to work six days a week, and then she would do breakfast, lunch and dinner. She was a super-woman! For me, I don't know how she did it with three kids.

I love New York, but being there the whole year, it gets a little crazy with the speed and rhythm of things.

I came to New York to study ballet and English.

The most difficult thing in the world is to start a career known only for your looks, and then to try to become a serious actress. No one will take you seriously once you are known as the pretty woman.

I love ballet and I love dancing...... It's a little boring for me to go to the gym because I'm used to the dancing discipline - It's really hard, but much more fun.

The most important lesson I've learned in this business is how to say no. I have said no to a lot of temptations, and I am glad I did.

I want to work with Johnny Depp.

I really like the Caribbean. Anyplace in the Caribbean. I get there, and I feel like a monkey - the perfect state.

I've worked myself to exhaustion before. I was so young, and I thought I could do everything; it was just too much for my body and my mind.

I think it will be better when I get involved with someone again, because I made this time for me. I haven't really been single for a while, and I think it's been good for me, to lose the fear to be like this.

I have food every day on the table, I have a family, friends, health - all the things without which it wouldn't matter how many roles I get to play.

I'm strong and opinionated. Those qualities brought me a lot of problems since I was a little girl in school, saying 'I don't agree' and fighting with the children. It's part of my curiosity for life.

Sometimes, when things go well on a set, or when you are working with somebody like Pedro Almodovar, Woody Allen, Rob Marshall or somebody so talented and so inspiring, it's really beautiful, what happens there.

I spend so much time living by myself - mostly in hotels - and I pick up cats when I'm feeling particularly lonely.

When I start a movie, the first day, I feel like a duck.

I had things with numbers - because I love numbers - but it's not something I'm proud of. I'm proud that I was able to send them away, because you're much more present.

Unfortunately, I am very aware of editing and I look at the monitor too much. Sometimes the monitor can become your worst enemy because you can, consciously or unconsciously, start editing yourself.

I used to dance for seventeen years -classical ballet, which was very disciplined. I like yoga and Pilates, but I don't have the discipline to go to the gym.

He can have my body, but he will never have my soul. never!

Awards are great, as you get to meet up with friends and colleagues from your industry - a sort of reunion.

I am amazed about how everyone wants to know about my love life. They whisper to me, 'Tell me the truth? Is it true?' Who cares? Because we have this job, we are to say to everybody what we do, or with whom we sleep? It's a bit absurd, but that's why everybody lies so much.

As a kid, I had a lot of energy; but the ballet lessons made me calm - this pleased my mother.

I think magic is very related to happiness. So it is not there all the time, but there are beautiful moments of magic in everyone's life.

I don't know if I believe in marriage. I believe in family, love and children.

In my everyday life, I just wear jeans, t-shirts and trainers - if I can go barefoot, that's even better. But for the events I have a stylist, and in two hours we have selected a whole outfit.

Calcutta is like another world. People there are very special and grateful.

I don't think I am beautiful. I can look good and I can look ugly.

In Spain, actresses work until they are old. That's my plan.

I try to look at the whole thing and say 'yes' to the projects that I cannot stop thinking about. If I read a script and the subject stays with me - then that's when I want to go to work.

I always feel scared and insecure on a film set. I don't know any other way.

I love the Italian culture, it's a beautiful culture. I love the language, the Italian people, their music, their attitudes... I just love it! Sometimes, I think I'm an Italian trapped in a Spanish woman's body.

My plate is full with just acting. I want to focus on that, and then maybe direct in the future.

When you really have the preparation time and things start taking the shape that they need, you have a beautiful feeling that comes from the hard work.

I have seen water availability change drastically in my own lifetime. Around the world, millions of people are already living in a true water crisis.

Every relationship ends, until maybe you find one that lasts forever.

Ever since I was a little girl, I've worried too much. It always bothers me because sometimes you end up worrying more about the worry and you are not resolving things that are right there in front of you. I have been like that all my life, and it's hard to change.

I have a strong personality, and I say what I think.

I realized that when two people function well together at work, it doesn't matter if they hadn't seen each other for years. What they had before was still intact.

It feels great and it's very beautiful when you can bring someone of your own nationality into a story, where even the historic element of it is important. I loved that I could use my own accent for the character.

I can cook a few things. I always save the same recipes to impress my friends, and I always do two or three things, so they think I can cook. But I don't know how to do anything else.

The good thing is that I have always had wonderful people around me. It's dangerous when you start earning a lot of money and you become famous when you are too young.

The discipline that ballet requires is obsessive. And only the ones who dedicate their whole lives are able to make it. Your toenails fall off and you peel them away and then you're asked to dance again and keep smiling. I wanted to become a professional ballet dancer.

We must act now to make sure fresh water is available to everyone, no matter where they live. The consequences of doing nothing will be even more catastrophic.

Sometimes you will do a close-up for a scene in the morning where you are totally distraught, then shoot the rest of that scene seven hours later. How do you hang on to that feeling all day without burning up, without going so far that you have nothing left to give when the cameras roll again?

the older I am, the more I refuse to treat my work as therapy and the more I think it's less honest to do that, less about acting. When I was younger, I sometimes used personal things in creating characters, to the point where I thought maybe it was a little bit dangerous - at least for me. But I don't feel that somebody can only be good in a character if they are really becoming that person or really suffering.

Pedro's Almodovar different - very unique, very particular and difficult to compare to anyone else. But I've been lucky with many of the people that I've worked with. I think I've been very lucky with great opportunities - directors like Stephen Frears, Cameron Crowe and Fernando Trueba, as well as Bigas Luna, who gave me my first opportunity. There are a lot of people I would love to work with again. But, of course, I have a special relationship with Pedro and I don't think it's good to hide that.

Nothing is going to happen to you if you throw salt on the floor, stand under a ladder, or see eight black cats on the street.

It's very much like a torture sometimes, the process of trying to get rid of an accent.

All those cliches, those things you hear about having a baby and motherhood - all of them are true. And all of them are the most beautiful things you will ever experience.

I want to have babies one day but not right now. When I do it I want to do it really well. I want it to be my best project in life.

My parents owned a hair salon, so I learned a few tricks there. I can cut people's hair - if they let me.

I never want to lie about my age. If I look around at the actresses I admire, they are all women who have not fought growing older, but embraced it and been proud of it - women like Sophia Loren or Audrey Hepburn.

I feel like I've been very lucky with the directors. The characters I've been offered, especially lately, have given me the opportunity to play all of these different women. I always wanted that, and it's something that you cannot do by yourself. If you want to play a diversity of characters, somebody else has to have the imagination to give you a role completely out of the box. We depend on somebody else's trust, and these directors are giving me their trust, and I am grateful for that.

Sometimes I feel we express more with dancing or acting or painting than with words.

We need to stop the dying and start the living; stop the hunger and start the hoping.

There are so many designers that I love, and I'm so lucky that I get to work with so many of them and sometimes spend time with them.