Top 100 Claire Danes Quotes

I like marriage. I feel very secure. It helps when you are in love with the person you are married to.

When I was 18 I went to college for two years and didn’t work for a year which was essential for me, because my identity had been so influenced by my being an actor and I think I just needed to discover what it was to be myself, divorced from all that responsibility.

I was very driven to act from a very young age, and my parents were not only tolerant of that drive but also encouraging.

I started working when I was very young. I got an agent when I was 12, and fortunately was employed consistently from that point on. So I didn’t really go to a conventional high school. I was tutored on sets and things.

You have to pick your battles on set.

I actually haven’t been approached a whole lot for television, believe it or not.

Counterterrorism isn’t really about the nunchakus, the guns and gadgets. It’s about psychology.

Yeah, there was the Flora Plum thing, where I trained for about a month and I had taken a semester off for that, and two weeks prior to filming, the financing collapsed.

I think people who make movies and have invested a lot of money in them get frightened that if they challenge an audience they are going to repel them. And I think the opposite; it’s really true.

My character was kidnapped by the Terminator and I was kidnapped by the Terminator production.

I’m so impressed by Jennifer Lawrence and Carey Mulligan. They have this exquisite taste. They are very gifted in their ability to make great choices.

I got an agent when I was 12, and I started working in more amateur productions well before that. But even as a kid, I never felt like a kid actor, you know? I always took myself kind of absurdly seriously.

I discovered Orson Welles in college; my freshman English professor screened ‘Citizen Kane’ for us, and I wound up writing a 20-page term paper on it.

Working gives you this new perspective. You don’t take everything too seriously, and you realise that if you don’t do too well on a history test, it’s not the end of the world.

Voice over can be tricky. It can be dangerous because it’s over-used or inappropriately used.

By the time I went to Yale, I’d been acting for a long time and I was really tired of it. I was restless – and a little bored – and I was really eager to investigate different parts of myself.

I’ve always had a really active imagination. Lots of kids have imaginary friends. Mine just took on a rather demonic form.

It’s very difficult to judge yourself. Extreme self-doubt is only attractive when it’s fictionalized. Which is why people love the movies. They are so reassuring.

If you do something that you’re not genuinely passionate about, it is a little soul-crushing. Just not worth it.

I would be a terrible CIA officer in real life.

I’m happier in my thirties. I feel clearer about who I am and less apologetic about it, and more accepting of my limitations and also more aware of the ways in which I’m capable.

I still have a book club with my friends from when I was 5. That’s the privilege of growing up in a place where people want to remain. It’s a huge gift.

I like reading novels because it provides insight into human behavior. I am really interested in feelings and think they are what define us as a species. When you really get it right in acting, it’s an act of empathy. You feel less distant from others, and that is really exciting.

I think it’s important to never play ‘crazy’ – you have to know what kind of crazy you’re playing.

On a film you can really get away with learning the scene the night before and that’s often just not possible with TV, so you have to be a little bit more prepared a little bit more in advance.

I would rather not work than be a neurotic mess.

We just can’t shake monogamy. It definitely demands a kind of rigor and discipline and selflessness. But it’s also fun.

Oliver Stone’s strategy is to unnerve the actors so as to make them alert and alive.

I have a huge, active imagination, and I think I’m really scared of being alone; because if I’m left to my own devices, I’ll just turn into a madwoman.

I can get a dance party started pretty much anywhere and anytime.

The big question is always, ‘Eyes or lips?’ I tend to go with the eyes because I’ve got a lot more material to work with now – and it saves me from reapplying lipstick! I’m a pretty low-maintenance person and it’s too excessive to exaggerate both the eyes and lips.

I would not say that secret-keeping is one of my finer skills, actually.

Once you get over that peak of puberty, you hit a nice stride.

I exercise more for mental relaxation than anything else.

There was a solid year and a half, perhaps two years, after making ‘Temple Grandin,’ when I didn’t do anything. I just didn’t have much patience for roles that were silly, or light, or inconsequential.

It’s OK to want to look and feel your best. It’s OK to work at being attractive, whatever that means to you. And it’s also OK to not expect to be defined by that. It’s OK to be powerful in every way: to be big, to take up space. To breathe and thrive.

I eat in moderation and try not to worry about it.

I do know how to fire a machine gun, so be warned! I’m trained!

I could truly have gone through life thinking that women were these venomous creatures. Turns out, they’re not.

The Brexit and Trump phenomena are informed by similar forces and social and economic movements. I think it’s been really stressful; it’s been really scary.

I’m very vain about my performance. I want to give as honest a performance as I can. But I’m not so worried about being regarded as beautiful when I’m playing a character.

I love sitting in the makeup trailer and getting my makeup done in 15 minutes as opposed to an hour and a half.

It just seems like the most successful, iconic love stories are not so easy or escapist. I think the ones that stay with us and resonate are full of conflict, discord and misunderstandings ’cause that’s what makes drama happen or tension even if it’s a comedy.

It’s a very young mistake to assume that life is very serious. I get the joke now.

Narciso Rodriguez was my first fashion big brother. He made my wedding dress, which was wonderful.

So much of my job is about finding another job, and that’s really boring.

Oh, I’m full of fear. I care about things; therefore, I have fears. I like to think that I’m brave, which is different. Brave means you’re able to admit that you care. If you care, you are vulnerable.

I think because I am as earnest as I am, people were accepting of my evolving into a certified, legitimate, and grown up and I did take three years off.

I have to say that my dad’s face is very malleable. He’s barely got any cartilage in his face. I think I maybe inherited that Play-Doh-like physicality from him.

My go-to gifts are scarves from my friend Matin Maulawizada’s nonprofit organization, Afghan Hands, which supports disenfranchised women in Afghanistan. In exchange for their beautiful embroidery, the women are given financial aid and classes in math and literacy. The scarves are all stunning and one of a kind.

I took three years off. I differentiated myself from the industry. Found my identity – sort of… I haven’t graduated yet. I’m not legitimately educated yet, but maybe one day.

Psychology and acting are very closely linked. It’s just about studying people and how they work. It can be an incredible discipline and exercise.

I was an actor who happened to be a kid.

I used to have nightmares when I was a little kid that I woke up prematurely and opened all the Christmas presents. And then I would be so relieved when I woke up and I realized that I hadn’t done it.

Fame doesn’t end loneliness.

Relationships are a constant negotiation and balance.

Steve Martin is one of my favorite performers, writers, artists of all time.

There’s certainly something very uncomfortable about the voyeurism involved in being in the press, being an actor, where people have a seemingly insatiable curiosity about, you.

I don’t know any celebrated people that register in a big way who aren’t unique.

Some of my happiest moments have been dancing.

I fantasized about being a psychology major when I first started school, and I took a handful of Psych 101 classes.

I really liked Yale, although it was extremely intimidating. When I visited the campus, I was hiding behind trees, I felt so unworthy.

I’m only realizing now that I was a child actress because I always took myself so seriously.

I don’t want to be an actress. I want to be doing good work that is well written and has good people in it.

You have to come to work from a place of love.

It’s been a great privilege to see how interwoven nations are and how incredibly complex these relationships are. It’s so elaborate.

I was a serious kid to an absurd degree. I was overwhelmed with responsibility. You know, trying to play grown up. I overdid it.

I guess I stopped acting when I was 18 and didn’t pick it up again until I was 21. That wasn’t the plan, though. When I first started at Yale, the plan was to do a movie each summer.