Top 55 Michelle Yeoh Quotes

It’s very important for us all to understand that we are interconnected and we need to hold hands together, especially when the going gets tough.

Playing Aung San Suu Kyi was a journey in itself. She represents many things for many people and for many reasons. Although I have played many important roles in my life, I can say that this role has been a journey of self-realisation.

Sometimes, being a girl away from home – it gets to you.

When you face up to bad things in the past, the most important thing is not to allow them to happen today or in the future, and as storytellers, we must play our part in that.

My mother is a very big cinema buff, so as a kid, we watched a lot of Indian and Malay films.

When you love someone, you don’t try to change them.

‘The Lady’ is an incredible love story about how a family was cut off from each other, about sacrifice, about the ability to put the needs of million of people before your own.

Before you get into the mind, you have to inhabit the physicality. Body language is a great way of speaking.

I believe that the director is really the soul. It is a collaborative effort, but the director is the one who needs to have that vision. It could be a great script, but it starts from there. You need to have good material, at least, but if you don’t have someone with vision, it’s just words.

Acting is not just impersonating your character.

Movies cater to what the audiences want.

There is so much we can do to save lives on our roads.

In a movie, that’s the only time when you’re allowed these kind of fantasies to be lived. Being able to look so cool and be able to fight five bad guys and take them down. When can you do that?

San Suu’s story will always involve politics, but the essence is the love story.

With an award like the Asian Film Awards, we’ve sent a message saying that ‘Asian Cinema is here, it matters, and more importantly, we are all part of the same fraternity!’ The AFA is truly, then, an award for Asia, by Asia.

The first one I did was an action film with Sammo Hung and George Lam, but I had the usual female role for that time: you know, damsel in distress, rescued by the hero.

I’m terrible on the phone. I just text my friends and family and say, ‘Hey, I’m in town.’

Unfortunately, many parents reject helmets for their kids out of a mistaken perception that helmets are unsafe for children.

Raising awareness for Nepal was and still is an important role for me.

On ‘Far North,’ we were always aware of being at the whim of mother nature. She’s the biggest star in the film.

Let’s empower men and help them take a stand to stop acts of violence against women.

I don’t plan to go out and do action or not do action.

We all learn every day, and that’s the magic about film making.

As producers, we can influence where the budget goes, but only the director really controls what tone, what type of movie you are trying to make.

I was struck by Suu Kyi’s warmth and generosity. No matter how petite she looks, she exudes amazing strength. More than anything else, I felt like I already knew her, like she was an old friend, because I’d been watching her so intently, and she was exactly what I had figured she would be.

It was like baptism by fire. There was no school for studying acting. You just have to take it upon yourself to learn from your peers. It’s about opening your eyes, listening, and watching.

I had an amazing teacher, who was Burmese, and she was living in Paris at the time, and she is one of very few who doesn’t actually receive a credit in the film because she still has family over there.

In Europe and America, you never see a director pick up a camera. They all sit behind monitors.

Beauty shouldn’t be superficial and should come from within, and your eyes will tell the story.

When men have a smile on their faces, that does a lot for me.

It’s very important that I’m approaching a character that I’ve either not played before, or I can give it a different take.

I thoroughly enjoy a good hot bath. That is my ultimate luxury.

Every time I choose to do a movie, I make the decision because of what I think I can learn from it.

As an actor, you hope to find roles that are challenging to you as an artist. Then if you are truly blessed, you will find that it also carries a message that you can impart to your audience.

We always see Aung San as a strong, tough woman. There are two stories running in parallel. You see the contradictions between the East and the West, and you see someone who does mundane and normal things – someone who’s supposed to be a housewife – and then someone who’s become important and imprisoned.

When I watch myself on-screen, I always look for the flaws.

I love my martial arts and action movies. They give another dimension to the acting world: the emotional plus the physical.

For me, beauty comes from natural happiness. I think that a woman glows, and a man, even, when they’re healthy and they’re happy.

Martial arts is just practice. Being a geisha requires complete control.

Sometimes when I’m on the phone, someone will say, ‘Yes, Mr. Yeoh.’ And I’m thinking, ‘I’m not Mr. Yeoh, man.’

I have people who love me and people that I love and a man that I love. So in that sense, I feel that I’m pretty well rounded.

I gravitate towards roles where women find strength in very difficult, uncompromising situations but maintain clarity in mind, discipline at heart, and a certain strength in spirit.

India is a great talent pool of actors. I see Freida Pinto making it big in Hollywood, and I am sure many others can also make it.

To be a geisha, you have to have to an iron-clad layer around you – around your physical body and your heart.

I want to be there for all those who are left behind in this world, whether it’s because they are born poor, born a woman, or born in an area affected by devastation.

I kick and punch quite hard, and it surprises people.

When you’re a teenager, you could do a lot more crazy things, and your body recovers faster.

There is no guaranteed formula. And that’s one of the interesting things about filmmaking. You could put $115 million in, and it doesn’t guarantee success.

Today, tomorrow and every day, we will see at least 2,000 young children killed or seriously injured on the world’s roads. This is unacceptable, preventable, and we have to stop it. We have the vaccines for this disease: helmets, seatbelts, speed enforcement, safe road design. We just need to use them.

I have done many films across the globe and would love to be a part of Bollywood, but the script must have a strong character for me.

They won’t take you seriously because you are a girl. These guys had to understand that you are just as tough as them, and you have to take them on.

Your timing has to be very accurate. I’ve done a lot of wire work before. I can see that experience makes a big difference.

In many ways, I feel I’m still as physically fit as I was 20 years ago because I’ve always been athletic.

I have very supportive parents who said, ‘Go and do what you want to do. Home is always here for you, and if you don’t like it out there, come back. You can always do something different.’ So when you have an option like that, you are able to choose roles or choose the things you want to be in.

If you were ever a ballerina, you know the pain: just to be able to look like it’s all so light, but when they take off their shoes, it’s all bloody.