Reese Witherspoon

[On roles resembling the title character in ‘Penelope’] I like this girl because she is a bit of a bad-ass. I grew up watching movies with people like Barbara Stanwyck, and sometimes I get frustrated that there aren’t a lot of great female characters out there that young women can look at and go, ‘I want to be like that’. I go to movies and yell at the women on-screen, ‘Shoot him; just shoot him.’ I mean, why why does the guy always have to shoot him?

We each own one car, and we have a reasonable house. It’s a lovely place to be, but it’s not extravagant.

Even people that know Johnny Cash’s music really well and know that he was married don’t really know that much about June Carter. So finding out about her really helped to inform my performance and to bring her to the front in a way that she has never been before.

[on having a baby] Obviously, this isn’t the time in my life that I would have chosen to do this, but I feel like life gives you these challenges for a reason. I feel so happy and glad to be in the place that I am. I really feel blessed. This is something I need to face and take control of.

[on Ryan Phillippe] I’m lucky to find a person to share my life, and the best friend I’ll ever have.

I love books.

[On turning down the chance to appear in Ocean’s Twelve] Why say a couple of lines opposite Brad Pitt when I could be playing lead back home?

Everybody I know in England was raised on Mose Allison.

Attending an all-girls school has its advantages, there are no inhibitions. You can walk to school with your zit cream on and your hair in rollers and nobody cares.

I think everyone’s intentions are to become a performer at first. But by the time I was in high school and college, I discovered that I liked writing and that I was probably a little better at it.

A girl must marry for love, and keep on marrying until she finds it.

I have just been saying whatever the f**k I want. That’s always a breath of fresh air… everyone is so filtered these days. I’m just back to being reckless and being a Southside, Jamaica, Queens, New York rapper

If you’re an actor and you don’t get cast in stuff a lot, then put together a show or hold play-reading nights at your apartment. Make your own opportunities.

You can’t fake listening. It shows.

Being jealous of a beautiful woman is not going to make you more beautiful.

Congress is like jazz – it’s really about the bills it’s not passing. It’s also like jazz in that most people hate it and anyone who says they don’t are lying.

Anything that we think is incredible and beautiful and wonderful, we ascribe to something that we don’t know what it is.

I’d say I’m a bit of a fatalist but not as much as I was. I used to be like “whatever happens happens” and have that innate fatalistic outlook. But I think it’s more about what you are thinking in your own mind that is the most powerful aspect of controlling your own life.

Prison sentences are a lot like penises – if they’re used correctly, even a short one can do the trick… is a rumor I have heard.

I personally really like getting a proper album with artwork and everything.

Confidence is everything in this business.