Cate Blanchett Quotes

What you're trying to do as an actor is somehow trick yourself into believing that these words have never been said, and so you've got to discover them for the first time.

Fashion is one thing, you kind of can change your silhouette and try this and try that. But I think that with skin care, you know anything that you put into your skin goes into your body, so you want to know it's actually good for you. So I think I don't believe in fashion when it comes to skin care if that makes sense.

Personally, I prefer to play against the look: If a character appears particularly unhinged, with makeup running down her face, I like to play her as if she has it together. I think that juxtaposition makes it so much more interesting.

Culture civilizes us, and that's why every single despotic regime has tried to smash [the arts].

In the current climate, things that are true, brave human stories become political.

When you're directing something, you absolutely have to be involved in all layers of the process.

Inquiry and curiosity is really important in any profession, but definitely in what I do. And in parallel you also need to be confident enough to try things. So it's a tricky thing sometimes to balance those two states.

It was fantastic to be able to have my kids on set. Dash, my eldest son, who’s not quite five, was into knights and his godmother had given him a plastic Marks & Spencer knights’ outfit and [first assistant director] Tommy Gormley said that he could stand to protect me during the scene where Clive [Owen] is talking about the immensity of sitting on the throne. I’m actually looking through an archway at my son standing in his knights’ costume protecting me!

To become a painter or a sculptor or a graphic designer is quite an isolated way to spend your life.

Actresses can get outrageously precious about the way they look. That's not what life's about. If you starve yourself to the point where your brain cells shrivel, you will never do good work. And if you're overly conscious of your arms flapping in the wind, how can you look the other actor in the eye to respond to them?

I feel like I've been marinated in Australian theatre.

The emoji still doesn't really speak to the complexity that actually - or the subtext that goes on between when people actually speak face-to-face.

We have to band together, but the thing in America is that people are terrified of losing their jobs... Maybe California needs to secede. The only thing that'll make any difference is the money... Tax dollars and losing that amount of money. It's one of the most economically powerful states, isn't it? That's where it hurts.

I think we should stop drinking bottled water. There's no need to be drinking it if you're living in western communities.

I think when something is apolitical and it gets politicised, then it's incredibly disappointing.

The first thing is to accept that theater is an unknown. If you go to a concert, you know the music. If you go to an art show, you can literally see the art on your phone before you see it in person. But with theater, often times people aren't prepared to take risks, even though that's exactly what's great about it.

I think probably winning these things [an Oscar] can be a bit of a curse depending on who you are and how you think. But I haven't been on a journey to get anywhere in particular, so that hasn't changed. And my criteria for choosing projects hasn't changed.

I think part of the disappointing failure of the political process in America today is that it's asking us to forget countries' historic connections to other countries, or to the laws that have been made. They're willfully asking people to forget their country's history, and focus only on the present. It's bizarre.

I certainly think that when I flick through all the magazines at the hairdresser's I like to see and am drawn to images that have an intelligence and mind at work behind them.

I think we should all feel lucky and blessed that people are still, in this day and age, getting in their cars with other people and driving to a location and paying money to sit in a theater and watch a play.

The lack of racial diversity and gender diversity and the lack of female directors - those are not fashionable issues. And they're not issues that reside solely within the film industry.

My kids don't watch any TV, but they watch videos and films. I'm sure they watch it at friends' houses.

We're growing up with a very illiterate bunch of children who have somehow been taught that film is fact when, in fact, it's invention. Hopefully, an historical film will inspire people to go and read about the history but in the end it is a work of fiction and selection. As for the armour itself, no it wasn't particularly comfortable.

One of my favorite moments is onstage, when you see a dancer leap, and you think they're flying, and then they fall. It's that moment of suspension that you look for, and sometimes you get it and sometimes you don't.

When you fall in love with someone, you're not really changing at all. You're really just reliving something that already happened at some point.

You can only desire something that you've already had in your life.

I think good theaters are really important. They allow you to exist in a space with other people.

Every single pore - not on the men, but on the women - is scrutinized, so I am really grateful that I feel very confident in my own skin.

You learn an enormous lot through failure.

The interesting thing for me about the debate about same-sex marriage ... is that it's one of those issues where it has no impact on anyone apart from the people that it impacts upon. So I find it quite bewildering that it's - that it's so complicated for people.

You have to surrender less when you see a film than when you go and see something live.

My husband wasn't put off by it - he thought it was hilarious to see me dressed as Dylan! He didn't particularly want to kiss me with stubble all over my face - it felt a bit odd! But I think he's used to it [the make-up process].

You can't really achieve anything in three years.

Absolutely, I think that is where a scent is so powerful because it harnesses our memory and our memory is a very emotional place. I do like the smell of excitement.

Please, I need you to save my ass.

You know you've made it when you've been moulded in miniature plastic. But you know what children do with Barbie dolls - it's a bit scary, actually.

I'm the age I am, but my skin is in pretty good condition because I've been consistent with my skincare.

Oh god, I wish. I really wish. If I'm time-poor, which I usually am, that's the first thing to go. And I know it shouldn't be, I know I should be really regular, but I like to get it done as quickly as possible.

To those who voted for me, thank you. And to those who didn't, better luck next year!

I think the downside of the Internet is that speaking-or writing-has become the point in and of itself.

People love events - they love performances, they love music - and I think Australians are great entertainers.

If you only exercise your soloist muscles, the other muscles quickly atrophy.

No, it’s very comforting actually, to know that you’re sitting in a long legacy of actresses who’ve played the role. I’m absolutely all for absorbing all of those influences, so you understand the pedigree of the part as much as you understand the figure in history… because you are playing the part. You don’t say: “Gosh, I want to play Peter Sellers…” because you can sort of do that in your own bathroom.

I think it's always good to take on things that at first seem bigger than you. Then you just try and surmount them.

Theater is a space where you cross over from everyday life, because there are real people in that moment moving in front of you-you're being invited to believe in a story and cross that bridge.

I went through a mod and goth-phase when I decided that I wouldn't ever be the bronzed beach-bunny. I started going as pale as I possibly could.

There's not a long, entrenched tradition of theatergoing in Australia.

Someone might have a germ of talent, but 90 percent of it is discipline and how you practice it, what you do with it. ... Instinct won't carry you through the entire journey. It's what you do in the moments between inspiration.