Charlize Theron Quotes

Tommy [ Lee Jones] doesn't suffer fools easily. I think everybody knows that, but I have great respect for someone that's very direct and very honest. I don't have thin skin so I'm okay with that.

It [Hancock] happens to be a big budget film and big star like Will Smith, but it actually has a lot of weight to it. But it was very smart and very intelligent and had this kind of historical element to it that I was fascinated by. It's not silly. It's not stupid. It's fun, but I think it's smart. I think Akiva [Goldsman] writes really interesting material and there you have it.

I do think that when you're specifically working in a country like South Africa, you have to be able to be aware of the cultural truth of what people are raised in and believe in and how they function within their society.

You have to discipline yourself and not carry the character with you. You need to switch it off and take time to re-energize.

When a person lives a very happy life they become beautiful.

That's why I like my job so much, because at the end of the day they're fruits of labor that you don't pick very easily. And I love that.

I'm interested in human behavior, and what happened in my family life is definitely not a unique story. There are aspects of that I'm sure you can see through the work. But I'm just looking for something that touches me.

There's an instant access to luxury that I think women really appreciate.

I was raised in a country [South Africa] with a lot of political turmoil. I was part of a culture and a generation that suppressed people and lived under apartheid regimes. I don't know how you can come out of that and not have an awareness for the world. I think that if my life had turned out any other way and I was working in a bank, I would still feel this way about it, because there's a connection to humanity that to me is really important.

I just want to make good movies. Honestly, the only difference for me with this stuff is that there is more people on the set.

And I do think that earlier in my career, I did make a very conscious decision to make sure that I was doing work that wasn't necessarily given to me, and that people didn't necessarily think that I would be able to do.

I do this because I'm an observer of people. That's why I want to be an actor. I'm fascinated by human beings and the circumstances they find themselves in.

I love fragrance for the pure fact that I think it's something that women utilize in a way to make themselves feel good, and I think this idea that we do it for men or for other people is such a misconception.

It's pretty impossible to be a South African and not have been personally affected by HIV or AIDS.

Oh my God I am so cool.

I think people say women come into their prime in their 40s. And then for some reason our society just wants to go... it's like a dead flower.

I've never been a fan of labels. I think its very easy to kind of look at somebody and just kind of throw a label on them 'They're crazy.'

Other than vaccines and finding a cure, most funding goes toward putting people on treatment. That's completely valid and I understand that, but it's never how we're going to stop AIDS.

I've seen people talk about how they stopped polio, that was a generation that came together and said, "Let's do this." I think in the AIDS community we've become so complacent in that, it's like we just plateaued... We've completely neglected a whole young generation that is now highly infected.

I mean, I'm new but I've always been very interested in film making process and I've been lucky enough to work with film makers in my past that have been very encouraging to let me hang around. I get so emotionally vested - that the producer part of me was natural.

When I find something that I really like and I can get it off, then I put my time and energy into that. It is a lot of work....

My thoughts and love go out to the Mandela family. Rest in peace Madiba. You will be missed, but your impact on this world will live forever.

I like hard work. I like putting the effort towards it and then being able to look at it and go, "All right, I did that."

I think there is a great quote - and I feel horrible that I don't know who said this - but it was a great quote, it says, "The only difference between all of us are the ones who are loved and the ones who are not."

Of course you want your son, your children, to be proud of you.

We just need to put our foot down. This is a good time for us to bring this to a place of fairness, and girls need to know that being a feminist is a good thing. It doesn't mean that you hate men. It means equal rights. If you're doing the same job, you should be compensated and treated in the same way.

My mom has made it possible for me to be who I am. Our family is everything. Her greatest skill was encouraging me to find my own person and own independence.

The human condition is all about us pretending to be something sometimes that we're not. When you get into the core of people kind of stripping all of that away, that's for me, as an actor, always the most fun stuff to do.

I tend to ... if I decide to do a job, want to be able to trust my director...

I don't want to be put on a pedestal. I don't want to be anything other than what we are. I want to just be a woman.

Modeling was never a passion of mine.

I hate actors who come and quote Nietzsche.

Remember I came to Albuquerque to do a hair and makeup test and wardrobe fitting; you guys were already shooting. It's tough when the movie's already started and you kind of show up. You're the new kid on the block. I walked onto the set and Tommy [Lee Jones] was about to do the scene. I just kind of walked up to him. I was shaking, but I just gave him this big hug and he just had nothing to say. He was like, 'Gotta go to work now.' I had a great time working with him."

I grew up in South Africa and I would look at maps and we were at the bottom of the world. There was this whole thing up there. I was always reading encyclopedias about the world. So travel was something I was always attracted to.

There are very, very few brands that will be brave enough to really, completely take a step back and not to try and control what is considered beautiful.

I have a problem with cabinets being messy and people just shoving things in and closing the door. I will lie in bed and not be able to sleep because I'll say to myself: 'I think I saw something in that cabinet that just shouldn't be there.'

[If you want to] ask the question what is beautiful? It's the life that you lead. It's the life that all women lead.

There's only so much you can do, but if somebody doesn't give you a chance there is nothing you can do.

We don't live the lives of Eskimos. We don't need to kill animals for fashion.

've had good friends who got married after they've been together for years and they've said that it was the "next step" for them. Or, they've said, "You just can't bail out anymore." And I've wondered, What made you think you could just bail out before [the wedding]? You don't invest that kind of time and energy with somebody and then just go, "All right, see you later."

I love the idea of longevity in this career. But [producing] is not about, "Let me do this because this might happen 20 years down the line." Sleepwalking wasn't a vehicle for me, it was a film that pushed the ­envelope. I want to produce good stories, versus creating a niche where I can look after myself as an actor.

People are so involved with immediate care, but at the same time there needs to be investment in educating people as adolescents when they're still HIV negative.

You have to keep evolving.

My interests still are my interests. That doesn't make me a bad mother. I think that makes me a really good mother, because when I go and creatively satisfy myself and those interests, I come home satisfied.

I don't believe in charmed lives. I think that tragedy is part of the lesson you learn to lift yourself up, to pick yourself up and to move on.

You choose the life you want for yourself, and then you just shut up and go about it. That's how I've lived my life.

I love that old glamour look. I think it's because I grew up on it.

I'd be unbelievably wrong to say there isn't such a thing as the right place, right time-luck.