Mara Wilson Quotes

There were things that I knew that I was going to keep to myself.

I was never a prodigy. I was never a child genius.

The Hollywood stuff in the book tended to come later. I think it was because I was worried about leading with that stuff. I wanted to try to make sure that the other stories in the book were as interesting. I wanted to spend more time on them and craft them. The thing is, with writing, it's form or content.

Do people think I'm cool because I was in a movie when I was a child? No. Well, maybe a little bit more than they used to. There's definitely a nostalgia factor.

I guess I was a philosophical child.

It is annoying when people call me Matilda instead of my name when they actually know my name, because you know, we are two different people. But what can you do?

If I ever have children of my own, they will read Matilda. They will watch the movie. And you can bet they will see Matilda: The Musical.

I remember reading To Kill A Mockingbird when I was 12. What I liked about it is that it was all seen through a child's eyes. It was Harper Lee going back and writing it from the way a child would see those things.

When my oldest brother started acting. From there, I wanted to act myself. That's the long story short.

I still get recognized. It's flattering, but it can be uncomfortable. Maybe because it only seems to happen when I'm looking and feeling crappy.

There's a reason that girls cut off all their Barbie doll's hair and dye it and do things like that. I destroyed my Barbie dolls, and I know other girls did as well. And that's kind of the way they see kids movies and child actors in kids movies, as something that you've moved on from. It's babyish.

Whereas when I was a teenager, other teenagers didn't want anything to do with me. It was even like that in college to a degree. People of that age don't want anything to do with their childhood, because they had put away childish things, and they're trying to distance themselves.

I thought I started acting at 5 or 6, it was really when they were interviewing real families for a toothpaste commercial. They interviewed our family.

If you can affect someone when they're young, you are in their heart forever.

I would go to the craft services table and have Oreos or whatever, and a grown woman would come up to me and look at what I was eating and sigh and go, "I remember the days when I could eat like that." And I never knew what to say that, because I was 9.

The thing is, with writing, it's form or content. You need to write about something interesting or you need to write about it in an interesting way.

The celebrity aspect is nothing short of ridiculous, and auditioning is brutal and dehumanizing. Every time I see a pretty young girl on the subway reading sides for an audition, my only thought is, 'Man, am I glad I'm not doing that anymore.' I never feel nostalgia, just relief.

I remember feeling enormous pressure because I didn't want to be Shirley Temple. Shirley Temple was Shirley Temple, and I didn't ever feel like I could live up to that.

David Sedaris wrote in one of his books that people like to make children into little grown-ups, which to him is about as funny as a dog in sunglasses.

My mother died when I was young, and I was filming all the time. I was all over the place. Acting was the one constant.

For me [being a kid actor], it's a bit like when you see your mom's friends, and they're like, "I remember when you were this big. You'll always be that cute little kid to me." It's like that times a thousand. Well, times a couple thousand.

It's a little bit annoying, because it feels like everybody's taking the power away from you. Everybody's taking your adult life away from you. On one level, I used to resent it.

I thought children were pure and innocent, and that was inherently better.

You always worry that everybody is secretly talking about you behind your back, everybody is secretly making fun of your voice, your figure, the way that you are during puberty, but it turned out, in real life, everybody was. On movie sets, they were all talking about these things, because they had to.

People who meet me as an adult are often surprised that I'm alive and have never been in prison or rehab. Sometimes they're disappointed I'm not cooler.

I didn't trust adults because I thought they were all kind of corrupted.

I've always really loved stories told from the point of view of children.

I get a lot of "Shut up, Matilda." I probably get as many "Shut up, Matildas" as Wil Wheaton gets "Shut up, Wesleys." That was an actual line on his show, though.

I remember my friends and I looking forward to puberty because it seemed exciting at first.

Of course I didn't have a boyfriend then. I didn't even have a camp boyfriend then [at age of 13].

It is strange to have everybody in the world still think of you as a child.

I didn't want to be a former child actor for the rest of my life, although in some ways I suppose I am. I am going to be that.

That's my suggestion for kids who want to act, by the way: Make sure it's really your choice, get out of it when it stops being fun, and get an education.

Very sad, very upset, very glad I did not have to hear about this though Twitter. Probably going to be taking some time off it for a while.

I can't take much pride in my childhood acting. It feels like it happened in another lifetime, and even then, it felt like a hobby.

I didn't trust adults because I thought they were all kind of corrupted. I thought children were pure and innocent, and that was inherently better. I guess I was a philosophical child.

My grades in high school were not very good. I was that kind of perfectionist that figured if you can't do it perfectly, why do it at all?

I was getting keys for my apartment, and I asked if I could get doubles, because I'm forgetful, and the woman there said, "Yeah, but it costs $5." I was like, "Oh, okay." But then she said, "Actually, you know what, I'm just going to give it to you for free. You were in that movie Mrs. Doubtfire, and that movie really helped me out in a time when I needed it. It got me through something, and it made me laugh when I needed to laugh.

Puberty was definitely difficult for me. I remember my friends and I looking forward to puberty because it seemed exciting at first. You read Judy Blume and you think, "This is kind of cool." But when it actually started happening to me, I was terrified.

Film can be exciting, but more often, it's tedious.

I was very aware of being younger than everybody on set.

Sure, I love to read, and I love to learn, but I was always nerdy that way.

People like to make children into little grown-ups.

Children change a lot in terms of personality. Camaraderie that you feel with somebody might not be there a year later. That group might not have the same chemistry. So I completely understand why they're rushing into it, because they probably feel like they have to.

Considering all the legal hassle child stars can be, I won't be surprised when they are phased out by CGI children voiced by adult actors.

Actually, I do like pink clothes, but it's not because I'm girly, it's because I'm the reincarnation of Oscar Wilde.

I think if I could do it over again - as much as I loved meeting the people I did on the films after 'Matilda' - I wish that I had stopped after 'Matilda.' I wish that I had just focused on my own life for a while.

I watched the video [ with my first commercial] when I was 20, and in the video, there are two families. The first family is this smiling blond Partridge family, a Californian/Aryan kind of thing, all playing guitars, all singing together and harmonizing. And then, there's my family - and in my family, it starts with my mom saying that she feels like a drill sergeant sometimes, and she's yelling at one of my brothers to stop hitting another one of my brothers. It's just like, "Great, we're that family." It felt a little Simpsons versus Flanders.