Mara Wilson Quotes

I didn't want to whisper and giggle about [puberty] anymore. I felt incredibly self-conscious. I felt like I was losing myself, and I was losing who I was. And that really scared me.

I'm pretty cautious and not very athletic, so I've only had really dumb injuries, like sprained ankles and allergic reactions. I did have to go to the hospital after slicing my finger while trying to cut a Kaiser roll in half.

I'd rather be known for my accomplishments, and for things that I really do take pride in, rather than known for this doll-like image I had when I was a child.

No, you will never see me on 'Dancing With the Stars.' Sorry.

If I were to talk to Lindsay Lohan, I'd encourage her to get the hell out of acting and into something soothing. Take up botany or something.

I'm surprised by how much I remember.

I've been accused of being pretentious and insufferable, and I don't really know what I can say about that. I never got good grades in school, but I did read the dictionary for fun. That was just the kind of stuff that I liked to do. I can't apologize for that.

I had people in 'Entertainment Weekly' talking about how they wanted to throttle me because they thought I was too disgustingly cute, as if that were my fault, you know, as if that was my fault, not the fault of directors and producers and such.

I felt like I had to be conscious of myself as a girl for the first time. I had to be more feminine. I had to look a certain way. And it's something that you want to suffer in silence, but I would go onto movie sets and they would bring out bras that were basically binders, because there were continuity problems between months.

I'm surprised by how much I remember [on childhood on film]. I think it's just because I had these interesting moments. Of course, you never know when they're interesting moments, but there was a lot of stuff that I remember and have attached significance to later. I remember enough. I remember highlights.

If I were really really ridiculously wealthy, I wouldn’t buy a mansion, just tiny apartments in every city I love.

I consider my relationship with acting in Hollywood as sort of a mutual breakup. Through puberty, Hollywood didn't really want me anymore, and I was like, 'Yeah, I don't really want you, either.'

I can't even count how many times I did interviews with people and they asked me if I had a boyfriend. Keep in mind that I was, I guess, mild to moderately famous from ages 6 to 13. Of course I didn't have a boyfriend then. I didn't even have a camp boyfriend then.

Puberty was definitely difficult for me.

I knew I didn't want to put anything down in writing about the first time that I had sex. I knew that I didn't want to do that.

Here is something no real celebrity will ever tell you: film acting is not very fun. Doing the same thing over and over again until, in the directors eyes, you get it right does not allow for very much creative freedom... In terms of sheer adrenaline, film has absolutely nothing on theater.

I'm originally from southern California, so I, like, say 'like', like, a lot. I've been trying to scrub any traces of Valley Girl from my speech since I moved to New York, but it's, like, totally way harder than anyone thinks, you know?

I've never considered myself cool, and I don't think I ever will be. Honestly, it's better that way. It's much less pressure.

It definitely is something that can get frustrating, because you want to live life on your own terms, and it feels for a while like you can't. But I've come to understand that I got to have all these amazing experiences that other people don't have. So this is the trade-off.

Nobody cares about that. I do have guys every now and then who say - it's always guys by the way, it's never women - who say, "You were my childhood crush, can we date?" And I'm like, "There's something kind of creepy about that. Do you hear yourself?"

Children change a lot in terms of personality. Camaraderie that you feel with somebody might not be there a year later.

People think I'm smarter than I am.

People seem to forget what it was like to be a child. I think it's partly because they want to forget, because it usually wasn't as good as you thought it was, and so you want to skip over those things, and not have to relate to that anymore.

I don't know if I'm always going to be acting. Maybe when I grow up, I will be a scriptwriter. I already have a few scripts in my head.

I had so many adults around me reminding me that I was a kid. I also had a lot of adults saying things to me like, "When I was your age..." and sort of idealizing it. I didn't like that they idealized it.

People want to bring kids to their level, and they want to make it seem like kids have this thing. It's seen as funny to them.

When you're an actor, your body isn't your own. Your body is part of a tool that you use. Everybody else there is using you as a tool, so they have access to those things, too.

Danny DeVito later told me that he knew he wanted me for 'Matilda' the second I walked in the door. I'm not sure if this is true, or if he was just being nice, but I was thrilled when I got it.

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? So my grades weren't great, but I feel like, is there any other way that I could have gotten into NYU? I don't know. I think that it definitely worked in my favor in some ways.

I don't have any plans to pursue film acting. It's not my thing anymore, if it ever was. Yes, I do still act sometimes. But when I do, it's with people I know and trust, people who respect me as a person and appreciate what I have to offer.

I was such a nerd. It just wasn't something I would have wanted. And I didn't want to act like an adult.

People view child actors the same way that girls treat their Barbie dolls.

I think I might like to try film again just as an experiment, but I know that I could never do the mainstream thing again.

The best times I had on film sets were the times the director let me express myself, but those were rare.

A lot of child actors think they need to re-invent themselves, especially young women. Usually what they do is they adopt a sort of overt sexuality. It's fine if they want to do that, but a lot of times I think they feel obliged to do that, and that is something that I don't think anybody should feel obliged to express.

It's easier to see children as mini adults than it is to imagine or to remember what it is to be a child again.

I'm in my late 20s, and people are coming around to it again. I think they're realizing how much this stuff affects them. I think all the time about how much Judy Blume affected me, or Beverly Cleary. And I think that now some people are starting to come around and get more of an appreciation for [my stuff].