Michelle Pfeiffer Quotes

I was kind of surprised to learn how controlling I am. I never thought of myself in that way. I think the root of the control issues is usually fear, because you want to know what's going to be happening at any given moment.

If you think hitting 40 is liberating, wait until you hit 50; and I was surprised at how liberating it was. The anticipation of something is always much worse than the reality.

Acting is kind of brutal.

It takes years for me to trust; I know that about myself. A lot of it is because I am so private, and so reluctant to make myself vulnerable.

Just when you think you've got your kids figured out, they change on you. For somebody who's controlling, you can't control it. Of course, I don't think I'm controlling, but that's what I've been told!

You can have it all, but you can't do it all.

I don't know if it's naivete or just narcissism, but I start out with this notion that I can do anything. It's not until I get into it that I realize what I've thrown myself into, and then I will do anything not to humiliate myself. And that, I think, is the secret to my success.

I'm afraid to be alone, I'm afraid not to be alone. I'm afraid of what I am, what I'm not, what I might become, what I might never become. I don't want to stay at my job for the rest of my life, but I'm afraid to leave. And I'm just tired, you know? I'm just so tired of being afraid.

I can't imagine myself blowing up supermarkets!

Love humiliates you. Hatred cradles you.

Even though I don't feel I need approval, it's still important to me to give a good performance. I'm hard on myself.

People who are rude to waiters... I don't like that sort of thing. People who take cuts in line... it doesn't fly!

I worked so hard for so long - I did a lot of movies. I also worked a lot when my kids were smaller, before they were in school.

I find the less you focus on your flaws, the better off you are. Be yourself and be glad of who you are.

I do portraits. I usually do live models in a class environment, but I've been painting at home more. I really love the human form, and I love faces. I've tried to do landscapes a few times.

I guess I do a really good job at covering.

Somewhere along the line I made the switch and was able to look at the bright side rather than the dark sida all the time. Now I look at everything I have and think how lucky I am.

I do sometimes feel like the paparazzi are really what ran me out of L.A. They're just giving everyone a bad name.

My favorite food in the world is Mexican food. I'm not a dessert person. I'm more of a crunchy, salty girl. I could live on chips and salsa. I would take a Mexican meal over some fancy French cuisine anytime.

I've worked with very few actors who have been at all difficult.

Everybody is vulnerable to being in relationships where they get fooled. I'm no different. It's just human nature.

I think that I am a compulsive person, but now I'm learning to put those compulsions into healthy things.

I've always had a very extreme personality, which gets me into major trouble, I'm always all or nothing, and I don't know the world "balance." I'm desperately trying to learn it because I think as you get older it becomes very important.

When I wasn't working I didn't know what to do with myself and sort of didn't exist, in a way, when I wasn't working, so I was like two different people. I am not like that anymore.

I am basically very private, and I'm really nervous about doing publicity.

Being from Orange County is in a lot ways very much like being from the Midwest.

I never wanted to have to take a job because I didn't have any money.

It's harder to live the way I live. There are certain places I like to shop and eat where I simply don't go. The paparazzi follow you.

My grandmother raised five children during the Depression by herself. At 50, she threw her sewing machine into the back of a pickup truck and drove from North Dakota to California. She was a real survivor, so that's my stock. That's how I want my kids to be too.

I do find comedy difficult. I don't know why. Maybe I think about it too much. There's a tremendous amount of pressure to be funny.

De Niro is a classic example of somebody who is iconic and who sort of effortlessly puts actors at ease the moment you meet him. I think it's also just something that he innately does with people.

I said, going into acting, 'I'm never moving to L.A.,' because it scared me. But there was no way you could build an acting career in Orange County.

And I'm a really happy person, I enjoy life. I think you see that on people. I think there's nothing more aging than misery.

You have a choice. It may not be a choice you like, but it is still a choice.

I'm always amazed at how consistent people find me and my behavior, when in fact I do feel different all the time.

Acting's an odd profession for a young person; it's so extreme. You work, and the conditions are tough and the process is so immersive, and then it stops, and then there's nothing. So you have to find ways of making you feel productive when you're not actually producing anything. For a young person, that's really challenging.

I even had breasts that had mechanisms that could make them droop. It was a shock in the beginning. Talk about special effects!

I would speak up if I see someone being rude to someone.

If I do a move I don't like, I don't want to get so upset with myself.

Rudeness is what gets to me [when someone being rude to me in a supermarket]. Yeah. That one does get to me, I have to say.

I'm a Taurus. To the bone.

There are certain scenes you do in a movie that are like catching a wave, and you leave work feeling elated - almost as though you've purged something. That's rare, but you do live for those moments.

I'm a perfectionist, so I can drive myself mad - and other people, too. At the same time, I think that's one of the reasons I'm successful. Because I really care about what I do.

Every time I set up an interview, I say, "That's it, this is my last one. I'll do this because I committed to doing it, but I'm never doing another one."

Well, I'm very stubborn. I think I have common sense; I'm probably at times a bit tunnel-visioned, but I'm strong.

You know, when I am working, I take really, really good care of myself. I eat really well, and I exercise, and again, I have this team of people pulling me together every day.

When I go to work and when I'm in the public eye, I take much better care of myself. Because when I'm not working, I do indulge more.

I've never lost my love for acting. I feel really at home on the movie set. I'm a more balanced person honestly when I'm working.