Penelope Cruz Quotes

There is a magic factor that is sometimes on a movie set, that is a really, really beautiful thing that cannot be compared to anything else, if you are somebody that is really passionate about acting or directing or the world of movies.

The most important lesson I've learned in this business is how to say no. I have said no to a lot of temptations, and I am glad I did.

As a kid, I had a lot of energy; but the ballet lessons made me calm - this pleased my mother.

When I was on the set, I was not talking on the phone or reading anything else. I was just reading things, listening to music and watching things that had to do with the state of the scene. So it would be a constant, maintaining for the whole day that state. If I had an hour off for lunch, I would put on a movie or something that would help me stay in that area. And at the end of the day, I was like a zombie.

I don't think I am beautiful. I can look good and I can look ugly.

Every relationship ends, until maybe you find one that lasts forever.

I have food every day on the table, I have a family, friends, health - all the things without which it wouldn't matter how many roles I get to play.

In my house every Sunday, everybody was cleaning the house. There was always music, and everybody was dancing, sometimes naked around the house. Not hippie, but very free.

I have stepped off the relationship scene to come to terms with myself. I have spent most of my adult life being 'someone's girlfriend', and now I am happy being single.

It's fun for women to be in a Western. And I had to learn how to handle the guns. I would walk around with the fake guns. It takes a lot of practice to twirl them around - but I can do a lot of crazy things now from movies. I can gallop a camel! Give me a camel, I know how to start it and stop it!

I came to New York to study ballet and English.

My plate is full with just acting. I want to focus on that, and then maybe direct in the future.

I am a big fan of photography, more of being behind the camera - so when I get the opportunity to work with such great photographers, I always try and learn from their technique.

It is a revolutionary experience. That's the best way I can describe it. It transforms you completely, in a second. Nature is very wise and gives you nine months to prepare, but in that moment-when you see that face, you are transformed forever.

My mother was very passionate about life and she would do anything for us. And she had to fight alone to raise us. We never had a lot of money for extras or anything. She had to work six days a week, and then she would do breakfast, lunch and dinner. She was a super-woman! For me, I don't know how she did it with three kids.

When I was 16, I got 'Jamon, Jamon.' Of course, I had to lie about my age. And I had to lie to my parents about the content of the script.

the older I am, the more I refuse to treat my work as therapy and the more I think it's less honest to do that, less about acting. When I was younger, I sometimes used personal things in creating characters, to the point where I thought maybe it was a little bit dangerous - at least for me. But I don't feel that somebody can only be good in a character if they are really becoming that person or really suffering.

When I read a script, I try not to judge the characters. I try to have an open mind and really see what it makes me feel.

You cannot live your life looking at yourself from someone else's point of view.

Nothing is going to happen to you if you throw salt on the floor, stand under a ladder, or see eight black cats on the street.

I don't do Twitter, Facebook; none of that. My email I do from my Blackberry or my iPhone.

Maybe I'll make one movie a year, maybe two, but it's not going to be more than that because I have other priorities now.

Pedro Almodóvar asked me to watch italian films again as homework to look at the energy of all those women from the Italian neo-realist films. A lot of them had those characters that represented motherhood. For some reason, in the '50s in Italy, the mother figure was very important - and my character needed to have that energy.

The discipline that ballet requires is obsessive. And only the ones who dedicate their whole lives are able to make it. Your toenails fall off and you peel them away and then you're asked to dance again and keep smiling. I wanted to become a professional ballet dancer.

I feel like I've been very lucky with the directors. The characters I've been offered, especially lately, have given me the opportunity to play all of these different women. I always wanted that, and it's something that you cannot do by yourself. If you want to play a diversity of characters, somebody else has to have the imagination to give you a role completely out of the box. We depend on somebody else's trust, and these directors are giving me their trust, and I am grateful for that.

I won't go to places where you're going to find more attention. I go to the opposite.

Sometimes, when things go well on a set, or when you are working with somebody like Pedro Almodovar, Woody Allen, Rob Marshall or somebody so talented and so inspiring, it's really beautiful, what happens there.

I'm strong and opinionated. Those qualities brought me a lot of problems since I was a little girl in school, saying 'I don't agree' and fighting with the children. It's part of my curiosity for life.

In Spain, actresses work until they are old. That's my plan.

Unfortunately, I am very aware of editing and I look at the monitor too much. Sometimes the monitor can become your worst enemy because you can, consciously or unconsciously, start editing yourself.

Johnny Depp is so special that he is like a Martian. In fact, that's what I call him, Martian.

My ambition is to be happy.

The good thing is that I have always had wonderful people around me. It's dangerous when you start earning a lot of money and you become famous when you are too young.

Madrid is what I call home, but also the States.

There are so many designers that I love, and I'm so lucky that I get to work with so many of them and sometimes spend time with them.

One thing that I am proud of: I am really capable of laughing at myself.

I have a strong personality, and I say what I think.

I still feel like I have so much to learn. I love that feeling, that next time I go to set, I will be terrified again. I don't want it to be any other way.

I've seen my grandmothers grow old and they are so beautiful, every wrinkle in their face tells a story. I want to feel that in 30 years. I would always choose that kind of beauty over that comes from having too much done to yourself.

To be able to explore the genre of the musical is nice. It was great to be able to sing professionally, for the first time, and dance, which was something that I did growing up, but I had not done for many, many years.

I love New York, but being there the whole year, it gets a little crazy with the speed and rhythm of things.

I think superstition has a lot to do with fear: the less, the better.

I have seen water availability change drastically in my own lifetime. Around the world, millions of people are already living in a true water crisis.

[Winning an Oscar] was a beautiful thing that happened. It is in my house, and every time I look at, I see all the people who are a part of it, all the people who gave me opportunities to work, gave me opportunities to make a living at this thing [acting] that was a dream for me, growing up. And I got to do it, and then again and again and again, and make a living out of being an actress.

If we continue on the path we're on, there simply won't be enough fresh water for everyone.

I have a little bit of an addiction to work. So I'm always hiding in the bathroom with my Blackberry to work when I'm on holiday.

I love learning on the set. But, directing is not something I want to do.

As an actress, I really love people like Anna Magnani and Debra Winger. I also think there is nobody better than Meryl Streep.