Winona Ryder Quotes

I would never give advice, because I would feel very presumptuous.

What you wear – and it always starts with your shoes – determines what kind of character you are. A woman who wears high heels carries herself very different to a girl who wears sneakers or sandals. It really helps determine how you carry yourself.

I get sent a lot of scripts where you’re just the mom.

I binge-watched this show ‘Damages.’ Glenn Close and Rose Byrne are so good. Lily Tomlin is in it. You see all these great actors, and the writing is terrific. There are a lot of shows like that.

People don’t realise how much tension they hold in their forearms.

Remember when you were a kid, and everyone used to say, ‘Would you rather be interested or interesting?’ And to me, it was always like, ‘Interested!’ How is that even a question? I feel very lucky that I’m just really, really interested in a lot of things.

Scorsese would talk to me about this movie ‘The Heiress’ with Olivia de Havilland. We were talking about this scene in it, and suddenly we were rolling. It was very intentional, and I didn’t realize – because we talk old movies all the time.

I don’t have any interest in being a movie star.

It used to be that you commit to something, and then basically you spend your year doing that. Now there’s a constant conversation of how you have to keep working in order to remind people that you’re around.

I’ve always been fascinated with twins.

When your parents are madly in love for 45 years, your standards are really high.

I was unusual looking – I didn’t have the look of that time. If you look at ‘Lucas‘ – and, basically, my first five or six movies – the characters are not described in the scripts as attractive people.

I wish I could unknow this, but there is a perception of me that I’m super-sensitive and fragile. And I am super-sensitive, and I don’t think that that’s a bad thing. To do what I do, I have to remain open.

You can’t pay enough money to… cure that feeling of being broken and confused.

I can see it in even great actors’ performances, when they’re phoning it in.

Usually, the roles that you get offered that are the mom roles are very much the mom role.

It’s really good to be able to think about past loves without having a pit in my stomach, or cringing or feeling heart-broken, or like they hate you. Don’t you think?

I think it’s important to have as much as a normal life and take the time to get perspective because it only helps your work in the long run.

I was very depressed after breaking off my engagement with Johnny ten years ago. I was embarrassingly dramatic at the time, but you have to remember I was only 19 years old.

For a long time, I was almost ashamed of being an actress. I felt like it was a shallow occupation. People would be watching my every move.

Break-ups are hard for anybody, but it’s particularly tough when it’s being documented and you see the person’s picture everywhere. Most people don’t have that added problem when they break up with someone.

My home is San Francisco – that is definitely what I consider my home.

The older you get, the more yourself you can be and the less worried you are about what other people think.

There are certain directors who will start talking to you about something, and suddenly you’ll be ready to roll, and you’ll realize it was very specific.

I loved movies, but I can’t remember ever really wanting to be an actress, and I certainly didn’t imagine ever being in a movie. I think I wanted to be a writer.

I went from weirdo teenager to pixie waif to them not knowing what the hell to do with me.

I was inspired by lots of people, certainly in acting and in writing and stuff, but I never wanted to be somebody else.

One of my worst fears is being a self-indulgent person.

On the set for ‘Beetlejuice,’ it was before people would go watch on monitors, and directors would be next to the camera.

Some people go to L.A. just to see recognizable people. There are tour buses. But in New York, everyone seems a little less into that.

I would not want to go back to playing the ingenue.

That’s an aspect of this business which can be very frustrating and aggravating. Most of what is written about you is wrong and so much of what does get printed is often about personal things that you don’t want to have other people read about.

I approached work very seriously. I never went out. I couldn’t fathom people who could go out to clubs… I mean, if I had a 6 A.M. call, I had to be prepared. I had to be in bed at a certain hour.

I don’t use the Internet, but apparently you can find out everything on it.

I’m not into older guys. To tell you the truth, Richard Gere is not the sexiest man alive, in my book.

When you finally accept that it’s OK not to have answers and it’s OK not to be perfect, you realize that feeling confused is a normal part of what it is to be a human being.

I’d rather never have been married than been divorced a few times. Not that there’s anything wrong with divorce, but I don’t think I could do it if that was a possibility.

I’ve learned that it’s OK to be flawed.

I definitely count my blessings. I feel like I’ve had such a great ride. Early on, to be able to work with some of the people I did, I feel really lucky.

I’m the type who’d rather not work than work on something I’m not into. I’ve done that a couple of times, and I feel like I can totally see it in my performance.

Weird people follow you in the streets, you can’t sit alone in a restaurant or a cafe and read a book in peace, and I think everybody values those moments of being alone.

As a teenager, I worked on Indian reservations, and it was such an incredible culture: the elders are so respected.

I was single for a while and dating and… I just didn’t know how to do it! I’ve always been like that: when I was 15, there was a guy I liked, and we made out, and I thought that meant he was my boyfriend.

It’s interesting because, even with ‘Beetlejuice,’ I was an awkward kid. I started at puberty and went through it on film. Lydia was one of my favorite roles because I related to her a lot.

I love books and going to bookstores. My favorite sound is the sound of the needle hitting the record.

I’m not into wrinkles.

I think I really scored with my parents. All of my friends pretty much came from broken homes, and my parents are still together, but not only that, they’re still in love and still write together.

It’s also a question of finding good material and interesting roles. I’m not the only actress out there, and good parts just don’t fall into your lap that easily. But I like most of the films I’ve made recently and so I’m pretty positive about the future.

But I’ve always felt a need to have a life which is completely separate – at least as far as possible – from the kind of illusory lifestyle that comes with being a celebrity.

Even though I never really had to pound the pavement as an actor, I always worked really hard. But, at the same time, I always felt like people thought that I didn’t have to struggle even though I was struggling.

It’s all about knowing when to listen to that conversation and – without sounding really hokey – when to tune it out and follow your heart.

What’s awful about being famous and being an actress is when people come up to you and touch you. That’s scary, and they just seem to think it’s okay to do it, like you’re public property.

It’s great concentrating so hard you feel your brain will explode.

Honestly, if it wasn’t for ‘Beetlejuice,’ where would I be? That movie was a big thing for me.

Apparently, Bette Davis and a lot of actresses had a hard time in their 30s, too.