122 Quotes by Maggie Gyllenhaal

There are things that are really disappointing about being an actress in Hollywood that surprise me all the time.

I like clothes. And I think it's OK to think about clothes just so long as you also think about other things. I'm not interested in clothes to the point where they'll push other things out of my mind; I just see them as a way of expressing yourself, and a pleasure, really.

I was always dressing up as a kid. I had a dress for all the Los Angeles bar and bat mitzvahs that I was going to when I was 13 which I was crazy for. It was green, dark, shimmery. Very 1980s. It was slightly off-the-shoulder, which I thought was very sophisticated.

When I was in grade school in L.A., I really loved Cyndi Lauper. I did everything I could to look like her. I had wild outfits and always wore different coloured socks. I wore loads of ribbons in my hair and let them fall in my eyes.

I happen to be in a line of work where I get given lots of clothes, and I definitely think it's fun, but I know that, ultimately, fashion is not that important. I use fashion, though, as a way of thinking about who I am.

I am not crazy about my knees.

As I get older, I find I cry much more often than I did.

I used to think that if I did my very best work, then everyone would love it, but I've realised that not everybody thinks the same things are good. It took me 30 years even to begin to see that.

I think what happened to me was I was so lucky to have made 'Secretary' so young. It's unusual to be given an opportunity to express yourself as an actress that young and that thoroughly.