Natalie Portman Quotes

I am a very strict vegetarian. ...I just really, really love animals, and I act on my values.

Cute is when your personality shines through your looks.

Smart women love smart men more than smart men love smart women.

My dad's a doctor, and when I was 8, I went to one of his medical conferences where they were demonstrating laser surgery on a chicken. I was so mad that a chicken had to die, I never ate meat again.

When I was in nursery school, the teachers asked me, y'know, 'What does your dad do for a living?' So I said 'He helps women get pregnant!' They called my mom and they were like, 'What exactly does your husband do?'

Breast implants gross me out. I don't think they're attractive at all.

Social networking is playing a huge role in creating awareness and mobilizing support for all kinds of common interests. What better way to use this remarkable tool than to change the world?

If you can't laugh at yourself, life is going to seem a whole lot longer than you'd like.

I love milk so much! I make a point of drinking a glass of milk every day.

So now anyone who did those milk ads with the milk mustaches, they're my heroes.

I'd rather be smart than a movie star.

I don't love studying. I hate studying. I like learning. Learning is beautiful.

Cute is when your personality shines through your looks.

Like, when you see someone's personality in the way they walk and you just feel like hugging them every time you see them.

We live in a violent world, but since the success of films like Pulp Fiction, it seems every movie has some violence in it, and it's now being used as a form of comedy: audiences are now being encouraged to laugh when people get their heads blown off. I just don't like hearing people laugh at violence.

I was really excited to get to shave my head - it's something I'd wanted to do for a while and now I had a good excuse. It was nice to shed that level of vanity.

When I was 7 years old, I put on shows for everyone at my grandpa's funeral.

I was always the little entertainer.

Ninety per cent of how you learn is watching great people.

When you are surrounded by good actors it lifts your performance.

Awards are so unnecessary because I think we get so much out of our work just by doing it. The work is a reward in itself.

I speak fluent Hebrew and even dream in Hebrew when we visit there, once or twice a year.

I'm not a perfectionist, but I like discipline.

I'm obedient, but I'm not a perfectionist. I think it's important to work your hardest and be as kind as possible to everyone you work with. The goal, every day, is keeping focused on that.

As I look back on it, I'm glad that I had this false image.

I was who everyone else - my parents, my friends, society - wanted me to be. I was a pleaser, someone who wanted to make everyone happy, to not let anyone down. Now, I'm not like that.

I'm tough on myself in terms of the standards I want to live up to, but that's also part of my pleasure: Knowing you are being your fullest self. Being your fullest self is a lot of work.

I usually dress very casual. Whenever I go out with my friends, I'm always like, 'Can't I just wear sweatpants?'

Jasmine is just the most delicate and beautiful scent.

Going to a party, for me, is as much a learning experience as, you know, sitting in a lecture.

I've stood up to producers before, and even a director.

I saw them being abusive. A lot of people on the set are scared to say stuff when they're not being treated right.

I'm not really much of a genre guy. I think that audiences don't need that anymore where you just need a very specific genre. Audiences are very sophisticated, and as long as it's fun, it's okay and entertaining.

I don't believe in the afterlife. I believe this is it, and I believe it's the best way to live.

When I was growing up, my mom told me every story that was happening to her.

Most of the stories that come to me are through a female voice in my head. My stories seem to naturally be about females.

I'm not convinced about marriage. Divorce is so easy, and that fact that gay people are not allowed to marry takes much of the meaning out of it. Committing yourself to one person is sacred.

I think school is so much harder than real life.

People are so much more accepting when they are adults.

Why are they making rules that say my lover can stay in the United States if they're foreign or share my health care benefits because I'm straight - but if you're gay, you can't have that?

Accept your lack of knowledge and use it as your asset.

It's a lot easier to make friends when you're younger, because kids are a lot less judgmental than adults. They're more like, "O.K., let's be friends." Not, "So, what's your job?" "What's your marriage status?"

I'm an only child. Which is kind of bad, because having a brother or sister is like another form of friendship. That's something I've missed out on, except I know that I couldn't be doing what I am doing now if I had brothers and sisters.

I was like a total cliched '80s child.

I had Barbies, obviously, as well as My Little Ponies and Cabbage Patch Kids, but I used to destroy them. I used to draw all over their faces and cut off their hair.

It doesn't matter if you mean to do the right thing - if you only do bad things.

You need to learn how to do right things. Doing is what affects people.

I'm going to college. I don't care if it ruins my career. I'd rather be smart than a movie star.

I love stoner comedies. I smoked weed in college, but I haven't smoked in years.

There's always pressure, from other people and yourself.

If you're happy with the looks you're born with, then what are you going to do your whole life? We keep thinking up new things and finding better ways of doing things because we're not happy with what we're given.

I grew up in the classic American-Jewish suburbia, which has a whole different sense of what it means to be Jewish than anywhere else in the world.

Small loans can transform lives, especially the lives of women and children.

The poor can become empowered instead of disenfranchised. Homes can be built, jobs can be created, businesses can be launched, and individuals can feel a sense of worth again.

You know, I get much more Jewish in Israel because I like the way that religion is done there.

'Star Wars' hasn't changed my life at all.

I also feel I'm a positive role model by not putting my education on hold.

I learned to observe other people - that’s sort of what it teaches you.

To pay attention. Which can also be a really natural human skill so I don’t think I’m better equipped than other human beings.

Sometimes people say something to you and you're like, "I respect you so much, I love what you do, but I disagree. I don't think that's right for the way I see it."

I don't have a normal job, so I really appreciate having friends who are writers and artists. It's fun to have a group of people you can call in the middle of the day to go for a hike.

Our generation has the ability and the responsibility to make our ever-more connected world a more hopeful, stable and peaceful place.

Basically I have, like, five really close friends - girls and guys.

I like being friends with both because you can do different things with both.