Helen Mirren quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Helen Mirren

Helen Mirren Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from Helen Mirren on Wise Famous Quotes.

Words can be used for venal purposes. Words are incredible sources of propaganda and can cause terrible havoc.

There's nothing sexy about doing a nude scene. It's rather uncomfortable. I like dressing up rather than dressing down.

It's great to be queen!

People become more interesting from about 25 - they develop character and their personalities come out.

I'd describe myself as a Christian who doesn't believe in God.

I'm not beautiful; I clean up nice.

A woman with knowledge is something that frightens the status quo quite a lot.

All you have to do is to look like crap on film and everyone thinks you're a brilliant actress. Actually, all you've done is look like crap.

When you're 16, 30 seems ancient. When you're 30, 45 seems ancient. When you're 45, 60 seems ancient. When you're 60, nothing seems ancient.

I woke up one day and realized I could never be an American.

I think it's always hard for people to get their head around the fact that populist, commercial films can also actually be great works of art.

You can't control how other people see you or think of you. But you have to be comfortable with that.

It has nothing to do with clothing or makeup. Just put your shoulders back and chin up, and face the world with pride.

I'm terrified of learning lines, and I've always been terrified that I won't learn them.

I have done film, television and theatre - all at a pretty substantial level - I don't think it's possible for American actors to do that.

I can't help being Christian because I was brought up in Britain, and the morality of Christianity is part of the fabric of this country.

The trick in life is learning how to deal with it.

I'm a would-be rebel. The good girl who'd like to be a bad one.

I resent having witnessed the survival of some very mediocre male actors and the professional demise of the very brilliant female ones.

I'm not strong-willed, actually. I'm a complete pushover. I love to be told what to do.

When you're young and beautiful, you're paranoid and miserable.

I have no maternal instinct whatsoever. Motherhood holds no interest for me.

I remember thinking, when I was in my early 30s, that this is the best age to be, and I still believe your 30s are a wonderful time.

Being me right now is sort of amazing.

Working away from my husband for long periods is good and bad. It stops us taking each other for granted and gives us space, but I miss him terribly.

I believe that if you want to go make your mark on the world you've got to go out and do it. Don't be shy, be adventurous.

I was never that kind of star. I was never cast because I was gorgeous.

I learned quite early on in life that we are all two people. And one of those people none of us will ever know.

You write your life story by the choices you make. You never know if they have been a mistake. Those moments of decision are so difficult.

I hate people eating on film. I hate it even worse on the radio, when people eat on the radio. I just can't stand it.

I don't get to play the same role over and over in different movies. The roles that I get to play are quite varied, which is great.

The role of women has always been undervalued in the spy world, always undermined in terms of recognition. Unfairly so. It's a world that needs women.

I'm not an impersonator. I'm a lousy impersonator, actually.

I was never a left-winger, actually. I was a pretend left-winger because it was more interesting than being a right-winger.

I think of myself as being a bit of a wimp deep down - a bourgeois wimp - and I'm fighting that. I think all Brits are, maybe.

You have to allow life to play itself out.

I think a lot of my work has been a weird attempt to liberate myself, but it's not altogether successful.

I am so happy that I didn't have children. Well, you know, because I've had freedom. And I've so loved my freedom.

I prefer the finesse of French humour. English humour is more scathing, more cruel, as illustrated by Monty Python and Little Britain.

You could build three hospitals with the cost of one film and I take that very seriously.

Once a film gets into production, the actors sometimes begin to have more input than a writer does.

As you get older naked stuff [on film] gets easier. It's more to do with the role than what men in the audience think. There's a liberation about it.

Wherever I am in the world, if I get free time when I'm filming I always hire a car, take to the road, drive for miles and explore.

I drink just as much tea when I'm in Los Angeles as I do when I'm in London. I take my tea bags with me wherever I go.

Gardening is learning, learning, learning. That's the fun of them. You're always learning.

We're all idiots when we're young. We don't think we are, but we are. So we should be.

I do think it's well over-time to have a female Doctor Who. I think a gay, black female Doctor Who would be the best of all.

It was never my intention to marry anybody. Economics are basically the only reason to get married, but I'm very glad I did it.

Hollywood is a very small world; the people who matter matter, and the people who don't matter are just like nothing.

Humor in a relationship is so important. Many women will say that. Some say, 'If they can make you laugh, it's the sexiest thing on earth.'

Flesh sells. People don't want to see pictures of churches. They want to see naked bodies.

People often ask me whether I prefer theater or film, and the answer is that I prefer the one I'm not doing: The grass is always greener.

I think still it is very fine not to want children. There are far too many people in the world. It is my contribution to ecology

The poor Oscars - they always get slammed in the press.

I don't share lots of the phobias that horror movies tap into. I don't mind spiders or snakes or darkness.

The great marriages are partnerships. It can't be a great marriage without being a partnership.

My dad's Russian. My mother's English. I would say my bottom half is Russian.

Patience can be a good thing - but not necessarily. Sometimes it's not so bad to be impatient. I'm a little bit too polite.

You have to go through the long, painful process of learning techniques to be able to recognize a "good accident" or a "bad accident."

There's no good way to waste your time. Wasting time is just wasting time.

People with Parkinson's are not some weird people on the edge of human experience.

Women have got to stop being polite. If I ever had children, which I don't, the first thing I'd teach a girl of mine is the words 'f - off.'

I love that country [Israel].

Sometimes nudity is sexy. Sometimes it's not. Sometimes being clothed is more sexy than being nude.

I've been working every year since I started acting, and I got many awards before I won the Oscar for 'The Queen.'

I believe kids shouldn't be taught Shakespeare. They should experience it first by seeing a great production.

I feel the written word, poetry and literature is just one of the most beautiful things that human beings do. So we have to fight for it.

I don't see that anybody needs to earn $12 million for three months' work, quite honestly.

Girls go out together to see a chick flick or something. I loathe, I hate, chick flicks.

Americans are very good at animating voices. I don't know why. They have a freedom with them that we British actors find more difficult to get to.

I'm not a communist, of course. But I do think that everything is down to economics. Capitalism doesn't change.

Everyone wants to be a movie star or a model, to be in the papers, but few realise just what hard work it is, getting up early, and so on.

I don't throw a lot of parties. I find throwing parties a bit intimidating.

They're called 'action scenes' because they do the acting for you. You don't have to act in action scenes. The action does it all for you. It's great.

I love photography, and I love the art of photography.

Acting is acting, but acting is different in almost always every project, and very, very different in this context.

Southend is a dormitory town for London. But it also had this thing of being the playground of the East End - a glamorous holiday town.

Actors are rogues and vagabonds. Or they ought to be.