Maggie Gyllenhaal quotes: the actress opens up about therapy, motherhood, entitlement, and more.
“Do your thing.”
“You’re not going to do good work if you’re not choosing something because it inspires you.”
“I’ve been trusting my instinct about what jobs to take and it’s been really serving me well. But I’ve had to go through some painful learning. That’s the way life works – you have to go through hard, dark times to keep learning and ultimately keep moving forward.”
“You have a right to your opinion about the work that you’re doing. If you believe that, you can work in any circumstances.”
“So many people are willing to sleepwalk through things and fall into the not-human, not-interesting choice. To make a really interesting choice, you have to fight.”
“Sometimes things go really well, and sometimes they don’t, and it’s not ultimately the most important thing.”
“Simple black-and-white thinking or action is always going to be problematic.”
“There are two ways to be cool: one is to be disinterested and make it seem like you must be doing something much more interesting than everybody else if you are this disinterested. The other is to be extremely interested. You are not trying to please anyone, but you are really invested – really focused.”
“I’m not interested in showing the wish of what it looks like to be human. I’m interested in showing what it actually looks like.”
“I learned that it’s perfectly okay to ask for what you need in order to do the best work you can do.”
“Having an education is invaluable.”
“I feel so gratified about having finished college. I learned how to articulate myself. It gave me confidence more than anything. And also the ability to analyze the text.”
“College gave me validation: I gained a lot of confidence, just from once or twice saying something in class and the professor saying, ‘Great idea.’ That experience has certainly helped me… ‘Actually, I think my idea is at least worth talking about.'”
“I don’t think I’m a brilliant writer, but I’m a good writer, and it’s just so empowering to get involved.”
“Therapy was incredibly enlightening. I don’t think it’s only necessary if you’re unwell – it’s a useful tool for me to understand my own mind and how it works.”
“I think most human beings, even if you’re in a situation that’s constricting or complicated or hard, they try to survive.”
“There is a need, especially right now in America, to be a bit provocative.”
“To get people emotionally involved in something intellectual and political is important.”
“I think it’s worth putting energy into affirmative action in terms of having diversity in positions of power because the door was shut for so long.”
“I want to have some effect on the way the world works in whatever way I can.”
“I really want my kids to feel that they can be themselves in the world.”
“I remember people saying, ‘Believe me, everything in your life is going to change.’ And I thought, ‘Why? That’s such a bourgeois way of thinking.’ And then you have a child and yes, everything changes. It affects the way we live, what we do, and where we go – everything. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Motherhood brings you to your knees in a way that doesn’t leave room for you to judge others. It makes you see that there’s no ideal – a constant struggle, constantly compromising, but ultimate love.”
“I think juggling a career and raising kids is all about organizing. But without organization I couldn’t manage any of this! It’s impossible to strike the perfect work-life balance, and I think every parent knows that. It’s a struggle finding that balance in the day-to-day of motherhood, but that’s how you learn.”
“I’ve learned that you cannot judge the way another person is raising their kid. Everybody is just doing the best they can. It’s hard to be a mom.”
“I don’t think any of us have fantasies about being a ‘great mom’ or ‘the best parent.’ We’re just living, and doing the best we can.”
“There is also an opportunity for big change, in a way that I’ve never felt before. And I think children are going to be a big part of creating that change.”
“I can’t live my life afraid. If I believe in being an actress and I love it, then I should do it. Now I’m really embracing that.”
“I’m going to try and express what’s beautiful in me.”
“What I think is new is the wealth of roles for actual women in television and in film. That’s what I think is revolutionary and evolutionary.”
“I want roles that challenge people to question where they are in life.”
“I get magnetically pulled towards a project because there’s something in it that offers me the opportunity to explore the edge of my understanding about myself.”
“A big part of being an actress specifically is feeling entitled to your artistic opinion, feeling that it means something, and being able to stand by it.”
“Acting is really important to me, so I think it would be really hard for me to do something I didn’t believe in.”
“I used to think that if I did my very best work, then everyone would love it, but I’ve realized that not everybody thinks the same things are good. It took me 30 years even to begin to see that.”
“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 like clothes. And I think it’s okay 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’m pretty good at indulging myself. I’m about to go travel for a week. I like to get massaged, go into steam rooms. I take care of myself.”
“If you lose your faith in me, please keep your faith in people.”
“On with it! Let’s make it work.”
Now hear from her younger bro: Jake Gyllenhaal quotes.
