Helen Mirren quotes: candid thoughts from the actress.
“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.”
“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.”
“The trick in life is learning how to deal with it.”
“If I am getting a bit tizzied, I just say to myself, ‘Keep calm and carry on. Just take it one step at a time.’ If you can’t deal with what’s going to happen tomorrow, don’t deal with it now, deal with it when you come to tomorrow, and then you will be able to deal with it.”
“Fear can be one of the most destructive emotions. It is, of course, also very important, in that fear sometimes stops you from doing stupid things. But it can also stop you from doing creative or exciting or experimental things. It can cloud your judgement of others, and lead to all kinds of evil. The control and understanding of our personal fears is one of the most important undertakings of our lives.”
“Human beings make mistakes, so we all make mistakes and wrong decisions. Being able to make a decision and act upon it is not gender specific.”
“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.”
“I don’t believe that if you do good, good things will happen. Everything is completely accidental and random. Sometimes bad things happen to very good people and sometimes good things happen to bad people. But at least if you try to do good things, then you’re spending your time doing something worthwhile.”
“You can’t control how other people see you or think of you. But you have to be comfortable with that.”
“Being powerful is so much more interesting than being beautiful.”
“It has nothing to do with clothing or makeup. Just put your shoulders back and chin up, and face the world with pride.”
“I don’t think it’s good to try and change anyone. The trick and the mystery – of relationships and life in general – is to learn to live with the bits you don’t like.”
“What’s great in the modern world is that it’s becoming easier and easier for people to create without having access to large sums of money. They need access to certain technologies, but the cost is far less than it used to be.”
“My parents believed in education and economic security, and I thank them for it. Because I think that’s part of what’s made my life stable. It was instilled in me. You have to be able to pay your bills. You do not get into debt. And I never have been.”
“I became an actress because I discovered the world of the imagination when I was about 14 or so and the concept that you could engage in this amazing world of storytelling.”
“Where you grew up becomes a big part of who you are for the rest of your life. You can’t run away from that.”
“Love is a command to rise to one’s highest potential, the best and noblest vision of ourselves. Love is a reward, the greatest we can earn, granted to us for the moral qualities we have achieved in our lives.”
“The great marriages are partnerships. It can’t be a great marriage without being a partnership.”
“Women have got to stop being polite. If I ever had children, the first thing I’d teach a girl of mine is the words ‘f – off.'”
“It seems to me that the years between 18 and 28 are the hardest, psychologically. It’s then you realize this is make or break, you no longer have the excuse of youth, and it is time to become an adult – but you are not ready.”
“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. Your 40s are good. Your 50s are great. Your 60s are fab. And 70 is f*cking awesome.”
“It’s so hard when you’re young to look at older people and understand that they have been where you are. It’s the weirdest thing. You just can’t get your head around that, can you? You can’t get your head around the fact that someone who is 60 was once 16, if you’re 16. But the fact is they have been, and they remember it.”
“This word ‘anti-aging‘ – we know we’re getting older. You just want to look and feel as great as you can on a daily basis. If people treat me like the age I am, I get absolutely insulted, really cross. I hate when people give up their seat for me. No, no, no. I don’t want your seat.”
“The weird thing is, you get more comfortable in yourself, even as time is giving you less reason for it. When you’re young and beautiful, you’re paranoid and miserable. I think one of the great advantages of getting older is that you let go of certain things.”
“Oh, it gets better as you get older. You should try it.”
“No, I’m not in love with myself. I’m not in love with myself at all. I’m in love with other people. It’s the opposite of falling in love with yourself. It’s go outside of yourself.”
“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 think there’s anything on this planet that more trumpets life than the sunflower. For me that’s because of the reason behind its name. Not because it looks like the sun but because it follows the sun. During the course of the day, the head tracks the journey of the sun across the sky. A satellite dish for sunshine. Wherever light is, no matter how weak, these flowers will find it. And that’s such an admirable thing. And such a lesson in life.”
“I think it is true that as you get older – it’s not that you get more confident, you don’t – but you care about it less. You care less about being un-self-confident. I think what happens is that you see yourself less and less as the center of the world and you start to lose your self-obsession, and in losing self-obsession, you lose the very things that are making you feel unconfident.”
“At 70 years old, if I could give my younger self one piece of advice, it would be to use the words ‘f*ck off’ much more frequently.”
“I think we all have a dream of what it would be like not to work and grow heirloom tomatoes, and I do have that dream, it would be lovely. I do love gardening and all of that, but I do love my work.”
“I can’t say ‘no’ to an interesting role. I always tell my husband, ‘That’s it, I quit, I’ve done all I wanted,’ and he’s just like, ‘Yeah, yeah. Sure.'”
“My passion and intrigue is infectious and should serve as a reminder of the kind of energy everyone should strive for in their own work.”
“You know, you have to allow life to play itself out, don’t you? And one thing you learn is that it doesn’t stop. It moves on.”
“It’s great to be queen! Being me right now is sort of amazing.”
“I’d like to be remembered as a productive person and someone who at least did no harm. And certainly as a great artist, because that’s been my primary motivating force.”
“Don’t stop doing what you love.”
