Jessica Chastain quotes:

I've never been in New York for the whole time of Fashion Week.

I think that with any emotion - fear, love, nervousness - if the actor's feeling it, then the audience feels it.

I don't want to be in my car all day. I love getting up in the morning in Venice and walking my dogs down to the cafe to get my tea, and then perhaps going to a bookstore and sitting and reading, then walking to the beach.

Robin Williams was the kind of generous person who would do things but not want to receive public credit for it.

I love being around great actors and film-makers, and I try to hide the fact that I'm in awe of them.

There is this immediate connection, this intimacy when you're acting because there's no room to be polite or shy. Also, as an actor I get to connect with women I've never met before.

I can't even open my eyes underwater.

I don't really drink, and I've never been to a rave. I used to cut school to read Shakespeare, not to make out in the park.

When something happens, I always check myself and know it's going to go away. So be prepared for it. This is a tough business for actors who are sensitive. If you try to hold on to things, you'll go crazy.

It's tough, acting. You have to walk two lines of a tightrope. There's the all-consuming fear of failure: I'm about to fall flat on my face. There's that and there's also confidence - you have to be confident in order to try things - and they fight each other all the time.

Women perform great in the box office. Audiences want to see lead female characters.

I always say I am a realist, and my mom says, 'No, you just have anxiety.'

Broadway has always been a dream of mine.

I've actually been given a great gift. When I walk into an audition with a director, I'm carrying no baggage. They haven't seen me in anything, even though I've done nine films.

I have problems because I'm very expressive, and usually red lipstick gets on my teeth and face.

Before, it was just about making the films - and now it's releasing them. Which is a steep learning curve.

I love fall because I love the whole cuddling aspect of it, and a sweater dress has that vibe of I'm going to hunker down and be warm, but it's also very feminine.

Put others before yourself, unselfish love, do unto others as you would have done to you.

I've spent my life being embarrassed.

I'm very sensitive in real life. I cannot not cry if someone around me is crying. I will start to cry if someone is crying, even if it's not appropriate. I have that thing in me, a weakness or sensitivity.

I don't want people to look at me.

I'm inspired by people who are so sensitive and vulnerable that they try to cover it up.

I remember being a teenager and having a boyfriend - this guy I thought I was way better than, and completely out of his league. He was a year younger than me. And he broke up with me. It was so shocking, and I couldn't believe it.

People were confused by me, and at first I was auditioning a lot for the crazy characters or the victim, someone who'd been attacked. Which is great, because usually those are the best acting roles.

I'm the unknown everyone's already sick of.

If you don't fully take every moment and love every moment and every person that you're with, your life will be over before you realise.

I was excited that my films would finally see the light of day and people would see them. But I never imagined that such nice things would be said about a lot of my films.

I always say I am a realist, and my mom says, 'No, you just have anxiety.

Okay, I'm going to let you in on a little secret: I'm a very superstitious person. I'm walking onto the plane as we speak. I'm putting my hands on the outside of the plane and my feet are on the lip of the plane. I have to do it every time before I fly.

I feel like the bigger risks that I take, the more I learn. I know that I learn more from my failures than successes.

Every time an actress is celebrated for her great work, I cheer. For the more brilliant their performance, the more the audience demands stories about women... And as we all know: a great year for women in film, is just a great year for film.

The most important thing in my life, and the thing I try to focus on, is to try not to live a life of cruelty. That means trying to make sure I look people in the eye when I meet them. Sometimes you jump in a taxi, or maybe you only have two minutes with someone, and you never see them again. I try to always look them in the eye and have a real experience of what it is to communicate with someone...I guess it's about trying to live a life where I'm not contributing to the cruelty in the world....While I am on this planet, I want everyone I meet to know that I am grateful they are here.

We need more points of view from women and we need more support for female directors and writers in the industry.

You know, it's recently come into focus for me why I want to be an actor: It's because of the connection I feel to people.

I'm very much a hippie from Northern California.

For me, I'm not in an industry where I'm starving. I'm so lucky to have this job, I'm compensated for my work in an incredible way. But what I do ask is when I join a production I want to make sure that the male actor isn't making four times my salary, which has been true, or seven times my salary. And if that's true you go, you know what, I don't need this job. It's not really asking for more - it's asking for something that is respectable and equal to the male actor and you have to go, why are women being valued less?

I don't mind if the character is a small character, but I would just like her to have a journey in the film. Sometimes the characters are just there as a prop to further the man's story. The great directors I've talked to, I've said listen, I don't mind playing a woman that is a tiny part, but how does the story affect her? What can I play in the end that's different from the beginning? Otherwise, it doesn't make sense, because it's just like being a prop.

I don't like the idea that fame could mean that people can no longer relate to me.

We need to reevaluate that women who ask for a pay raise or ask for a promotion - it's actually an okay thing.

If someone does something bad to you, you do something worse to them so they never mess with you again.

An actress friend of mine shared a great trick. She told me to stick my tongue behind my teeth when I smile to keep from over-smiling. If you smile without doing it, sometimes your gums show a little too much. It's an actor's trick!

I love talking about acting. I'm just such a fan of actors and filmmakers, and I try to choose roles where I get to talk to great actors about acting and learn.

I don't want to torture anything. It's about trying to live a life where I'm not contributing to the cruelty in the world. While I am on this planet, I want everyone I meet to know that I am grateful they are here.

When you're on a Terrence Malick film, it's like you're part of a family.

I absolutely made the decision that that cannot be the reason why I'm doing a film or a job. For me, it's always about the script and whether I'm doing something that I've never done before.

I'm really lucky because my goal, as an actor, is to disappear into the characters that I'm playing.

Everything that we criticize young actresses for, they're supposed to do because that's when we're supposed to make mistakes. And find out who we are.

Any man that dates me, the thing they're gonna have to live up is my dad - he's a real hero.

Someone doesn't think immediately, "I want to be a lobbyist."

I have a feeling that very soon I'm going to fail very, very big. I'm going to try something and everybody's going to be like, 'What was she thinking?

Every time you fail, you learn more.

It's easier to do an action scene than a love scene. I love fighting. When the camera's not rolling, I'll usually punch some of the actors, just for fun.

I think both nature and grace live within everyone, and I always strive to be in a world of grace and compassion.

I want to be involved in a story that makes a difference.

It takes me a LONG time to make a big purchase.

I just want to do what I feel is right in my heart.

I try not to fake anything.

I'm very shy, I feel very awkward.

And to stand together against homophobic, sexist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic and racist agendas. I'm an optimist. And I can't help but feel hopeful about the future of film, especially looking at all these beautiful people in this room. Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.' And I would like to encourage everyone in this room to please speak up.

When I first moved to Los Angeles, I don't think anyone knew what to do with me.

I spent a lot of the last five years on a set, and every once in a while you take stock of your life and look at what you're doing.

Whatever anyone says, I think the opposite will happen.

I no longer think in terms of, Ooh, this is a great role and what is it going to do for - actually, I've never really thought about what something is going to do for my career.

It's a fact, the majority of films in Hollywood are from the male perspective. And the female characters, very rarely do they get to speak to another female character in a movie, and when they do it's usually about a guy, not anything else. So they're very male-centric, Hollywood films, in general. So I think it's incredible that Ned Benson, when I said I'd love to know where she goes, says okay, I'm going to write another film from the female perspective.

My grandmother used to say, "Sometimes the loudest person in the room doesn't know what they're talking about." Or isn't secure enough in his or her own views to be able to listen to others.

I'm used to working really hard to get a role. I was always auditioning and talking my way into roles.

One comment by a female lobbyist really shocked me. She said, "Washington is a contact sport." I asked, "What do you mean by that?" And she just said, "Well, it's all men - and they're very contact-y. They touch a lot." Women say that's just part of the game.

I've had to learn how to say 'no' to offers.

No one ever recognizes me.

Maybe that's because there are so few women lobbyists; if they're there, it's for something they strongly believe in, not just for financial gain.

To a female superhero her sexiness is not the most important thing about her, it's her mind, her spirit, and when I look at that character that to me is an example of characters that I like to play and I think it does a great thing for women.

I like things where I can do a physical transformation, and I love accents and voices, and I'm never going to play the same character twice.

I'm the kind of person [who] when I'm doing a play, and even when I'm working, I don't do anything else. When I'm working, I just work.

I am the worst at keeping secrets. I am the kind of person that the second I buy someone a Christmas present, I tell them what I bought them. I don't wait until Christmas. I'm not good at it.

Most of the women I spoke to were pushing agendas that they felt connected to - more so than with the male lobbyists I met with.

I take great responsibility in any character that I play.

No matter what the characters you play, you have to find the differences in them, especially when you are doing a political movie.

No matter what, I'm going to ask for more.

I'm going to ask what is correct, what I deserve, especially in relation to male actors.

It's okay to be ambitious, it's okay to be over-prepared.

I think you have to take the whole idea of wage equality out of the film industry.

Look at Hispanic women - they are being paid 42 cents on the dollar - or African-American women. I think it's an issue we have to look at across the board.

I feel very inspired right now because I know there are a lot of people out there who are really scared but I feel this great sense of togetherness and people coming together and saying, "I got your back."

Look, if anyone is scared, I got your back.

I didn't understand how much senators and members of the House are not able to represent the people because they're too busy fundraising to maintain their seat in office. I hope we as a country start looking at how we can change that.

I find that the monsters are usually the people that I have the most empathy for because they're the ones that are hurt the most. There's a reason why they're the monsters.