I was very interested in art and art history. I probably would have pursued that somehow - working in a gallery or an auction house.

Beauty, to me, is about being comfortable in your own skin. That, or a kick-ass red lipstick.

I wasn`t the high-school play queen or anything. And my parents would let me act until I graduated from college.

I worked so much in my 20s and I really burnt the candle at both ends. I wasn`t too picky about what I did and I was lucky that I did some really good films, but I also did some really rubbish films, I think part of the downside about being so successful and winning the Oscar at the age of 26 is that I sort of became insouciant about the things that I chose. I thought, "Oh, I`ll just try this, it`ll be fun or I`ll do that for the money". Things like that now I would absolutely never do.

My father, he was like the rock, the guy you went to with every problem.

To have to imagine everything, sometimes it is a little bit daunting. Especially when they would tell you to react to something.

In the theater, you go from point A to point Z, building your performance as the evening progresses. You have to relinquish that control on a film.

[on the paparazzi] If I have my daughter in the car and they are making me nervous, I`ll do whatever I have to do. I keep a whole log. I take pictures of their cars, write down license plate numbers, everything. If they do it again, I can go to the police. I know my rights and, believe me, I will have them arrested. I will stop at nothing.

I try to remember, as I hear about friends getting engaged, that it`s not about the ring and it`s not about the wedding. It`s a grave thing, getting married. And it`s easy to get swept up in the wrong things.

Beauty fades! I just turned 29, so I probably don`t have that many good years left in me.

I say what I think, and I stand behind what I say.

The work gets more difficult as you get older. You learn more and you gather more experiences, there is deeper pain and higher highs.

I understand what it feels like not to like aspects of yourself. There have been times that I have felt really terrible about the way I look. I have the seed of that feeling.

Brits are far more intelligent and civilised than Americans. I love the fact that you can hail a taxi and just pick up your pram and put in the back of the cab without having to collapse it. I love the parks and places I go for dinner and my friends. It`s a pretty city, you know.

I`m glad that some day my children will be able to see my father and hear his voice, get a sense of who he was. One of the things that disturbs me the most about the fact that he`s dead, is that I feel like a statistic. I sort of feel like one of those people who was unfortunate and lost their father when they were 30, and life goes on. But he was so unique and so incredible, I don`t like to think about it in those terms.

My dad always said he couldn`t remember a time when I did not want to act.

I understand that if you set out to be a celebrity, then you asked for it, but all I wanted to be was an actor.

I don`t know who decided that skinny was more appealing than not skinny. It seems arbitrary.

As I absorbed life here and understood it better, I just completely fell in love with England.

It`s a waste of time for people to say things they think other people want to hear, or try and come off in a certain way. I try to be as honest as I can.

I really like where Tony Robbins says that we`re all hypnotized to see beauty this one specific way, and it`s true.

I love the English way, which is not as capitalistic as it is in America. People don`t talk about work and money. They talk about interesting things at dinner parties. I like living here because I don`t tap into the bad side of American psychology, which is "I`m not achieving enough, I`m not making enough, I`m not at the top of the pile!"

I was having such a hard time when I made Sylvia. I gave everything I had for that role. It`s one or two or three things I`m most proud of in terms of my work. But it was very dark.

Even actresses that you really admire, like Reese Witherspoon, you think, another romantic comedy? You know. You see her in something like Walk the Line (2005) and think, "God, you`re so great!" And then you think, "Why is she doing these stupid romantic comedies?" But of course, it`s for money and status. I just think, "Wouldn`t it be great if all of those movies people went to see were about real women?"

I`m an artist, and the need to get inside myself and be creative and be other people is a part of who I am. I don`t imagine I`ll abandon that completely.

[on being pregnant while filming Proof (2005)] It was very, very difficult. I was trying not to barf. I felt terrible.

It really changed my life. When we split up, something changed, permanently, in me. My heart sort of broke that day, and it will never be the same.

Our marriage is between us. If we decide to continue being together or not, it`s our business.

[in Style magazine, 9/06, on Madonna] She has evolved with so much wisdom and grace that I would say my favorite Madonna is today`s Madonna. She`s a beautiful product of all her explorations and incarnations.

Our marriage is between us. If we decide to continue being together or not, it`s our business.

The Jewish part of me is superstitious.

Europeans are incredibly negative about America at the moment. I think they lose sight of the fact that the country`s a very divided place right now.

The adrenaline of a live performance is unlike anything in film or theater. I can see why it`s so addictive.

I find "Sex and the City" (1998) irreverent and shocking. It`s one step beyond how girls really talk. I would do a cameo on that show in a flash.

I`ve had a very interesting career. I get to do amazing things and work with amazing people and travel and learn languages - things most people don`t get the opportunity to do.

I moved to New York from California when I was 11, so initially I was seen as the California person for a while. I didn`t feel like I was popular, but I did feel confident.

British people don`t seem to ask each other out on dates. If someone asked you out they`re really going out on a limb, whereas in America it happens all the time. Someone will come up to you and ask you for dinner and you`ll say, "Sure!" It`s no big deal and no weight should be attached to it. It`s only dinner, for God`s sake. Yet in Britain, mostly what happens seems to be that people meet at work. If there`s a little something there, then they hang out together and, all of a sudden, they`re boyfriend and girlfriend.

I`m very happy here [in London] and I really like the way the film industry works, everybody cares. I like that it doesn`t have this big capitalistic feeling. When you do something in L.A. you really feel the crew are punching the clock.

If we were living in ancient Rome or Greece, I would be considered sickly and unattractive. The times dictate that thin is better for some strange reason, which I think is foolish.

[On her father`s (Bruce Paltrow`s) struggle with throat cancer]: It changed me more than anything else. You don`t want to get to that place where you`re the adult and you`re palpably in the next generation. And, this shoved me into that.

[on daughter Apple`s accent] She says "Mummy" instead of "Mommy", I don`t mind that. I will if she starts saying "basil" and "pasta" the English way, as that really drives me nuts.

When you`re so out there in the public eye, people are constantly criticizing every aspect about you.

I realised life is so short and precious, you should do things that make you feel inspired, that push you and teach you something. I`d rather not have a big house, a huge closet of clothes, diamonds and a private plane, and instead a body of work that I`m proud of.

Because I was newly pregnant, I was sick as a dog, yet I knew all my lines from a year before.

I have a very highly developed sense of denial.

There are certain women in this business who have children and I just think, "You must never, never see them!" You can`t do movies back to back and see your child if they go to school.

I put on the fat suit and went outside and walked around. I was really nervous about being found out, but nobody would even make eye contact with me. It really upset me.

My playground was the theatre. I`d sit and watch my mother pretend for a living. As a young girl, that`s pretty seductive.

We feel it`s unacceptable to be fat, when it has nothing to do with who the person actually is.

My life comes down to three moments: the death of my father, meeting my husband, and the birth of my daughter. Everything I did previous to that just doesn`t seem to add up to very much.

The simpler things are, the happier they are.

I find the English amazing how they got over 7/7. There were no multiple memorials with people sobbing as they would have been in America. There, they are constantly scaring people but at the same time, people think nothing of going to see a therapist.

I spend a good portion of my dinner-party conversation defending America because no matter what the political agenda, it`s still a fantastic, amazing place.

There`s something that sort of weirds me out about actors who want to be rock stars, and the other way around too.

It would be a lot easier on Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston now had they not talked to the press about each other and everything to begin with. I learned my lesson at 24.

Beauty, to me, is about being comfortable in your own skin. That, or a kick-ass red lipstick.

I just had a baby. I`m not going to work unless it`s something really special and meaningful, because I can`t imagine missing all that time with my daughter.

It changed me more than anything else. You don`t want to get to that place where you`re the adult and you`re palpably in the next generation. And, this shoved me into that.

Sometimes when things you love get really commercial, you end up feeling betrayed by it.

I try to remember, as I hear about friends getting engaged, that it`s not about the ring. It`s a grave thing, getting married.

Women were real box office stars in the `40s, more so than men. People loved to see women`s films. I think it was better then, except for the studio system.

[On her 1997 break up with Brad Pitt]: It really changed my life. When we split up, something changed, permanently, in me. My heart sort of broke that day, and it will never be the same.

Jack Black is incredibly hilarious. I think he`s really appealing, so sexy. When I watched the movie, I really thought he was sexy.

I sort of look at some peers of mine and I think, "No, you`ve got it all wrong!" I just want to tell them all to have babies and be happy and not get sucked into that Hollywood thing.