You don't have to wear expensive clothes to look good.
Zooey Deschanel
Nothing's better than a picnic.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am really into hair. I'm a real girly girl and love doing my hair and experimenting with different styles.
If I could give my teenaged self any advice, it would be 'Calm down!'
I like old movies, screwball comedies, vintage clothes, and basically I'm an old-fashioned gal.
I went to Northwestern because I had gone to a really nontraditional high school. I was like, 'It'd be cool to have a traditional college experience.' Then I was like, 'Oh, but none of these people understand what's cool about me. My specialness is not appreciated in this place.'
I don't know why femininity should be associated with weakness. Women should be free to express who they are without thinking, 'I need to act like a man, or I need to tone it down to be successful.' That's a very good way to keep women down.
I grew up believing my sister was from the planet Neptune and had been sent down to Earth to kill me. I believed this because my sister Emily convinced me of it when I was a toddler. I think she'd seen Invasion of the Body Snatchers and her imagination ran away with her. There's a part of me that still believes it.
I love singing Christmas carols. I know every harmony to every music-hall Christmas song.
I always wanted to be normal. I tried really hard, but it's like I try so hard and then people still say I'm offbeat. I've learnt to accept that and take advantage of it as an actor.
Everyone needs a theme song! It should make you feel like a million dollars.
Always the aim for me is making people feel like they are not alone. That's just the greatest feeling.
I find sadness and strife to be so much more interesting with an upbeat melody.
The average person tells a few white lies.
'Pastoralia' by George Saunders is one of my favorite novels.
Classic Christmas cookies are really time-consuming. Instead, make a bar you can bake in a pan and just cut up, like a brownie or a blondie or a shortbread, which still has that Christmas vibe.
The moment you sense someone is making something because they think people are gonna buy it or like it, it's just so phony! The public has a nose for phony like nobody else.
I like singing as much as I like acting, and all through high school I thought I might be a Broadway singer.
I did go through this period where girls would be mean and I had a lot of guy friends. But I've found as an adult the importance of having female and male friends.
True love that lasts forever... yes, I do believe in it. My parents have been married for 40 years and my grandparents were married for 70 years. I come from a long line of true loves.
When I exercise, I like to take lots of different classes because I want to really apply myself and feel like I'm learning a new skill. Not that I ever want to have to demonstrate any of those skills!
I don't have control over what's on screen, and that's terrifying.
It's nice that there are movies and songs about romance - it's what motivates us as human beings. I'm all for being brainwashed by rom-coms.
What led me to be an actor is that I have a strange something in me that can drastically change the way I appear to the world. Growing up, I couldn't understand why people would always have different ideas of me - but because of that I became aware of how you can manipulate your own ability to change. And then I learned to make a career of it.
From my perspective, probably women are won over by people who are sweet and respectful and courteous and kind and funny. I think those are the things that win women over.
My biggest complaint with tights is that they do not accommodate skinny-ankled people like myself.
For me, writing is 75 percent procrastinating and 25 percent actually sitting down and working.
The first album I bought with my own money was 'A Hard Day's Night.'
I did not have a date to the prom. I went to my junior prom alone, and my senior prom, I was doing my first movie. I went in a limousine with, like, a bunch of people to my junior prom. It was a group date.
If you can make a character likable that's not very nice, that's the challenge of the job.
Certain aspects of my personality are always going to come out on-screen. I guess that's just me - if they say I'm quirky, I'm quirky. It's better than being boring.
I wanted to be a child actor so bad that every day I'd beg my parents if I could audition, but my mom said, 'Not until you can drive yourself to auditions.'
Secretly, I think everyone who makes fun of California really does want to be in California.
I'm always trying to do stuff I haven't done before or challenge myself so I'm not resting on my laurels all of the time because if I just found my little niche and never left it, I'd be pretty boring, I think.
I know a lot of people that have had fake Twitters... actors and musicians that I know. It's sort of a problem. There are all these people that sign up thinking that they're getting somebody's real thoughts when it's just some guy.
Summer has always been my favorite season. I feel happier.
I think it's better to have your personal life and your work life separate. That way they don't corrupt each other, so to speak.
I love indie movies. I think that independent cinema is where it's at and where a lot of trends begin. It's where new filmmakers are breaking through.
I'm a person who has a lot of energy. So, yes, I don't really stop to rest or de-stress. I just keep going. I figure that if you don't stop, then you'll never notice how tired you are.
When you have endless time, you take all day to go to the grocery store. But, if you have to be at work for 14 hours a day, you manage your time better. I know I do.
I will wear tights even if it's 100 degrees outside. Tights are my safety blanket.
I like to play the ukulele, but I'm not, like, awesome at it. I mostly play the piano and the guitar.
I think that the mistakes that anyone can make going on dates is probably not being themselves because you can only trick people for so long.
I never have time to have a dinner. I have to eat while I'm memorizing lines. The only way to maintain energy is to eat all day long. I must eat all day long.
Women I admired growing up - Debra Winger, Diane Keaton, Meryl Streep - were all beautiful and thin, but not too thin. There are a lot of actresses who are unhealthy-skinny - much, much too skinny. You can't Pilates to that.
I'd be more likely to go for somebody who is like me. Well, I like creative people, so whatever that means... Yeah, authentic and creative.
It's interesting, because as a musician, I don't feel like I need to be on the top of the pop charts.
I love downtown L.A .and I relish any opportunity to spend time there.
One thing I love about Christmas music is that it has a tradition of warmth.
For some reason, people look at me and laugh. I don't know why.