Quotes from Zooey Deschanel

I played a lot of sarcastic, wisecracking characters for a long time, and people would think that was me. And it's very much not me, and then people would think I was being sarcastic when I wasn't: 'Oh, you're making fun of me right now.' And I wasn't!

I've had experiences where I wasn't allowed to change words around at all because you have to say everything, exactly as written on the page. That's not fun for me. For me, part of being an actor is being able to contribute to a character's rhythms. If there's room to explore, you find a happy medium.

The red-carpet thing of premieres and parties is probably my least favourite part of my job.

I feel there are tone singers, and there are more vocal gymnastics singers. And I think that's amazing when people can do that, but I think there's room for the tone singers. And there aren't a lot of them.

You can't expect to make no effort. You still have to make the effort and be kind and understanding.

I remember having this friend in school who said she didn't like the Beach Boys. And in that moment I knew we couldn't be friends anymore.

Being an actress can be a little like being a girl in the '50s: You're stuck waiting by the phone, hoping that the boy you like will call.

I was doing about five movies a year for many years. I was just so tired. I walked around feeling like a Mack truck hit me.

I just sort of follow my bliss, so to speak, and then I see where that takes me.

I have had brown hair and bangs since I was 2. One year I dyed it blonde, which felt so weird.

Know what suits you. Now I understand proportion and recognise the shapes that look good on my figure.

I think my own personal style always ends up seeping into characters that I play. I've always had a very distinct idea of fashion for myself, and what a character should wear.

I think the best comedies came out during the Depression. Personally.

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.

Nothing's better than a picnic.

I like to make colored xeroxes of things. I clip out pictures of Liza Minelli and her husband from magazines and I fax them to people anonymously.

The Internet's like one big bathroom wall with a lot of people who anonymously can say really mean things. It's fine, I believe in freedom of speech and I think people should think what they want, but I don't care to hear it.

I always choose roles that are, you know, hopefully different from the last role. I don't wanna do the same thing over and over again because that's, well, first of all that's no fun.

You go to something like the Golden Globes, and it's the most glamorous place you could ever be, but then you go home and you're still like, 'Urgh, this dress is too tight, I wanna take off these shoes and put on my pyjamas.' At the end of the night all the glamour goes away and you're just a human.

I'm wary about this thing about being in the generation of social networking where people are like, 'I am my musical taste.' I am not just a collection of music. Or a collection of movies. I think that's a thing that people romanticize: 'Oh my God, she likes this band so she is a dream.'

'It Girl' is supposed to be something that only lasts a certain amount of time. They keep calling me an 'It Girl,' and at this point it makes me laugh, because I've done that so many times: 'You're it;' 'You're not it.' What is 'it?'

People sometimes say, 'Oh, you were a movie star,' and I'm like, 'No, I was a supporting actress.' I wasn't an A-list actress, and I'm fine with that. I'm proud of what I did in film.

I'm the worst at picking what movies are going to do well. I have no idea. I'm really surprised if a movie I like does well.

My mom told me when I get compliments to cover my ears.