Quotes from Jodie Foster

I feel at various times in my life that I've been at a point where I had to choose between a death sentence and a life sentence. And I want to live. What do I do to live? What do I do to be vital? And the answer is always creativity. The answer is always art.

Most actors don't really have a director's sensibility. They have an actor's sensibility.

I don't see anyone walking around with a puppet on his hand in real life. Puppet therapy is very common for children. It's not something that adults take on.

Adolescence is a tough one to be a child actor.

People are always surprised when I say that I'm an atheist.

I never know what's going to move me. I'm always surprised. And it's always a mystery to the people who work with me.

There's absolutely no sort of acknowledgment or reward for this - except for the intangible of my kids growing up to be wonderful people.

Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock do romantic comedies. I do dark dramas. I do these movies well.

When I go into the stores, I pet the saddles. Until security comes and takes me away.

I cannot believe in God when there is no scientific evidence for the existence of a supreme being and creator.

There is no direct evidence, so how could you ask me to believe in God.

It's an interesting combination: Having a great fear of being alone, and having a desperate need for solitude and the solitary experience. That's always been a tug of war for me.

Knowing what paint a painter uses or having an understanding of where he was in the history of where he came from doesn't hurt your appreciation of the painting.

Normal is not something to aspire to, it's something to get away from.

I was one of those avid moviegoers as a kid, and we didn't have video, so we went to see everything five times. I went to see every foreign film playing in my town. As times went on, I watched a lot less films. I have a different film school now. My film school now is my life experience.

I have, in some ways, saved characters that have been marginalized by society by playing them - and having them still have dignity and still survive, still get through it.

In a weird way, that's the beauty of being an actor. You get to live out things that you're afraid of, and you get to say, 'Well, maybe I can get to the end of it and survive it intact and I can be the hero of my own story.' It's kind of a way of exorcising fear.

Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable.

I'd like to be Dakota Fanning when I get young.

'Taxi Driver' was the best thing that ever happened to me, and I didn't become a weirdo and squawk like a chicken.

I wish that I spoke more languages. I speak a couple languages, but not well enough to really dub myself. French is really the only one, and it's a difficult thing.

The world is littered with movies about people that are depressed that either did not come out or are not successful.

With 'Taxi Driver,' I had this eureka moment. I realized that acting could be much more than what I had been doing. I had to build a character that wasn't me.

Being understood is not the most essential thing in life.