Quotes from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

The #MeToo and Time's Up movements have been a roar on behalf of women, and the voices are genuinely empowered now. I really feel that.

We're just so self-conscious. However much we try not to be, on some level, especially as a woman and an actress, you have so much pressure when it comes your hair and the bags under your eyes and your skin.

When an audience is laughing with a character, they make themselves so vulnerable, and they open up. They expose their heart the moment they're laughing, because they're relaxed and they're disarmed.

I change my mind every five minutes. I'm very brutal with my own process. I throw everything away very quickly, and then I have to go out and rummage through the rubbish in the middle of the night to try to find a bit I'd written a week ago.

I'd go so far as to say I was bullied into writing, but sometimes you need that.

I wanted to give people that feeling of wanting to hug the TV and just admit that you're unhappy.

It will always be relevant and always be inspiring to see somebody turning themselves into a warrior.

I don't think there's an actor in the world who ever expects to get a call from the 'Star Wars' casting director - least of all me.

This world of 'Star Wars' is just so accepting and beautiful that the idea a droid and a human are trying to waddle their way into a relationship is something that's celebrated.

I had such a supportive family, and I think that affects your life in such a profound way; it fortifies you completely.

I think there's something funny about people who laugh in the face of convention or surprise us morally.

The element of surprise is the most important thing and what keeps me interested in writing. I can feel it if I've written that predictable or boring line, and I will carry that around with me all day.

After the play of 'Fleabag,' we had conversations with different channels and with film companies about whether 'Fleabag' should be a half-hour sitcom, an hourlong, serialized drama, or a film. And I knew that it couldn't be a drama because I wanted to hide the drama - that had to be the surprise. I knew it had to be comedy.

I don't think you can be a good actor and want to please, because so much about performing and acting is surprising people.

I feel like my home is stage acting.

I suppose the cult of the strong woman character on TV has probably been misinterpreted in so many different ways, meaning that a woman can't be emotionally complicated or want things or can't be weak in moments.

There's something very polite about the British accents. It's sort of sanitizing.

If you go into the mainstream with a female perspective that seems to resonate with a lot of people, you have a political agenda imposed on you: you are told that you are a feminist.

I see the portrayal of any believable female character as feminist.

I think if you've got people on your side, if you've got people really laughing, you are able to make them cry.

Women know what they're doing all the time, and they're pretending that they don't.

I always want to go darker, and I'm always being advised to stay on the lighter side.

I can't deny 'Fleabag''s a very personal piece, but it's not autobiographical.

People are always trying to be on top. And not always with a macabre agenda, but I think that people are desperately trying to remain in control, rather than being honest.