Quotes from Penelope Cruz

My ambition is to be happy.

There's so much more I want to do. I refuse to get to 50 and wait at home for the phone to ring.

My first fear was about the devil, when I was around fire, something I saw in a movie. I think it's about pain, in whichever form it comes. I had a lot of energy as a child - sometimes too much - and I didn't know how to channel it. It was making me suffer. It was bigger than myself, and I was very young.

Even if you were aware of children and felt compassion, when you have your own, it multiplies. It breaks your heart to know that there are so many children in the world suffering so much.

In my house every Sunday, everybody was cleaning the house. There was always music, and everybody was dancing, sometimes naked, around the house. Not hippie, but very free.

I have a strong personality, and I say what I think.

As a kid, I had a lot of energy; but the ballet lessons made me calm - this pleased my mother.

I am living for every day and trying to have less fear, less worry. But I have always worried about everything; it's in my nature. It's the thing that makes me suffer the most.

It's great working with my sister, because we are very close as a family - my brother, my sister and myself. We have a great relationship.

Madrid is what I call home, but also the States.

I try to eat healthily, but I love fried food and bad things. Give me a plate of bread, some oil and salt and I'm happy. But you can't eat like this all the time.

I am not somebody who likes to give advice, or anything like that, unless it's my closest friends or family.

Awards are great, as you get to meet up with friends and colleagues from your industry - a sort of reunion.

I just try not to label myself in any way. I just have an allergy to labels in general. I can tell you that I am surrounded by very strong women and that I really appreciate that, but I'd rather not label myself.

Every relationship ends, until maybe you find one that lasts forever.

I want to be remembered as somebody that tried to respect her integrity as an artist and as a person. And I don't want to be in any box. I don't want to be one thing.

I remember playing with some friends and being aware that I was acting as I was playing with them - I would think of a character and pretend to be someone else.

You cannot live your life looking at yourself from someone else's point of view.

I think magic is very related to happiness. So it is not there all the time, but there are beautiful moments of magic in everyone's life.

The most difficult thing in the world is to start a career known only for your looks, and then to try to become a serious actress. No one will take you seriously once you are known as the pretty woman.

I want my son - and my kids, if I have more - to grow up in a way that is as anonymous as possible. The fact that his father and I have chosen to do the work that we do doesn't give anybody the right to invade our privacy.

There are roles I have said no to, but for different reasons. And, I never talk about those because I feel it's disrespectful to say, 'Oh, I said no to this project or that other project.' I'd rather talk about the ones that I said yes to and the reasons why.

I was very superstitious when I was a teenager, and I had to fight against that because it made me feel anxious.

In my everyday life, I just wear jeans, t-shirts and trainers - if I can go barefoot, that's even better. But for the events I have a stylist, and in two hours we have selected a whole outfit.