Keira Knightley Quotes

You go back to the sort of Errol Flynn movies, and the real swashbuckling kind of things, and yeah, I knew about them.

When I was about five I think, I desperately wanted to be a pirate and have the hat and everything.

I'm doing a film now with a lot of guys as well, so at the end of that I will be growing a beard.

(asked what her indulgence is) Spending time with my small circle of friends. I deal with fantasy most of the time, and I have to make time for reality. It's a real treat for me to talk to them on the phone, visit them, and have them visit me.

I've got a kind, close-knit family group... They're all fab and they tell me when I'm acting up and laugh at me as much as possible, which is important.

When I was about five, I think, I desperately wanted to be a pirate and have the hat and everything.

I think every girl is looking for her Mr. Darcy.

If I had a spot, in Bend it Like Beckham... a zit, you know a zit? You know a spot, a spot, a blemish, then I'd go and you know, you'd see it on screen. In Pirates of the Caribbean, they'd digitally remove it. Which is quite cool, I think every teenage girl needs that.

I got to kiss Orlando Bloom, get chased around a bit by Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush! It was very exciting.

(On kissing co-stars) Johnny Depp certainly wasn't bad.

I see a pair of shoes I adore, and it doesn't matter if they have them in my size. I buy them anyway.

I look at myself and I'm big. You can see proper muscles now. Ok, if they've put me on steroids and I haven't found out yet.

(After donating her Oscars dress to the charity Oxfam) This is such an amazing dress and I'm really pleased to donate it to Oxfam. I've seen the television reports on the horrendous drought in East Africa and know how desperate things have become, so I'm happy to be able to do something to help.

Three years after that I was diagnosed as dyslexic, and we struck a deal: I was allowed to start acting on condition that I would read constantly and get good grades at school.

I always feel like I'm the one with everything to prove.

In LA, I'm twice the size, height, and everything else of most of the other actresses who are going for an audition.

I don't read any magazines or newspapers any more, because I find it really scary and I get really scared when I'm followed by photographers. I have, on many occasions, broken down in tears because I find it terrifying. I dropped out of school when I was 16 so there's nothing else that I can do.

Every part I've ever got, I always thought it was completely ridiculous that I was up for it. With Pirates, I only packed for a week because I was sure that I was going to get sacked. I thought they'd made the hugest mistake.

I don't think about nutrition. The very thought of a diet makes me want chips and ice cream. And I just hate going to the gym. I cannot stand it.
(on the love scene with Clive Owen in 'King Arthur')

It was part of the job. There's no point in being embarrassed about it because that is the name of the game. It was just another day at the office. A very nice day at the office.

Acting requires me to be very observant, which means being able to sit in cafes for hours and watch people.

I take my hat off to actresses there [in Hollywood], particularly the young ones, because the emphasis is on trying to find perfection. But I think it's the imperfections in people that make them perfect. I don't find perfect faces very interesting.

In this business, fame lasts for a second. You can be blown up and be blown down. People keep losing interest in faces because new ones come along every single second. I'm one at the moment. Tomorrow I won't be. That's cool. I'm not saying that when it does end, I'll be like, 'Yay! It's ending.' But I'll move on and do something else because that's what has to be done. It's about survival. If you're sad about it, then you're in the wrong job.

As a moviegoer and a woman, I want to see that, so it's great to get to play parts like that. But Guinevere is a terrifying creature. If I saw a battle, I'd run in the other direction. I'm not strong in that way at all. But I'm certainly someone who has always known what I wanted and tried to get it.

I don't think I can call myself an actress yet. I just don't think my skill level is that high. I hope that with every job it gets better. But until I'm good, I can say I'm trying to be an actor, but I don't think I've completely made it.

I was a bet. My mum was desperate for another child, and my dad told her that the only way they could afford to have one was if she sold a play. So Mum wrote, When I Was a Girl, I Used to Scream and Shout.

I know for a fact the work is going to dry up, and people will get bored of me. That's not bitterness, just the truth.

We had kind of done all our wedding and we felt like the stars of the show, then sudden you've got all these other people with storylines and you think: 'Excuse me, I know you're Alan Rickman but get out of my film, please, thank you.'

When in doubt, faint.

Katharine Hepburn and Vivien Leigh are my heroes. Not because of their ability, but because of their perseverance.

I'm a tomboy beanpole? I can't use a computer, so maybe I'm a bit out of the loop. I don't know whether to be flattered or not flattered. The beanpole bit, is that good? Can you be a sexy beanpole?

I met Barbara Walters backstage and didn't know who she was. She's an American phenomenon, I was told later. I'm just so English.

(On being called the next Hayley Mills) That was cruel! Nothing against Hayley Mills, but I'm trying to be cool here. I'm trying to be edgy.

It's scary because acting was always my salvation from school. So if anything had gone wrong at school, I could say, 'Oh, but I can do this.' But now it's the only thing. So you sort of think, 'Okay, but what happens if that goes wrong? What's the salvation?' That's a bit scary.

The problem for me was that by being in the film the magic was broken. I loved the first Star Wars film and my mum was really into it too, that's why I took the part. But the Force wasn't there when we were filming it, and they didn't have real light sabers, which annoyed me.

(On doing her own stunts in Pirates of the Carribbean) At the end of the two days it was time for me to jump off, and Gore (the director) said to me, 'you don't actually have to jump off, I can get a stunt girl to do that. But I told him: 'I've been standing up here terrified for two days, there is no way I'm not jumping off!' So I jumped off the plank, and I got a big pirate cheer at the end from all the guys, which was a very big compliment.

I feel less blonde now and, er, smarter! I actually feel much stronger, too.

I did a film called The Hole when I was 16 and, when it came out, a couple of the popular girls at school said, quite loudly, 'She's in a crap movie, so it doesn't count.' It was rude and I was upset, but if you let that stuff bother you, you're going to be in for a tough time. I wasn't popular at school. I learned to let those comments wash over me. I toughened up quite quickly.
 
I've always been a snob about qualifications and it's the greatest irony that I left school before I could take my A-levels. I'll really feel bad when my friends get their results. And I'm going to regret not going to university. But acting has always been my dream and I have to pursue it while I can.

I finished filming Pirates a couple of days before my 18th birthday, and made sure I was in London to celebrate it. There's no point having an 18th birthday in America, it doesn't mean anything as you can't go out and drink!

Do you know that on all the sets I've been on, nobody has ever made a pass at me?
History was always my favorite subject anyway, and I love reading, kind of, biographies and that sort of stuff.