Meryl Streep

"There's always a 'but' in life. Always."

"The difference between film and theater is the difference between making love and reading about it."

"I know for sure that what we dwell on in our minds becomes our reality."

"People don't always stay in your life, but you can always stay true to yourself."

"Anger is useful, but it carries a lot of weight."

"Be bold. Be brave. Be you."

"The future is always scarier than the past."

"You have to love the work itself, not the reward for it."

"I think empathy is a quality that needs to be cultivated."

"The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy."

"I think it's good to have ambitions and to strive to be better every day."

"You have to embrace getting older. Life is either getting better or you are."

"When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

"Knowing who you are allows you to recognize what you truly need."

"Your body is your house for your whole life. That's the only one you get."

"Acting is not about being someone different. It's finding the similarity in what is apparently different."

"The capacity for empathy is what makes us human. It's the ability to understand another person's experience."

"I'm not interested in celebrity. I'm interested in character."

"Change is what keeps us young."

"The interesting thing about being a mother is that it changes you."

"I feel like I'm a very sensitive person in a very insensitive world."

"The work is the thing. The pleasure is in doing it."

"It's always that searching for honesty that is the key."

"I had to learn to trust myself on set. That's where the real acting happens."

"Trying to be perfect is the addiction of perfectionists."

"You can't fake anything for too long."

"Everything that's really worthwhile is done with other people."

"The person you become after loss is the person you always were, just more aware."

"Fear is what prevents us from doing the things we most want to do."

"You reflect on the people who made you who you are."