Quotes By Jessica Lange

Families survive, one way or another. You have a tie, a connection that exists long after death, through many lifetimes.

Sometimes the odds are against you-the director doesn't know what the hell he's doing, or something falls apart in the production, or you're working with an actor who's just unbearable.

Allow the diversity to exist. There is nothing wrong with it. Hell, we put up with the religious right-we can put up with transgendered human beings.

It comes down to something really simple: Can I visualize myself playing those scenes? If that happens, then I know that I will probably end up doing it.

We are not the originators of the story. I think it's actually the opposite when you're an actor. You're telling somebody else's story.

Acceptance and tolerance and forgiveness, those are life-altering lessons.

One of the things I love about acting is that it reveals a certain something about yourself, but it doesn't reveal your own personal story.

Once I started on 'Frances' I discovered it was literally a bottomless well. It devastated me to maintain that for eighteen weeks, to be immersed in this state of rage for twelve to eighteen hours a day. It spilled all over, into other areas of my life.

The worst is when I talk myself into something. Sometimes you take things because you want to work with a certain actor, or you want to work with a director, even if the script or the part's not that great.

To stay interested in acting, I have to keep trying stuff I've never done before.

If I didn't have children I'd be a much better actress. I wouldn't be so distracted. I could pour 100 percent of my energies into it, to promote the investigation which acting is.

There was that feminist myth that we can do everything. I don't think you can.

For me, nothing has ever taken precedence over being a mother and having a family and a home.

At a certain age, death becomes familiar to you-or a loss becomes familiar-the tragedies that are more commonplace in life.

Successful model? That's a myth. The year I modeled was the most painful year of my life. Editors would always talk to you in the third person as though you were merely a piece of merchandise.

I have been a waitress, and I was a damn fine waitress too, let me tell you.

I had never done Shakespeare before, but I don't think you can be an actor and not do it. There were moments when I thought, I'm just not going to be able to pull this off.

I never think of the future. I never imagine what comes next.

When I am home for like a two-year stretch, I get antsy, because I want to work.

TV is sort of the only way to go for an actress my age to make a decent salary; with independent films, you just can't.

I never felt like I belonged in Minnesota when I was growing up there. That's why I was out the door as soon as I turned 18.

It was easier to do Shakespeare than a lot of modern movie scripts that are so poorly written.

I have made decisions based from purely an actor's point of view.

Sometimes parts just come along when it's the perfect time for you to do them.

To my mind the election was stolen by George Bush and we have been suffering ever since under this man's leadership.

I worked on my voice for Sweet Dreams, but only to match my speaking voice to Patsy's actual singing voice. That was my way into that character.

To work on the actual location I think is great. This thing of going to Canada and pretending you're in New York, it's terrible.

I could be making a lot more money now if I had chosen a different kind of movie, but none of that matters to me... I've done the parts I wanted to do.

Your children are grown and your career has slowed down - all the stuff that took up so much attention is gone, and you're left with expansive time and space. You have to reimagine who you are and what life is about.

Photography was a blessing because it filled my time.