Lily James Quotations

For exams, I swotted so hard because I couldn't bear the thought of not coming first.

I love clothes but it's a struggle for me to get out of jeans and a baggy jumper.

Boarding school in Tring was a bit of a bubble that burst when I went to Hackney to go to drama school.

I really have been lucky because I've always had a very healthy attitude to my body.

I love to start the morning with a mist spray, especially after a night out.

In regards to your love life, you're just entering into a whole of pain if you talk about it. If you've never said anything, there are no sound bites to haunt you when you're crying into a box of Kleenex after it all goes wrong.

I'm learning a lot about how to be one of the 'good' actors. You'd hope that it's natural to be a good person, and kind, but I'm learning how to deal with long, sometimes boring days.

Any kid in the world can draw from strengths within - we all have the potential with that.

I used to go to musicals every birthday - that was my birthday present. We'd go to London, me and my two brothers and mum and dad. I think I saw 'Mamma Mia' about five times.

I don't like seeing celebs looking too skinny, I love it when they look healthy and comfortable in their bodies and embrace their curves.

My first paid role was my first job out of drama school, which was Just William. It was a BBC TV show. I played Ethel.

I played Nina in 'The Seagull,' and I remember thinking it's incredible to see all the actresses in the past that've played her. It's quite strengthening. You feel a part of the family of actresses going through and giving something of themselves to the role.

My mom passed down to me her old Levi's denim jacket. When I left it on a plane, I was devastated. I've never been able to find anything with quite the same cool, faded look.

The world of the flapper - live free, wild and young - that energy is intoxicating. It's nice to inject that into the more controlled 'Downton' way of living.

I really want to play interesting roles, but you want to work, so it's a balancing game.

The first Disney movie I saw I think was 'Snow White.' I loved all the Disney princess movies.

It's so hard coming out of drama school to claim your right to be taken seriously and even get auditions.

I think it's probably best to work out in the morning to get it out of the way. My ultimate top tip is to drag yourself, even if you have to roll yourself out of your bed and in to a sit-up - it's really not that bad once you start.

It took me a while to warm to the '20s costumes on 'Downton.' I love it when women accentuate their curves, and that era was all about hiding them. The shapes they wore then were in tune with female empowerment. Cutting off their hair and hiding their busts was a way of saying, 'We're equal to men!'

Mum would have a panic attack if she had to stand up and give a speech around a table.

As an actor, you get a bit itchy to do something entirely different.

As cynical as I can be, there's always a part of me that believes in love and the fairy tale.

At drama school, we were taught to write down your dreams and carry them around in your wallet with you, and they'll come true, but I didn't do that.

'Cinderella' touches on loss, and there was definitely a strong sense of grief in my life.

Ultimately, 'Cinderella' is the story of the underdog. You root for her in this fairytale; the girl who has nothing, deserves so much more, and gets it.

No one looks twice at me when they're around, and 'Cinderella' has made no difference. And I know that isn't going to change.

My dad did every single accent under the sun, and he would read bedtime stories.

My dad lived on Sunset Boulevard for a couple of years as a waiter, and he said he'd do a different character every time somebody sat down, just to get some practice.

I don't have an exact moment when I decided I wanted to be an actress - it kind of was just really a part of my growing up.

I loved all the princess films, and I grew up with them, and I think it's really cool how they've changed over the years - how the princesses have become more positive role models right up until 'Frozen.'

I have an amazing stylist; she's called Rebecca Corbin Murray... I go around to her living room, and it's sort of exploding with dresses, and we go through them all, and she's so good at picking things she knows I'll like, and we work together. She's taught me absolutely everything; she's brilliant.

I feel like, sometimes, characters that are just good and nice can seem boring or uninteresting.

Growing up, I was always prancing around and singing... and I just never really stopped.

I Googled myself, and I saw some nice things and some not-so-nice things. I've learned that that stuff isn't real, and it doesn't exist unless you look at it.

God, I used to have really skinny-crap eyebrows. They were such an ugly disaster.

I admire actresses like Jennifer Lawrence, who says what she thinks.

I think it's so important to be healthy and confident and natural. And not put too much stress on trying to be thin - I don't get the thin, thin thing at all.

I think everyone can feel like an outsider. I know I have. I've always felt like one.

I saw Cate Blanchett in 'Big and Small,' and it was mind-blowing. The fact that she can do theatre and is also a huge movie star is really exciting.

I saw this cool interview with Amy Adams from when she did 'Enchanted' and played a princess, and when kids came up to her with no make-up and ripped jeans on, she said, 'I'm off duty. I'm an off-duty princess', and I thought that was quite sweet.

My mum thinks I'm amazing at everything. That unconditional love is just the most precious thing you can have.

I think our sense as actors of what we've just done - whether or not it be in an audition - is usually really not connected to any truth. I'm always asking for more takes and more goes. I think I just need to shut up and listen.

I think I feel most like a princess when I'm sort of bursting with happiness and love, so whether that would be, like, with my boyfriend or my family or at a really fun party - just when you're full of life.

I think Keira Knightley is amazing, and I've heard also that she is one of the coolest, most down-to-earth, brilliant girls, and I really look up to her in that respect. She's got it all, really, and I think she's made interesting, bold choices in her work.

I thought it'd be interesting to play an off-centre character who doesn't have to be pretty.

I'm such a geek now with princesses. It's pathetic.

When the board games came out of the cupboard when I was a kid, I had to beat my two brothers every time.

There are other things I want to focus on rather than staying in shape.

Why do women always get pointed at for their bodies?

With corsets, it's interesting when you put them on, realizing that's what women actually wore. They're just so constricting.

When I worked with Bill Nighy on 'Wrath of the Titans,' he said to me, 'There's one thing you can promise me, and that's never, ever, ever read your reviews.'

You have to pretend to be cool, which I never am.

To be honest, when I was growing up - I think it's because of Kate Winslet and 'Titanic' - I always wanted to do period.

Diet Coke is the only way I get through filming because I get so tired.

There's nothing wrong with falling in love and sharing your life with someone.

People talk a lot about, 'You're a Disney princess! You're Cinderella!' and this and that. But for me, it's all about the fact that I worked with Cate Blanchett and was directed by Kenneth Branagh. That's the 'Cinderella' story for me.

Drama school was a lifeline for me, it saved me. I found it very nurturing - I just clung on.

I trained with Olympics Athlete Jeanette Kwakye - who is amazing! And Shani Anderson, who is an excellent Olympic runner. We trained five times a week; running, circuits, weights, working out in the gym, and on the track. It was an insane time.

For girls growing up, sometimes I think they get the wrong idea for what women should look like.

It's hard to see yourself as a princess because it involves a huge leap of the imagination and sort of requires you to believe you can be that, which is a scary, weird thing.

It's pretty disabling sometimes, the terror of not living up. My expectations are the worst.

It's weird when you get roles that coincide with your life.

It's weird, the idea of someone else playing my dad, but weirdly nice.

I want to do more theater, which allows you to take bigger risks and experiment.

I want to be Ursula in 'The Little Mermaid.'

The Twenties outfits are all about freedom and loose, flowing lines, whereas in 'Cinderella,' I had to wear corsets and big huge skirts.

The famous pilot season literally sends shivers down my spine.

I'm dying to do a tiny indie and play something totally naturalistic without any sort of constraints on me. Something where I can shock everyone.

I loved learning to fight and kill zombies.

I love London, but I love traveling, and I don't think I'll be here forever. Possibly, I'd like to move to New York and do a play in New York.

In anything, I always give my all. I'm not a good loser.

I remember meeting the princesses at Disney World and getting their autographs.

I love putting on a red lip. I don't do it so much for events - somehow, I don't seem to get it right - but when I just go to the pub or to a restaurant or something, I just put a red lip on.

I love singing so much. As a kid, that was what I wanted to do.

I live in dungarees, and I love denim - I wear denim shirts a lot.

I never thought I would say this, but I'm desperate to do an action film.

You know that scene in 'Runaway Bride' when Julia Roberts puts on the amazing wedding dress and looks at herself in the mirror and goes, 'Swish, swish'? I loved that moment so much when I was a little girl.

The greatest thing is that usually the auditions you think are bad are the ones you get.

I think that period dramas just need zombies.

I am absolutely desperate to do an action movie. And not to blow my own trumpet or anything, but I actually think I'm good at it. I did it all. I was really into the routines and the choreography. I used to dance when I was younger, and so I think that came in handy.

I think I'm up for not trying to play a literary heroine. I think I'd rather just do someone that has just been created in a script, rather than in a book that everyone knows and loves. The difficulty with it and the reason these characters are so loved is that every woman and man that reads it understands it in a different way. They're so relatable, but different aspects will be drawn from different people.

Helena (Bonham Carter) is one of the coolest kindest women I've ever met. We had so much fun. She has the best sense of humor. I loved her fairy godmother. It came at a point during night shoots where I was exhausted. It was trippy, weird and cold ... and then Helena showed up. It was like this bright light on the horizon; it was wonderful.

When people feel good, they look good.

I can only show what I have received from the characters. That's what's scary because you're never going to be everyone's taste and you don't want to let people down. But, I can only do what I can do.

When you're filming in Russia in Catherine's Palace, and you're in the real place where the Tsar's ball really happened, all those years ago, it does so much of the work for you. It's so vivid. You escape into this different time through the costumes, the sets and the atmosphere.

Playing a Disney princess is the most amazing, unbelievable thing and on the other, it's completely terrifying. I would say it's a cocktail of every sort of emotion. Princesses are great role models, they teach you about grief loss and have big hearts.