Shailene Woodley Quotations

I think every teenager goes through their angst. People who are like, 'No, I had a perfect adolescence,' make me wonder how that is possible.

When it comes down to it, I'm just a girl who wears those five-finger weird toe shoes.

My favorite movies are movies that I go in and I leave deeply affected. Whether I laugh really hard or whether I cry really hard, I just want to feel really affected in that moment.

I feel like a turtleneck dress that's long-sleeved and covers your entire body but is tight fitting is so much sexier than boobs spilling out, you know? So I guess I'm more into being classy sexy versus apparent sexy.

I think the most important thing in life is self-love, because if you don't have self-love, and respect for everything about your own body, your own soul, your own capsule, then how can you have an authentic relationship with anyone else?

You forget that you do choose your life and there are so many things to be grateful for and I feel like society has gotten to that point where we're always looking for the next and the better and we lose sight of what's actually in front of us.

There's been times when I've had heartbreaking moments and I'm like, 'I can't believe you said that,' or 'I can't believe you did that'. And it hurts, it still hurts, and it'll always hurt, but I've never had somebody that I truly cared about just walk out on me, whether it was a boyfriend, or an aunt, mom or dad.

Every family is dysfunctional, whether you want to admit it or not.

Every single journey that I've embarked on, I've learned something new.

I went to public school my whole life, graduated high school with my class. Growing up, I'd go to an audition, my friends would go to soccer practice and we'd all reconvene and hang out in our neighborhood. When I would book something, I would never tell my friends. Acting was just fun. I was a kid, I wasn't jaded.

For me, my rule in this industry is I've got to listen to my butterflies. So if I got butterflies, then those are the scripts I go after.

I'm already the most fortunate girl in the world, so I have zero expectations for what the future will bring.

Acting is fun and I refuse to get involved in the semantics and the politics of strategy and breaking out of something or doing something because you need to do something else. For me it's all about what fuels my soul and if I'm passionate about a screenplay then that's what I'll do next.

Alcohol is a big part of high school. I went through my little phase. I don't know one high schooler that doesn't.

I'm not really fond of the trails left in the sky and a lot of chemicals that are being pumped through factories and even in the clothes we wear.

There aren't a lot of films about adolescents or quote-unquote coming-of-age films that are realistic nowadays.

I think there is a point in every teenager's life where they are forced to come into themselves.

I like to think of myself as a fairly educated human being, but I'm a very uneducated actor when it comes to movies, directors, producers, actors for that matter.

To be honest, I never went to school for acting, and I never learned to break down a script. I took acting classes my whole life, but they never taught me anything about acting. They just taught me about myself.

I'm always like 'I'm too skinny, I can't gain weight, even when I try.' I'd like to try to not let that get to me.

I would like to do something dark or small. I love independent films. I love emotional scenes. I love people who are struggling with something. I think it's just the juxtaposition to my incredibly happy, positive demeanor.

George Clooney sort of lost his 'George Clooney-ness' the first day I met him. He's not George Clooney in my eyes - he's George from Kentucky with an awesome, awesome heart.

I'd like to be like a hummingbird. You see them every now and then. You don't see them everywhere.

For me, acting is about the art of it and it's about being on a film set and doing your thing, painting a blank canvas.

So often, I read scripts and am like, 'This would never happen in real life. It's not trying to be funny. It's trying to be serious.

I think the best way to become a character is by osmosis as opposed to thinking directly about stuff. The more material that you have and understand and have a going in, then the more complex your character and the understanding of your character will be.

I was always the frugal kid growing up because I was saving for college. Or I was always that kid that was like, 'I'm going to save my babysitting money so I can eat an expensive dinner when I go to Europe.'

I would love to act for the rest of my life, but I also know that it could be taken away in a day. It's something I've always loved, but it's nothing I've ever revolved my entire life around. I have many other passions as well.

When I started acting, my parents gave me three rules: I had to stay good in school, stay the kid they always knew I was, and I had to have fun. If I wasn't doing those three things, then I couldn't do acting anymore.

When I read a script or I see a character, I don't necessarily see the arc of her, that by the end she is this person, she's different from she was in the beginning. I guess it's more a subconscious understanding of that arc.

I had never been to Hawaii, and now I say that my body is from L.A. but my heart is from Hawaii, because I'm in love with it and it's home on every level, from a spiritual, soulful place.

I really respond to human scripts, scripts that are raw and real and risky. I love playing scary characters - not horror film scary, but vulnerable scary.

I think you get the most honest performances when an actor shows up to set with their lines memorized. That's a very important thing that a lot of people seem to forget.

You have a pre-conceived notion of what you want the scene to be, but once you get there, that goes out the window and it turns out to be a way that you never imagined.

When you're on set and you professionally listen to what the other actors have to say, then the emotion is naturally evoked.

So many times, you get a script and it says, "And then, the character cries," and you read the lines and think, "That would never make me cry. Those lines are so untruthful." My approach is just to be honest to the situation.

I think you have to love yourself and you have to have a strong sense of self-love in order to really show up for other people, because if you love yourself, you're not questioning your own mind any more and you are really able to be present and available for others.

Romance is very particular to each individual and a very personalised thing.

Every single morning you wake up with the opportunity to be yourself, or be the idea of someone else. For me it is all about... my favourite mantra is: "You do you. I do me. They do they."

Start small - if you drink soda, stop drinking soda. You don't have to make every single change at once or overnight, you can make them slowly to adjust to figure out what works for your body, there is no formula and there is also no right or wrong.

I'm not an actor who approaches films doing a lot of research. I do zero research, unless it's a film where I'm playing a mock version of someone who already existed. Then, you've got to do a lot of research.

I was between 14 and 15, when I went through my angsty period. I was never very rebellious. I never did things to rebel against society, or against my parents, but I did think I knew everything. Then, one day, I woke up and realized I was a dot in this universe, and that quickly dissipated.

I love playing darker roles, or roles with meat. I feel very comfortable in that environment. I don't know why. I don't know what that says about me. I really enjoy doing complicated characters.

I'm generally a very annoyingly positive person, in real life. I think that might have something to do with my gravitation towards angry human beings on screen.

I choose to surround myself with happy human beings. I went through the angsty period. I think every single person does. I think it's a rite of passage to hate the world and feel like the victim.

I'm a pretty romantic person, I love little notes.

People always ask about the transition from TV show to a movie, but it felt like just going to a different school. You don't really notice the transition, when you're in the moment.

Everything that I own and use are in a carry-on suitcase,

Do you guys have any raw garlic?

I definitely live for the small moments and the big moments.

I only shampoo [my hair] once a month.

George Clooney is a super-human, he's just such an amazing human being, he taught me how to be a better person and a better actor!

I always find it fun to read a script and then find the messages in the script because I believe every story has them.

My whole life I've been so self-conscious about being skinny. And just recently I don't care anymore. All insecurities are projected because of what you think others are saying about you, but they don't really matter at all. My only real insecurities in high school were having such long legs and thick hair-things I'm so very grateful for now.

My only real insecurities in high school were having such long legs and thick hair — things I’m so very grateful for now.

I think every script has meaningful messages no matter what it is, because inherently life is full of meaning and every single day we lean a lesson.

There are a lot of mountains with a lot of water.

But in these few moments that we have here on Earth, are we going to torture ourselves? Or are we going to allow our lights to be dimmed? How do we expect men to respect women or women to rise to more power when we don't respect our queendom in the same way that men respect their kingdom?

The day the process of acting becomes something that I dread is the end. Obviously, why would you do something that you hate? I won't do that.

Everything is sacred and nothing is sacred.

You have only 30 seconds with a new person. I will give you a hug so you know I’m real, and then you’re real too.

I want to see and taste and experience it all, I am curious by nature. I would actually really love to go to New Zealand.

I fell into this business by accident. It wasn't something I ever aspired to be: an Actress . It just happened. It has evolved into an insane passion...a creative outlet. But nothing more. It's my hobby... one of the ways I express myself as an Artist . And the day it becomes a job... a career... I will quit...

The word 'feminist' is a word that discriminates, and I'm not into that. I don't think there has to be a separation in life in anything. [...] Labels are for other people to understand us, so for me, I know how I feel and I don't need to call myself a 'feminist' or 'not a feminist' because I know what my truth is...

I'm done living for other people. I'm done being a people pleaser. I'm done thinking about what people think about me.

I've been acting since I was young because I wanted to, not because my parents wanted me to. My dad is a principal and mom is a middle school counselor, so acting was like, "Eh, whatever. As long as you get good grades." It's really fun, and nothing more.

I had never been to Hawaii, and now I say that my body is from L.A. but my heart is from Hawaii, because I'm in love with it and it's home on every level, from a spiritual, soulful place.

I have a tendency to talk extremely fast. ... I think the fastness comes from the fact that I get very excited about things and I just want to spit them out.

You really can't prepare for anything in life. The second you know what's going to happen, there's always a curve ball, so I'm just chillin', cruising along for the ride.

All it takes is to pick up that one piece of trash you pass everyday on your way to work. Or to turn the water faucet off when you're brushing your teeth from afar. Or to compost. Or to buy 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper. Or to utilize vintage stores and secondhand markets. Or to fully devote yourself to only buying vegetables from local sources. It is remarkably easy to incorporate sustainable choices into our everyday, busy lives.

As women, we are constantly told that we need to compare ourselves to a girl in school, to our co-­workers, to the images in a magazine. . . . How is the world going to advance if we're always comparing ourselves to others?

Nothing really attracts me to the film industry, to be perfectly honest. I look at acting as an art, and that's all it is for me. It's just fun.

I think there's a lot of work to be done with our societies. My biggest passions are the environment and health. And when I say 'health' I mean the secrets behind health and our food system.

You are the epitome of the word selfless, you did something knowing you wouldn't be able to come home, knowing that your country would have very mixed feelings and yet your integrity on what you believe was right or wrong or should be public knowledge was more important to you than almost your own comfortability and the life that you had lived for so long. So I would like say thank you to him.

Film and television are very different. On the TV show, we do seven or eight scenes a day, so time and money are of the essence, and we have zero room for creativity because you've got to do each scene in only five takes. Whereas, on a film, you have an entire day to film one scene, so you have so much time to choose how you want to fill in a scene.

No [I'm not a feminist] because I love men, and I think the idea of 'raise women to power, take the men away from the power' is never going to work out because you need balance. With myself, I'm very in touch with my masculine side. And I'm 50 percent feminine and 50 percent masculine, same as I think a lot of us are. And I think that is important to note. And also I think that if men went down and women rose to power, that wouldn't work either. We have to have a fine balance.

For me acting is a passion and an art, and always will only be that. I don't have any rules when it comes to acting. I'll do anything. But it depends on the script. Either I'll have passion for the project or I won't. It's got to fuel me.

Everyone today is like, 'Shailene, you're getting so much buzz. How does the feel?' It's the most odd question because it's like asking a kid who got into Cornell how it feels to be the top of your class at one of the Ivy League schools. How do you answer that? You just go, 'I don't know.

I live my life with a lot of integrity based on what I want for my life and who I am.

A quarter of my life has been spent on 'Secret Life.' I'm 20 and I've been doing it for five years, so I think the best moments have been when all the cast members get to work together and we get to collaborate and share experiences. We all grew up together.

This earth is exciting. There are so many things happening.

Clay is one of the best things you can put in your body.

I love arguing. I always say that I'll never win a physical battle, but I can always win a mental battle. I mean, not really, because I never really argue with anyone.

I haven't had time to think about a relationship! I literally have not had a boyfriend in almost five years. I've never even hooked up with anybody I've worked on a movie with.

I started studying herbalism and edible plants that existed in the wild. And then I realized, "Okay, cool. I know how to make a fire with sticks and I know how to build a shelter, but I live 90 percent of my life in an urban environment, so these skills aren't really going to help me because there aren't trees that grow in Los Angeles that I can just take a branch and make fire out of, because that wood isn't conducive for that. So I started learning urban survival skills.

If I'm passionate about something, I'll do everything I can to be a part of it.

Twilight, I’m sorry, is about a very unhealthy, toxic relationship. She falls in love with this guy and the second he leaves her, her life is over and she’s going to kill herself! What message are we sending to young people? That is not going to help this world evolve,

I started studying indigenous cultures and I was really inspired by their life styles and the way that they lived. Part of that was knowing how to survive in the wild and knowing how to heal themselves from the plants that grew around them.

I'd always wanted to do a film than TV show because film is always where my heart has been. I like diving into the character for a few months, and then leaving it behind. I love the idea of that.

You turn on the shower or you do whatever, but especially right now with the drought in California, there are so many resources that we are depleting so quickly. And so, I thought it would be an interesting skill set to have if something were to go down, or even if it weren't. It's not post-apocalyptic idealism. It's more just like a fun hobby.

Everything is out of your control, and you can only be truthful about how you feel.

I fall in love with human beings based on who they are, not based on what they do or what sex they are.

I feel like I'm kind of an obvious person. I like to keep some things in my life sacred, like keep the sacred, sacred. Apart from that part of my life, I'm a very open person.

As a teenager, my struggle was how do I balance being empathetic and compassionate towards my peers, while also living my life for myself and not basing my decisions on those around me, and really living a life where I receive my happiness from my own experiences rather than from people pleasing.

Worry is the product of a future that we cannot guarantee and guilt is the product of a past we cannot change.

Every single character in the world, every creature in the world has something to give and something to learn.

Working with a green screen is so different than working with another human.

Have you thanked your body today? Be grateful, stay positive.

I think everything everything about my lifestyle is fairly alternative. I gather my own spring water from mountains every month. I go to a farm to get my food. I make everything from my own toothpaste to my own body lotions and face oils. I could go on for hours. I make my own medicines; I don’t get those from doctors. I make my own cheese and forage wild foods and identify wild plants. It’s an entire lifestyle. It’s appealing to my soul.

My religion is the Earth, man. I believe in trees.