Brit Marling

“I think there is a general unrest or curiosity about what a human future is going to be like, and whether the way we're living is even sustainable.”

“We're always just telling stories, and stories are always just approximations of the truth. It's never the truth exactly.”

“So at some point you realize that your life is not just going to start one day in the future, that you're living it.”

“Life is beautiful because it doesn't last.”

“I learned from my parents the idea that, if you are devoted enough and you want to study something enough, you can really teach yourself anything.”

“I think sometimes big budget means explosions! CGI! CGI, the possibilities are so limitless that it begins to be impractical.”

“I feel like I'm a much better person when I'm developing my imagination and my innocence and my vulnerability. I like that version of me better than the version where I'm just working on my analytical mind.”

“I'm still a bit of a romantic and an idealist and hopelessly naive.”

“Nothing seemed as scary as waking up at 40 and realizing that I had not lived a very courageous life.”

“Living in Cuba made me unafraid of whatever could happen to me.”

“As an actor, you have an accumulated knowledge base. But there's also something about it that every time you really feel like you're doing it for the first time; you have no idea whether you're capable of it.”

“Here's the thing that I think about life - if you manage to get into a space where you don't need that much, where the overhead of your life is not that great and you're pretty happy and relaxed without that much stuff, you are really liberated because you never have to say yes to something because you want another refrigerator or car!”

“A couple of compromises in a row and suddenly you're very far way from the person you thought you were.”

“You are the sum total of the choices you make every day.”

“Human beings are flawed and complicated and messy.”

“I'd studied theater growing up and loved that, but didn't have many examples of artists around me.”

“I get uncomfortable when people give me presents and watch me open them. I don't have birthday parties, because the idea of a group of people singing and looking at me while I'm blowing out candles gives me hives.”

“You know, I can't imagine 9 to 5 writing. That takes some stamina.”

“I wasn't actually very naturally good at economics. My brain doesn't work very well, in terms of mathematics.”

“I think I am looking as an actor to find ways to push myself into places I haven't been before as a human being.”