I believe I've always been a big believer in equality. No one has ever been able to tell me I couldn't do something because I was a girl.

I have no aspirations of world domination through the pop charts. None at all.

You can alter movie singing so much because you go into the recording studio and, just technology for recording has gotten so good, you can hold out a note and they can combine a note from take 2 and a note from take 8.

I believe I've always been a big believer in equality. No one has ever been able to tell me I couldn't do something because I was a girl.

A lot of people have told me, 'You're not this and so can't play that,' and I can't tell you the amount of times I've been told I'm not sexy. I just go: 'I'm a lot of things. Just because I don't wear my sexiness overtly doesn't mean that I can't become that girl for a role.

I am crushing so hard on Amy Schumer. Women like her who have chosen to stand up for themselves and face the bullies are being so embraced.

I damaged my health during 'Les Mis,' which I didn't want to mention in case it seemed like I was courting sympathy.

I disagree with a couple of the stances of the Catholic Church. My older brother is gay, and it's important for me to be able to love him completely and freely, and it's important for me to spread beliefs in the world that are not going to limit people in their love. I can't support a religion that doesn't support my brother.

I gave up my struggle with perfection a long time ago. That is a concept I don't find very interesting anymore. Everyone just wants to look good in the photographs. I think that is where some of the pressure comes from. Be happy. Be yourself, the day is about a lot more.

I grew up in a pretty large family. We were really close-knit, so I definitely want to have lots and lots of children.

I kind of got my big break with 'The Princess Diaries' and during the press rounds for that everyone asked me: 'Did you always want to be a princess growing up?' And the truth was, no I wanted to be Catwoman.

I look my best after an entire hair and makeup team has spent hours perfecting me. When do I feel my best? When I haven't looked in a mirror for days, and I'm doing things that make me happy.

I love fashion; I love being able to have fun with it, but I think I need to get a little bit more organised before I ever become a true fashionista.

I love it when people are able to interpret thoughts and feelings on fabric or some kind of material.

I love the short-haired lifestyle.

I think fashion is a lot of fun. I love clothes. More than fashion or brand labels, I love design. I love the thought that people put into clothes. I love when clothes make cultural statements and I think personal style is really cool. I also freely recognize that fashion should be a hobby.

I think relationships are work, but love is a gift.

I try not to date where I work. It makes life easier. I don't say no to anybody because I'd hope that people wouldn't say no to me just because I'm an actor - but they'd have to be pretty extraordinary.

I try to stay out of the spotlight as much as humanly possible, because I think that when actors, whether or not they've chosen it or it has been thrust upon them, are living very public lives, it affects your ability to get lost in their performances.

I used to believe that love was finding someone who would lead you through the deep water.

I was raised in a solidly upper-middle class family who had really strong values and excess was not one of the things that my family put up with. And there's something wildy decadent about the young-star lifestyle, and I just don't really see the point.

I was thrust into a really lofty, enviable, but isolated position with 'Princess Diaries' in that I could carry a film before I really knew if I could act.

I'd love to be an artist that's multifaceted. At the moment, I am not. But wouldn't that be cool if I was like, 'Yeah, let me pull out my guitar and play you a song.' I would adore that. I am so far not gifted in that way. But I am a very hard worker and a very determined person, so who knows?

I'll wear my mom jeans in public that haven't been tailored 'just so' yet, just because they feel good.

I'm much happier talking with people than I am flirting with them.

I'm not one of those stars that goes out and literally dresses to be photographed. I'm kind of a 'what you see is what you get' type of girl when I dress. I go for comfort above everything else.

I'm not very daring in my street style, usually because there's a photographer around!

I'm pretty good at remaining calm during an emergency. My house burned down when I was 12, which made me really pragmatic about what needed to be done. But I can be bad in that I compartmentalize a lot of emotions and push them away to deal with them at a later date.

I'm very aware of my own background. I'm Irish, French, and then a little bit of everything else thrown in, ranging from German to Native American. We're talking about tiny drops of blood.

I've always believed in people's capacity for goodness. I still believe that people are good. What I'm not so trusting about anymore is their relationship to their own goodness.

I've honestly been really lucky. My only jobs have been babysitting and acting.

I've worked with people and I've known people that were really competitive, but I've always said that I take an Elizabeth Bennett philosophy of life - I laugh. I love my job, but if it means hurting someone, I won't do it.

If you're not someone who has a natural and effortless love for yourself, it's hard to let go of your desire to please other people, and that's really not an ingredient for a happy life.

Ireland is such an amazing country, and I have this little dream in the back of my head that someday I'll end up living there. When I've established myself in America and I don't need to live near the action, so to speak, and if you're good, the work will come to you. I feel very Irish; maybe that's why I've been so lucky with my career.

It takes a minute for me to let my guard down, but once I do and I get to know someone, I'm very open, very trusting. Some might say too trusting, because considering the amount of money that can be made from selling gossip, I could be very easily taken advantage of.

It's definitely a thing to be sitting there, getting a pedicure, and you look over and someone is reading an article about an aspect of your life that you know is not true. It's weird, it's uncomfortable, but I don't see it changing anytime soon, so I should figure a way to laugh through it.

Kindness is really important to me in finding my own prince - so are patience and a sense of humor. Without those qualities he's no Prince Charming!

Loneliness is my least favorite thing about life. The thing that I'm most worried about is just being alone without anybody to care for or someone who will care for me.

Mellow doesn't always make for a good story, but it makes for a good life.

Michelle Pfeiffer in Tim Burton's 'Batman' was one of the most inspiring - I saw that and I was like, 'I want to be her, I want to do that.'

My feeling about growing up in New Jersey was, 'How come I'm not in New York?' That being said, I'm older and I have a better worldview now, and so I think I grew up in an incredibly privileged position. The town I grew up in is beautiful. I got a great education, and I'm very grateful for it.

Oh, my God. I want to be a mother, and I anticipate loving my children quite fiercely. I think about it all the time, though it's a silly thing to think about because the kind of mother I'll be depends on the kind of children I have. I can't wait to meet them.

On the scale of someone who's really laid-back about stuff and someone who worries a lot, I fall more towards the latter.

Quite frankly, I didn't become an actor to become a movie star. I have never dreamed about being the most famous person on the planet. I just want to do really good work.

So as long as I'm a working actor, I can improve. I want to work with people that frighten me and excite me, and characters that I don't believe I'm the best person for the part but I'm still gonna try anyway. Those are my favorite roles.

The whole beauty of music is that it goes where your words won't let you.

There's something very addictive about people pleasing. It's a thought pattern and a habit that feels really, really good until it becomes desperate.

We assume that we've come so far as compassionate citizens of the world if we do choose to read the news, yet the attitude towards life can be one where we put blinders on and forget that there are civil wars going on. It's easy to forget that there are so many people starving to death every single day.

Weddings are important because they celebrate life and possibility.