Drew Barrymore

Families in real life don't tend to resolve things neatly.

Im a control freak and love to participate in the design of every single aspect of life.

Producing is so exciting because you can enable things to happen, whether it's like discovering a filmmaker who you're taking a chance on, protecting a battle and driving home at the end of the day just going, 'I'm so glad I stayed late at work and fought hard for that. Had my passion. Won that battle.'

My own mum cared about Hollywood, and I didn't. I wanted to act, and I loved the creativity of it, but I didn't care for the lifestyle.

I am who I am because of the people who influenced me growing up, and many of them were gay. No one has any right to tell anyone what makes a family.

I didn't grow up in a traditional family, and I never had a family dinner around the table, so whenever I actually had a dinner 'plan,' it meant a lot to me; it made me feel excited and safe.

The older you get, the few slumber parties there are, and I hate that. I liked slumber parties. What happened to them?

When you work in film, you learn to appreciate a distributor. You can have this great little film, but if you don't have a distributor, you are sitting in your living room with a great little film.

You've just got to do the best that you can.

I never regret anything. Because every little detail of your life is what made you into who you are in the end.

I can't wait until I have my children. I love the idea that they don't have to do something that they have no interest in, that they can do something completely opposite if they want to.

I never want to get to the point where it's all about my needs, and the hell with anybody else.

I don't want to be stinky poo poo girl, I want to be happy flower child.

When I lay my head on the pillow at night I can say I was a decent person today. Thats when I feel beautiful.

I never act my characters - I am them.

I still, at hotel rooms, I do this one sort of not-so-cool thing: continually shoving my room service tray in front of someone else's door. Because I don't want the remnants. I don't want to be caught, like, being like the pig that I was at two in the morning.

I'd definitely be the kind of parent who enabled my child's dreams. I'd just watch and nurture and guide them. I have the blueprints of what not to do... I think I'd be a good parent, actually.

I looooove cookbooks. I cook a lot when I'm pregnant.

As I've gotten older, I've really wanted to find more balance and calm.

I want people to be blown away when I do what they don't expect.

In a world and a life that moves so fast, photography just makes the sound go out and it makes you stop and take a pause. Photography calms me.

When things are perfect, that's when you need to worry most.

A thank-you can be just as meaningful as a soulful ten-page message.

I'm a real stay-at-home mom. I'm really hands-on. Everything else became secondary.

I'm not insecure. I've been through way too much f**king sh*t to be insecure. I've got huge balls. But I've been humbled. That makes you grateful for every day you have.

The low points I had all helped make up my character, so I probably wouldn't want to do away with them because I like being flawed and I like having them help me grow and change and become better and stronger.

A fish may love a bird but where would they live

I'm just learning who I am and how relationships work and how to make them function. No different from anyone else.

I love inventive food, but I want the classic dishes to taste like how I remember them. I get a little bummed out when there is too much fancy stuff going on and it doesn't resemble the original dish at all.

I am who I am because of the people who influenced me growing up, and many of them were gay. No one has any right to tell anyone what makes a family

It's not just about acting. I love film, I'm a director now, I love writing, I love producing, I love having a company that makes films and to be prolific and have a place to put all the ideas that are constantly bubbling up inside of me and that don't let me sleep at night.

I feel like some of my baby fat is going away, and that's not just physically, it's psychologically. I think that your body is in tune with your mind and your spirituality and your heart. If things are going better, I just think you look better.

It's my crusade to help women feel good about themselves.

When you've been locked up in a mental institution, people are going to ask questions. It was OK, because I didn't have to act perfect all the time.

Whatever I've experienced in my life is a part of my story, and I'm proud of that. But it's someone who wakes up early, works all day, believes in charitable work, business-minded, diligent, accountable, problem-solving... I'm so much about school, consistency and tradition.

I am not someone who is ashamed of my past. I'm actually really proud. I know I made a lot of mistakes, but they, in turn, were my life lessons.

I love roller coasters that make my stomach drop. One ride in Las Vegas, the Big Shot, straps you into a row of seats and catapults you into the air from the top of the Stratosphere Tower - then plummets back down. I ride it over and over; it's exhilarating.

I make movies. I have a passion. Puppies and daisies don't accomplish anything. That's not me at all.

I love working with the actors eye-to-eye. I think something gets lost in translation, not only through a monitor, but when you leave the area where the actual scene is taking place.

You're not supposed to look perfect while you're making babies. Making babies is the perfection. It's about feeling good in clothes and knowing you can get dressed up in the evening, work it for a minute, and maybe get back in a certain pair of jeans. But there's just no such thing as perfection.

My life takes me all over the world, and I know how hard that can be on a relationship.

I still can't spell anything, but I can bust out two-dollar words.

I feel like I came out of the womb and was punted - there you go, out in the world!

I think some of the funniest and most artistic people I know are the ones who had a hard time at school. They often have humility and artistry. So, as much as I feel bad for kids who have to go through a rough childhood, I believe that if they can turn it around, it's going to make them better people later on.

I have no regrets in my life whatsoever.

It's never too late. Don't focus on what was taken away. Find something to replace it, and acknowledge the blessing you have.

If youre going to go through hell... I suggest you come back learning something.

There are a lot of us little gypsies out there that need to go and find another place you know. A safer, healthier or just a different venue in order to develop and find ourselves. I am so lucky to live the life that I do.

I'm a Cali girl through and through.

Whether you're throwing up or breaking up, you want your girlfriend right there! I don't trust women who don't go to their girlfriends.

I would love to be a travel writer. I'd be so stoked.

Great dad. Yeah, he would ask me for money on birthdays and, you know, inappropriate times. And I just wrote him off like, 'You're not a father.' I just learned you cannot emotionally invest in people who are not attainable.

Whether youre throwing up or breaking up you want your girlfriend right there I dont trust women who dont go to their girlfriends.

I'm very sensitive to the English language. I studied the dictionary obsessively when I was a kid and collect old dictionaries. Words, I think, are very powerful and they convey an intention.

I'm not after fame and success and fortune and power. It's mostly that I want to have a good job and have good friends; that's the good stuff in life.

I've been a vegetarian for years and years. I'm not judgemental about others who aren't, I just feel I cannot eat or wear living creatures.

Oh, I would love to be a motivational speaker. I have pulled myself out of a million potholes, and I can see the potholes ahead of me. That doesn't mean that I could always do that so perfectly for my own life. I totally fall in potholes.

A lot of my business is about protecting creativity.

I don't like camera trickery and editing and doubles and all of that.

Of course I want to look good in clothes. And it never makes me feel good when somebody who has an insane figure tells me, 'I eat whatever I want.'

Having fun is fantastic, and I never want to lose a sense of that - and also, I think, you have to have that to put into your work, or else it's going to feel stiff.

A few years ago, I bought an old red bicycle with the words Free Spirit written across its side - which is exactly what I felt like when I rode it down the street in a tie-dyed dress.

I never have been insecure, because I see what a waste it is. I know there is a solution to insecurity. I don't tend to be thrown by problems that don't have solutions. And insecurity has a wealth of alternatives.

I definitely don't think that I'm hot doo-doo. I don't.

I'm certainly not an uptight home owner.

The best kind of parent you can be is to lead by example.

From my perspective, there's no reason to be afraid of aging, because if you age, you're lucky! The alternative is death.

Everyone is like a butterfly they start out ugly and awkward and then morph into beautiful graceful butterflies that everyone loves.

I try to be a good shiksa wife. I go to Central Synagogue in New York.

No one has the right to tell anyone what makes a family.

I want people to love me, but it's not going to hurt me if they don't.

I loved the world of roller derby because I thought it was such an empowering metaphor, that you get out there and do it. It's such a rocker, athletic, capable, cool exhibitionist sport; it's about this great sort of camaraderie.

Internet does not equal sodium pentothal.

I don't know anybody's road who's been paved perfectly for them, there are no manuals, you don't know what life has in store for you.

I really want to understand the mind so I can be more comfortable with the way people are. Being comfortable with people is incredibly important.

I've always been a homemaker, like, I like creating spaces. Even if I stay in a hotel, I'll unpack, I'll put my books out, I'll put my camera out, I'll throw a sweater over the lamp to get better light. I am a homemaker.

When you're young, you're always wondering when you're actually going to feel like a grownup. And I think you probably fear it, in a sense, too. There's a danger to feeling like an adult... like this whimsical kid in you is going to die or something. And then all of a sudden, one day you kind of feel like an adult and it's really nice.

I love hugging. I wish I was an octopus so I could hug ten people at a time.

I'm okay with the idea that slow and steady wins the race.

I was raised in unique and trying environments, but they were also amazing platforms for me to have an extraordinary life. Going through hell as a kid made me sensitive to what others in this world go through, too.

I started finding hearts in things - whether it was like, a tree I was passing, a straw wrapper on the ground; I think the heart has one continuous line, which is very powerful.

I don't mind a little Sturm und Drang. When I was doing 'Riding in Cars With Boys,' I wouldn't smile at anybody, because my character, Bev, was angry at the world. I'm the opposite. Inside my head I'd be like, God, I'll explain to you at the end of shooting that I'm not this person.

My mother and I split ways when I was very young and have never really reconciled.

I hate women who say they can eat whatever they want, because I don't relate to that at all. It isn't fair! I absolutely live for food.

Kisses, even to the air, are beautiful.

God made a very obvious choice when he made me voluptuous; why would I go against what he decided for me? My limbs work, so I'm not going to complain about the way my body is shaped.

I'm a carb queen. I'll always order macaroni and cheese, but I don't want it to be fancy. I want it to be as close to Kraft Services as it can possibly get!

I aspire to be that, to be a voice of reason one day.

Love is the hardest habit to break, and the most difficult to satisfy.

I think happiness is a choice. If you feel yourself being happy and can settle in to the life choices you make, then it's great. It's really, really great. I swear to God, happiness is the best makeup.

I have to say, if someone literally said to me, 'You're going off to a desert island, what is the one thing you would bring?' I would say, 'It's my concealer or you can just kill me now.' I've thought this through! Because I would find, like, berries in a bowl and make blush.

Putting your name on something and having no idea how it came about if someone else did all the work - that's not me.

I still feel like I have a lot to prove. My biggest burning question is 'How much more are you capable of?'

Kissing - and I mean like, yummy, smacking kissing - is the most delicious, most beautiful and passionate thing that two people can do, bar none. Better than sex, hands down.

When I was a kid, everything was so unplanned, my parents were so erratic, and my world was so inconsistent.

Love is the hardest habit to break and the most difficult to satisfy.

I find a lot of really hot people to be extremely boring because they haven't had to work at it.

California is an unbelievable state. One day I might be in a spiritual place like Joshua Tree, then before I know it, I'm eating groovy sushi in a mini-mall. I'm a Cali girl through and through.

I'm such a profound believer that timing is everything; I would tattoo that on my arm.

You can't live your life blaming your failures on your parents and what they did or didn't do for you. You're dealt the cards that you're dealt. I realised it was a waste of time to be angry at my parents and feel sorry for myself.