“I spent hours on the internet looking at how glamorous actresses winked and how they would put their hand on their waist, and I was told to look at how they would walk in a room and how her body takes place of everything.”

Sometimes we had to improvise. I hate to improvise because I felt like I couldn’t find words.

I feel very honored and special really. You can’t imagine, to arrive at the Oscars when you arrive so low, and you can’t go further than the Oscars.

Right now I’m the most famous silent movie actress in the world and I want to keep that for me. So I hope there’s not going to be any other silent movies.

Marlene Dietrich for the way there was something so unique about her – the way she entered into a frame and everybody looks at her and the way she winks and looks up.

I’m okay. Nobody’s bothering me. Everyone’s very kind, and very polite. I don’t feel like my whole life changed.

The difference between the extras here and in France is the French extras read books. Actually, they hide the book and pretend that they’re acting. Here (in Hollywood), you can see everybody wants his break.

My parents were not pushy or anything like that. I think my mom was still expecting me to be an astronaut, but now she is very happy that I’m not doing that.

A character is never entirely white or black, there’s never entirely right or wrong. You have to realize sometimes you face something, and then you change your mind, or then you realize you were wrong.

I read Gloria Swanson’s autobiography just because I wanted to know what it was like in the time.

I guess I’m the perfect young lead actress. I’m not Chloe Sevigny – I’m not really a character actress. Some actors have “character” faces.

Even in the very beginning when she would bump into George Valentine and people would start taking pictures of her, she never thought “I’m with George Valentine. I need to get a picture with him.” She’s like “oh that’s funny. Everyone’s taking pictures!”

I tried to find a character and how I would be an American actress in the 30s. But if this was a talking movie [The Artist], I’m sure she would be exactly the same for me.

I really enjoyed being Peppy Miller. She was an amazing character and her energy followed me everywhere. When I talk about her I want to be her again.

Maybe I’ll put my iPod in two minutes before. But truly, I’ve listened to actors say that they loved to listen to music before a shot, and I really understand that now because it puts you in the mood and gives you energy.

Of course, when you work on a character, you try to understand her. You feel that everything she does has a reason.

For us, as actors, and even for the director, it gave us a sense of authenticity to what we were doing because we were talking about Hollywood and we were in Hollywood.

Look at their eyes. If their eyes are shining, you know you’re doing it.

If you look at the types of directors out there, I’m not as weird as most of them.

We’ve all got to look at ourselves, start with yourself, that’s all you can do. I believe that we can act responsibly as a group, it’s just that there are vested interests telling us not to bother.

Look how Bill Cohen and George Mitchell worked together. It’s the stuff of legends. And now it’s the stuff of almost ancient history, regrettably, but the way those two really worked together.

Cleverness, after all, has its limitations. Its mechanical judgments and clever remarks tend to prove inaccurate with passing time, because it doesn’t look very deeply into things to begin with.

People are simply not willing to look at their problems honestly and admit that they have problems.

To see how much a company is truly earning on the capital it deploys in its businesses, look beyond EPS to Return on Invested Capital (ROIC).

The most amazing thing is when you find yourself watching someone in the café or something doing something weird. It’s amazing what people do, isn’t it, when you just look at them, when you take the time to look.