If you only exercise your soloist muscles, the other muscles quickly atrophy.

I believe that a creative career is only as good as the risks that you take with it.

An actress once advised me, 'Make sure you do your own laundry - it will keep you honest.'

When you're stretching yourself, as a role like 'Blue Jasmine' did for me, you risk falling flat on your face.

Actresses can get outrageously precious about the way they look. That's not what life's about. If you starve yourself to the point where your brain cells shrivel, you will never do good work. And if you're overly conscious of your arms flapping in the wind, how can you look the other actor in the eye to respond to them?

I can be a real pessimist. You know that when you win an Oscar, and you walk offstage, and your first thought is: 'Oh God, I've peaked.'