I think it was Elisabeth Shue who said that if you start a movie with a woman seen through a man's eyes, that woman is objectified by him throughout.
— Sam Taylor-Johnson
My mum has always been quite free-spirited, and she has taught me a lot. I think that is probably why I have the sort of mind that I do.
You have to be brave when you've got a kid.
I want to protect my vision, and that's the hardest thing.
People tell you you're having chemotherapy, but there are different types of chemotherapy, and you don't know which one you're going to get and how it's going to affect you. The people in the hospitals don't always have time to help you understand it.
When I was eight, a hippie guy taught me how to meditate and gave me this scarf I was supposed to wear when I meditated. I still have it; it's probably one of the items that mean most to me.
I don't understand why there aren't more powerful female directors. I don't have the answers, but I hope that things may start to shift and that studios will employ more women to handle strong and interesting material.
Directing 'Fifty Shades of Grey' has been an intense and incredible journey for which I am hugely grateful. I have Universal to thank for that.
If you love someone, you love someone. It doesn't matter; age, colour, c'mon!
A lot of children remember seeing cartoons, 'Pinocchio' or 'Bambi' or something that breaks their heart. I remember seeing 'The Blue Angel' and it breaking my heart. It was the first time I realised there was an adult world - that adults could damage each other or destroy each other emotionally.
I'm motivated every second by my work; it doesn't switch off. The pictures I make come from every blink of my lashes.
People in love don't see gender, colour or religion. Or age. It's about the other person, the one that you love and who loves you. You don't think of them in terms of a label. You just go with your heart.
I went out of my way to try not to be an artist, because I thought I would end up leading a miserable, obscure life. I tried to escape it for as long as I could, until I had to admit at 25 that that was my path.
Never trust a hippie. That's definitely my motto.
I really have learned to live in the moment. I don't question things too much or try to project into the future. That's how life should be.
When I had cancer - of the colon first, followed by breast cancer and a mastectomy - my motto used to be 'Drips by day, Prada by night.' I felt that I had to grasp it in the same way as you'd take on any challenge.
Sometimes, I get afraid it has defined me, that sense of grief, loss and illness. But actually, it is about allowing myself to take hold and say: 'This is part of who I am, but not only who I am.'
I think, for me, Julian Schnabel set a great precedent in being able to cross over so successfully. I feel like his artwork is kind of big, grand, and bombastic, yet the films that he makes are very beautifully sensitive, and I just feel that his filmmaking sensibility is very different from his artwork.
I was living with my stepfather for a while, and then I moved out and went and lived on my own in Hastings-by-the-Sea from about 16.
I don't eat any dairy products at all, usually - it's a self-imposed ban. I've done it for a year now, since I was ill, but it's so hard.
I get over-excited by every opportunity that comes my way. I end up doing too much.
I don't think you can judge something without seeing it.
There's definitely something transformative about clothes.
Sometimes photographing people is like pulling teeth, trying to get some sort of personality.
When I decide I want something, I go in like an Exocet missile.
You think, 'You hired me because I'm a creative artist with a vision. Don't try and knock it out of me.'
I've turned into one of those people who go jogging in parks that I used to hate.
Daniel Day-Lewis is one of the greatest actors of our age; he's like Olivier. He's one of those people who can take you into a place where no one else can take you.
I like Alexander McQueen's work a lot: he's always pushing boundaries, and he's rough around the edges.
If someone looks genuinely interested and asks me a deeply personal question, I'll give the answer. I'm too open.
Britain can sometimes feel like a very small village, and you're this, I dunno, scarlet woman they're all gossiping about.
At school, I always felt the art room was the place where you could sit and talk. It was a place of solace. I wasn't the best artist at school by a long shot; it was more the understanding and the support that came from that room.
Seriously, I wanted to be an artist because I saw that it meant endless possibilities. I came from a badly managed family background, so art was a way of reinventing myself.
I'm good at keeping secrets.
I believe that life is short, and there is too much time wasted bearing grudges, and I like to move on.
My stepfather was quite into opera, but he'd play it when he was in a bad mood, so you'd hear this boom through the floor, Wagner, and you'd feel nervous.
Shooting at Coco Chanel's apartment was an unexpectedly absorbing experience. The essence of Chanel is firmly rooted there in all of her possessions, and I truly believe that her spirit and soul still inhabit the second floor.
I can be a bit extreme. I'll spend too much time running round the park, doing yoga and drinking green tea. I can get a bit obsessive. I have to rein it in sometimes.
My mother reads tarot cards, actually, but I won't let her read mine.
I am completely, utterly obsessed with clothes. To an embarrassing extent.
It would be nice to be a bit autonomous again, to enjoy something a bit quiet.
I'm very blessed with the perfect husband.
In 'Fifty Shades,' seemingly, Christian has all the power and control - but actually, Anastasia does.
I had two primary cancers, which was pretty unusual. And when I got the second one, people told me such terrible bad-news stories, they instigated fears that weren't there in the first place. I do remember with such gratitude one doctor saying to me, 'Two primaries? That's nothing. I've seen a patient with six.'
I can be very self-destructive, but quietly.
Seeing a new play in a first-time production is so exciting - when it's good, you want to shout from the rooftops.
I think that, to be an artist, you have to have a big enough ego to believe that people out in the world want to see what you think is a good idea. And if you don't have that sense of ego, then the minute that idea goes into the world, self-doubt kicks in.
I love life. I think it's fantastic. Sometimes it deals hard things, and when it deals great things, you have to seize them.
I'm the lightest sleeper. I can hear a pin drop. It's been worse since I was ill. I think your inner ear is always half open, listening out for the faintest danger sign.
Anonymity would be a fantastic umbrella. I don't like intrusion.
