Sally Field

I had to let my ego go a long time ago.

There are parts of me that I feel are beautiful, but they don't have anything to do with my nose.

There was really a snobbery from people in film - they did not want people who had come from television. It was the poor relation of show business, and especially situation comedy.

When you're old, you are more certain of who you are, and that may be a good thing or a bad thing.

You lose your habitual behavior, which allowed you to sort of zone out. You have to be here, you have to be now, you have to be present.

I haven't had an orthodox career, and I've wanted more than anything to have your respect. The first time I didn't feel it, but this time I feel it, and I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!

There are not a lot of places for an actor to explore what it's like to be a woman in her 60s. There aren't any films about it and there very few TV series about it.

When I was born, the doctor looked at my mother and said, 'Congratulations, you have an actor!'

'Forrest Gump' is filled full of moments where your heart just cheers.

Never, ever, have I felt really accepted in Hollywood.

I grew up in a show-business family, but we were working-class show business. There was nothing glamorous about it. You had great things one day and the next day, nothing.

I'd been kind of a hiccup in my parents' lives. They lost track of me and I didn't know what I was going to do with myself. And then fate reached in and took me in its hands. I was discovered right out of high school and started getting work.

I did comedies for 10 years and I learned a great deal.

I mean, the only thing that matters to me is getting to the work - getting to do the work. And I don't really care where it is: whether it's on stage or on television or in film.

My last son is leaving to go to college; my grandchildren are being born. My mother is living with me.

I've had such an odd career.

The Oscars are really nice, but the best part is that I had the opportunity to do that kind of work.

The opportunities I've had to play really complex characters - which haven't been a lot, but some - you never get over them.

You know, people really don't understand what actors do.

The roles... the deep roles that I've gotten to play have turned my course. They've changed my life experience.

I've done some good work and some not-good work.

You can't help but feel all the human-rights issues.

I haven't had an orthodox career.

The only thing that matters to me is getting to the work - getting to do the work. And I don't really care where it is: whether it's on stage or on television or in film.

I really like cable T.V.

I wouldn't mind having my heart broken because it would mean that I had that much feeling connected to somebody. And that would be really great.

In the 1970s and 1980s, I got to do some great work. The Oscars are really nice, but the best part is that I had the opportunity to do that kind of work.

People really don't understand what actors do.

I came from a real working-class show business family.

I don't want to look old and worn, but what can you do? My real focus is being an actor. I care more about having the opportunity to play roles that I haven't played than I care if my neck looks like someone's bedroom curtains.

I so believe that older women have tremendous value to their families, their community, their country, the world.

I wanted to be Katharine Hepburn-ish - there was a bit of nobility about her.

I'm looking for a bunch of new tchotchkes that represent the new part of my life.

Had there not been a Mary Todd, there would not have been an Abraham Lincoln. She found him when he was a young lawyer and really a bumpkin. No one knew of him, but she recognized his brilliance.

I always wanted to be a great actor.

You just do the best you can with what you've got... and sometimes magic strikes.

I can't deny the fact that you like me! You like me!

My agent said, 'You aren't good enough for movies.' I said, 'You're fired.'

But there isn't any second half of myself waiting to plug in and make me whole. It's there. I'm already whole.

I was raised to sense what someone wanted me to be and be that kind of person. It took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else's eyes.

But I was losing so much bone density that I would have been in grave danger. And I mean grave danger. If I had let it go just a few more years I could have broken my hip or spine just picking up my granddaughter.

Change is never easy.

It took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else's eyes.

I have never been beautiful in cliche terms.

I joined the Actors Studio and began to work with Lee Strasberg, and that changed my work.

I never really address myself to any image anybody has of me. That's like fighting with ghosts.

I really have no ulterior motive in taking on certain roles. I have no larger issue that I really want to show people. I'm an actor, that's all. I just do what I do.

I think that's very sad, that I haven't allowed my heart to be broken. I have broken a few.

I think the first thing I did was several scenes from Romeo and Juliet.

I was just lucky enough to grow up in a time when they actually had drama departments in schools.