Portman: "I'm afraid of everything. But maybe when you're afraid of everything, it sort of seems like you're scared of nothing."

Portman: "I'm tough on myself in terms of the standards I want to live up to, but that's also part of my pleasure: Knowing you are being your fullest self. Being your fullest self is a lot of work."

Portman: "The moment you buy into the idea that you're above anyone else, is the moment you need to be slapped in the face."

Portman: "I was definitely different from the other kids... I was more ambitious. I knew what I liked and what I wanted, and I worked really hard. I was a very serious kid."

Portman: "I don't love studying. I hate studying. I like learning. Learning is beautiful."

Portman: "It doesn't matter if you mean to do the right thing - if you only do bad things. You need to learn how to do right things. Doing is what affects people."

Portman: "Love is very much perceived as 'I couldn't control myself; it's love.' But you can. Everything you do in response is a choice."

Portman: "You have to be careful when you're getting feedback because people will give you conflicting feedback all the time, but ultimately you end up following your own inner guide."

Portman: "I'd rather be smart than a movie star."

Portman: "I can sleep a whole day. If no one woke me up, I would sleep for 24 hours. I think it's a combination of my age and my appreciation for sleep. Sleep is so wonderful. Sometimes you can oversleep and feel like you've waster your time, but I think it's one of the best ways to spend your time."

Portman: "It's always interesting to step into the enemy's shoes, and figure out what they're like."

Portman: "I've always tried to separate my looks from all the other aspects of myself. I think girls are taught so much to focus on their looks that they tend to have their personality and intelligence develop slower than boys."

Portman: "I always ask myself, would I want someone to do something that wasn't comfortable for them just to please me? And the answer is no."

Portman: "Accept your lack of knowledge and use it as your asset."

Portman: "My dad's a doctor, and when I was 8, I went to one of his medical conferences where they were demonstrating laser surgery on a chicken. I was so mad that a chicken had to die, I never ate meat again."

Portman: "We have so much separation between feeling the emotional and physical side of sex."

Portman: "Friendship is anything that you get something out of that is very, very important to you. And that's why there are those people who are so close to you that you don't know how you'd live without them. And they are the ones that, even if they do something terrible, you have to keep. Otherwise, you're just going to be lost without them."

Portman: "Smart women love smart men more than smart men love smart women."