Knightley: "I see the world through my eyes. It's sometimes a strange world."

Knightley: "I tried college for three months but I was desperately unhappy. I just wanted to perform. I was getting straight As but I had no friends and cried every day."

Knightley: "I made a conscious decision to live my life the best way I could and that meant to publicise myself as little as possible."

Knightley: "If only I wasn't an atheist, I could get away with anything. You'd just ask for forgiveness and then you'd be forgiven. It sounds much better than having to live with guilt."

Knightley: "Nice is the worst word."

Knightley: "I don't think that you can fake warmth. You can fake lust, jealousy, anger; those are all quite easy. But actual, genuine warmth? I don't think you can fake it."

Knightley: "It's not everyday you get to do a pirate movie, you might as well go for it."

Knightley: "All through my life what I've loved doing is watching movies. I love the escapism of film, I love stories. So it is incredible to be able to be in them as much as I am, to see them from the first stitch in a costume to the end product."

Knightley: "At this particular time, I probably am more comfortable with myself. Just now I'm having a lovely time."

Knightley: "I don't have a problem with my body. I'm not just going to strip off all my clothing, but if the part calls for it and I don't think there's any way round, I'm absolutely fine."

Knightley: "It's good to know that other people think differently, and that's what makes the characters interesting."

Knightley: "I didn't know this about myself, but when 'Pirates of the Caribbean' came out I realised that I didn't enjoy a huge amount of recognition. I didn't react to it well, but I think life is about finding out who you are and what you like. So I started doing independent movies and art-house films instead."

Knightley: "I think everybody has the right to a private life."

Knightley: "But acting is very much a profession that is you're hot one moment and not the next - and that is totally cool. I think that's what I find most fascinating and most exciting about it - is that it can be gone in a puff of smoke."

Knightley: "I am a slow reader. I always loved words, which is a strange thing given that I couldn't actually read them."