I've thought a lot about the power of empathy. In my work, it's the current that connects me and my actual pulse to a fictional character in a made up story, it allows me to feel, pretend feelings and sorrows and imagined pain. Meryl Streep More Quotes by Meryl Streep More Quotes From Meryl Streep I have a holistic need to work and to have huge ties of love in my life. I can't imagine eschewing one for the other. Meryl Streep imagine ties needs The reason I chose the movies that I did was based on where they were being filmed. Meryl Streep movie reason There are wonderfully talented actresses. It's a really rich field. There isn't as rich a field of material. Meryl Streep vaccines actresses fields This act of empathy, that women go through from the time we're little girls - we read all of literature, all of history, it's really about boys, most of it. But I can feel more like Peter Pan than Tinker Bell, or like Wendy. I wanted to be Tom Sawyer, not Becky. And we're so used to that act of empathizing with the protagonist of a male-driven plot. I mean, that's what we've done all our lives. You read history, you read great literature, Shakespeare, it's all fellas, you know? Meryl Streep girl boys mean You win an Oscar, it can double the audience that you had before. Meryl Streep audience oscars winning I think we reserve a special place in our hearts for women who dare to try and be powerful, or occupy a special elevated place in society or when they are 'the bosses'. I think we really don't like it as a society and we have a harsh view of them. We look much harder at them, than the millions of men who aspire to the same positions and I can't figure that out. Meryl Streep powerful heart men I think it is typical for many men to have problems when their wives make more money then they do, or when their wives are higher on the corporate ladder than they find themselves. I think that often is an issue. Meryl Streep often-is men thinking The career I chose was a drama major in college, at Yale, when I played a 90-year-old woman. One of my most celebrated roles. Then I played a really fat person. I played a lot of different things. That's how I thought I loved to wrangle my talent, my need to express myself. I like to do it that way. Meryl Streep college yale drama Personality is immediately apparent, from birth, and I don't think it really changes. Meryl Streep birth personality thinking When they called my name, I had this feeling I could hear half of America going, 'Oh no. Come on... Her, again?' You know. But, whatever. Meryl Streep awards names america Everyone tries to look a cookie-cutter kind of way, and actually the people who look different are the ones who get picked up. Meryl Streep acceptance trying people I have a very busy life, and not many people who have a career and four kids go out a lot to the movies. Meryl Streep careers kids people Show business has been really, really good to me because I can work and take a lot of time off, and I'm extremely undisciplined person. Meryl Streep undisciplined because-i-can show-business Let's face it, we were all once three-year-olds who stood in the middle of the living room and everybody thought we were so adorable. Only some of us grow up and get paid for it. Meryl Streep adorable growing-up years I like who I am now. Other people may not. I'm comfortable. I feel freer now. I don't want growing older to matter to me. Meryl Streep growing who-i-am people I feel like I run a business although I haven't one. It's planning, planning, and planning. Meryl Streep planning motherhood running I do think sometimes when scrolling through the TV and there's something on and I look at it and I think oh, my god. I thought I was fat? What is my problem? Meryl Streep tvs looks thinking The biggest lesson I learned in my career was to ask other people what they make because the men usually make more than you do. And it's good to know. You're not allowed to ask...but it's good to ask. Meryl Streep careers men people In my own experience of male and female directors, people have a much, much harder time taking a direct command from a woman. It's somehow very difficult for people. Meryl Streep males directors people My daughters had helped me to stop worrying about my appearance over the years. I wasted so many years thinking I wasn't pretty enough and why didn't I have Jessica Lange's body or someone else's legs? What a waste of time. Meryl Streep daughter years thinking
