Oh God, I'm so excited. You see, I watched the Oscars every year at home on an Irish channel and the reception was fuzzy because we were in the country. Every now and then, it would be: 'The winner for best actor is…' and then the screen would go all grey. It's kind of surreal that I'm actually going to be there this year.

Saoirse Ronan

Learning is the most important thing, no mater how you do it, or where you do it, or who you do it with.

Saoirse Ronan

important-things important

The written word can be powerful and beautiful - but films transport us to another place in a way that even the most evocative words never can.

Saoirse Ronan

powerful beautiful way

I think that when you're an actress, you have to think about what kind of a role model you're going to be. I hope that I'm a good role model for young girls. I'm not going to, if people still want me in their movies, I don't want to be one of these girls who goes around partying every night and is in rehab. I don't want to do that.

Saoirse Ronan

party girl thinking

Everyone thinks I'm ethereal. But I'm not like that, you know. I'm not ethereal. Well, I might have a little bit of that quality to me, that 'old soul' thing, but I'm not ethereal.

Saoirse Ronan

quality soul thinking

The 1916 uprising was kind of the most important rebellion in Ireland's fight for independence that had been going on for 700 years. So it's a very important moment in history for us.

Saoirse Ronan

uprising fighting years

What we do every St. Patty's day, which is wear green and drink a lot of Guinness. And maybe cry a little bit and laugh, and everyone will have to sing a song. That's how every funeral, christening, and wedding ends up in Ireland. Everyone ends up having to sing a song by the end of it.

Saoirse Ronan

funeral song laughing

I try as best as I can to have a normal life. People recognise you, of course, and that's very strange. But I sort of leave my working life behind when I go home. That's my other world.

Saoirse Ronan

other-worlds home people

I saw 'Clueless' probably when I was about 8 or 9 years old. And, I had certain films that I would fall asleep so it was 'Clueless' for quite a long time, and I used to just watch it every single night and knew every single line, every single quote.

Saoirse Ronan

clueless night fall

When I was younger, I would mess about and have a laugh with everyone. I was doing Atonement when I was about 12, and as we went to do this very serious scene, the director Joe [Wright] came up to me ... I'd been giggling right up to the beginning of the take. And he came up to me and said, "Okay, you need to be serious now." I completely idolized him.

Saoirse Ronan

laughing directors needs

Once you move away from home, it's never quite the same again. You expect everything to be just as you left it, and it never is. It's almost the first step into adulthood, realising you've got to make your own way.

Saoirse Ronan

never-quit home moving

I'm a huge Wes Anderson fan. I literally love every single film. He hasn't made a bad film; I've seen every single one. They've all been brilliant, from 'Bottle Rocket' up to 'Moonrise Kingdom,' they've all been wonderful.

Saoirse Ronan

bottles fans kingdoms

I've always been quite an active person especially when I was younger. When I was in primary school, I used to play lots of sports. I was a sprinter and I did basketball and swimming and Gaelic football and things like that. So I always thought, I guess, that it would be fun to incorporate that much physical activity and work into a dramatic piece.

Saoirse Ronan

basketball football sports

I appreciate the written word and spoken word more, but Atonement sort of established so much of me. It was a character that didn't really speak, and I found that a lot of the roles I was gravitating toward after that were kind of nonverbal.

Saoirse Ronan

appreciate roles character

I've never really felt like I was a child actor. Just an actor who happened to be quite young.

Saoirse Ronan

actors young children

That's what acting is. You're pretending to be someone else.

Saoirse Ronan

pretending-to-be-someone-else pretending acting

My name means freedom in Irish.

Saoirse Ronan

names mean

I will always have a child in me. That is what Pete Jackson has got, what a lot of the directors I have worked with have. It is about knowing how to have fun and that is something I always want to hold on to.

Saoirse Ronan

knowing fun children

I like books that are exciting and that make you think about things, as well. I like things that have a twist - like 'Atonement,' which I haven't read obviously, as I'm a bit young.

Saoirse Ronan

make-you-think book thinking

I think it's important that we have strong, female characters in movies now, which can really leave an impression on people - especially young people - and that they're not 'sexy' or 'cool'.

Saoirse Ronan

sexy strong character

I really want to go to college.

Saoirse Ronan

college want