Top 150 Helen Mirren Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “I’m a naturist at heart. I love being on beaches where everyone is naked. Ugly young people, beautiful old people, whatever. It’s so unsexual and so liberating...”

— Helen Mirren

2. “I love photography, and I love the art of photography.”

— Helen Mirren

3. “Women have got to stop being polite. If I ever had children, which I don’t, the first thing I’d teach a girl of mine is the words ‘f – off.’”

— Helen Mirren

4. “You write your life story by the choices you make. You never know if they have been a mistake. Those moments of decision are so difficult.”

— Helen Mirren

5. “There’s no good way to waste your time. Wasting time is just wasting time.”

— Helen Mirren

6. “You can’t control how other people see you or think of you. But you have to be comfortable with that.”

— Helen Mirren

7. “I believe that if you want to go make your mark on the world you’ve got to go out and do it. Don’t be shy, be adventurous.”

— Helen Mirren

8. “Before you argue with someone, ask yourself, is that person even mentally mature enough to grasp the concept of a different perspective. Because if not, there’s absolutely no point.”

— Helen Mirren

9. “It has nothing to do with clothing or makeup. Just put your shoulders back and chin up, and face the world with pride.”

— Helen Mirren

10. “The trick in life is learning how to deal with it.”

— Helen Mirren

11. “The great marriages are partnerships. It can’t be a great marriage without being a partnership.”

— Helen Mirren

12. “I have never in my life found myself in a situation where I’ve stopped work and said, ‘Thank God it’s Friday.’ But weekends are special even if your schedule is all over the place. Something tells you the weekend has arrived and you can indulge yourself a bit.”

— Helen Mirren

13. “When you’re 16, you think 28 is so old! And then you get to 28 and it’s fabulous. You think, then, what about 42? Ugh! And then 42 is great. As you reach each age, you gain the understanding you need to deal with it and enjoy it.”

— Helen Mirren

14. “You have to go through the long, painful process of learning techniques to be able to recognize a “good accident” or a “bad accident.””

— Helen Mirren

15. “I’m not a communist, of course. But I do think that everything is down to economics. Capitalism doesn’t change.”

— Helen Mirren

16. “I’m a would-be rebel. The good girl who’d like to be a bad one.”

— Helen Mirren

17. “I think of myself as being a bit of a wimp deep down – a bourgeois wimp – and I’m fighting that. I think all Brits are, maybe.”

— Helen Mirren

18. “Actors are rogues and vagabonds. Or they ought to be.”

— Helen Mirren

19. “Parkinson’s is a slow but inevitable process. It’s hard living with it on a daily basis. The difficulty facing people with it is that they never quite know ‘Can I or can’t I do this today?’”

— Helen Mirren

20. “A woman with knowledge is something that frightens the status quo quite a lot.”

— Helen Mirren

21. “I love photography and I love the art of photography. So when I’m working with high-level art photographers, I give them artistic freedom because I want that for myself when it’s my turn to do my work and I never try and control it or say I’ll only do this or I want it like that.”

— Helen Mirren

22. “Sometimes nudity is sexy. Sometimes it’s not. Sometimes being clothed is more sexy than being nude. I think people tend to get the two mixed up.”

— Helen Mirren

23. “Where you grew up becomes a big part of who you are for the rest of your life. You can’t run away from that. Well, sometimes the running away from it is what makes you who you are.”

— Helen Mirren

24. “Love thy neighbor is difficult. That’s why everybody – wars, you know. It’s the hardest. And it’s the most important. And respect thy neighbor. Love and respect. It means respect, really. Respect thy neighbor. Respect the other, the different.”

— Helen Mirren

25. “I couldn’t handle the rules the Queen has to live by at all, and very few of us could. It’s a golden cage, really. You’re never alone in that role – you are always surrounded by security.”

— Helen Mirren

26. “I am quite spiritual. I believed in the fairies when I was a child. I still do sort of believe in the fairies. And the leprechauns. But I don’t believe in God.”

— Helen Mirren

27. “The timing of comedy is so difficult. You’ve got to leave room for a laugh, you don’t want to kill the laugh, but on film, you can’t just suddenly stop for a laugh and then carry on. So, I think it’s a real art form, comedy on film.”

— Helen Mirren

28. “I feel the written word, poetry and literature is just one of the most beautiful things that human beings do. So we have to fight for it.”

— Helen Mirren

29. “It seems to me that the years between eighteen and twenty-eight are the hardest, psychologically. It’s then you realize this is make or break, you no longer have the excuse of youth, and it is time to become an adult – but you are not ready.”

— Helen Mirren

30. “I still suffer terribly from stage fright. I get sick with fear. Not every night, but at the beginning and on occasion – not necessarily when I’m expecting it. You just have to cope with it – take it on the chin and work through it, trying to use the adrenalin to perform.”

— Helen Mirren

31. “The hardest period in life is one’s twenties. It’s a shame because you’re your most gorgeous, and you’re physically in peak condition. But it’s actually when you’re most insecure and full of self-doubt. When you don’t know what’s going to happen, it’s frightening.”

— Helen Mirren

32. “I learned quite early on in life that we are all two people. And one of those people none of us will ever know.”

— Helen Mirren

33. “My dad’s Russian. My mother’s English. I would say my bottom half is Russian.”

— Helen Mirren

34. “It was never my intention to marry anybody. Economics are basically the only reason to get married, but I’m very glad I did it.”

— Helen Mirren

35. “Fear can be one of the most destructive emotions. It is, of course, also very important, in that fear sometimes stops you from doing stupid things. But it can also stop you from doing creative or exciting or experimental things. It can cloud your judgement of others, and lead to all kinds of evil. The control and understanding of our personal fears is one of the most important undertakings of our lives.”

— Helen Mirren

36. “I don’t think it’s good to try and change anyone. The trick and the mystery – of relationships and life in general – is to learn to live with the bits you don’t like.”

— Helen Mirren

37. “Hollywood is a very small world; the people who matter matter, and the people who don’t matter are just like nothing.”

— Helen Mirren

38. “I’m under the impression that this notion of decency is disappearing from our society where conflicts are made worse on cinema and on television, where people are nasty and cruel on the Internet and where, in general, everybody seems to be very angry.”

— Helen Mirren

39. “I’m not an impersonator. I’m a lousy impersonator, actually.”

— Helen Mirren

40. “Working away from my husband for long periods is good and bad. It stops us taking each other for granted and gives us space, but I miss him terribly.”

— Helen Mirren

41. “There isn’t a King Lear for women, or a Henry V, or a Richard III. You reach a level where you can handle that stuff technically and mentally, and it’s not there.”

— Helen Mirren

42. “I am not too keen on my nose, I don’t like my knees, I hate my ankles, I am unsure about my behind, I don’t like my legs at all. I am not too sure about my chin, my forehead is a bit dodgy. But, overall, I can live with it.”

— Helen Mirren

43. “We’re all idiots when we’re young. We don’t think we are, but we are. So we should be.”

— Helen Mirren

44. “When you’re young and beautiful, you’re paranoid and miserable.”

— Helen Mirren

45. “Patience can be a good thing – but not necessarily. Sometimes it’s not so bad to be impatient. I’m a little bit too polite.”

— Helen Mirren

46. “There’s a scary moment when you realise you’re no longer the youngest person in the room. Especially if you’ve been a successful young person. That’s followed, of course, by the realisation that you’re actually the oldest person in the room.”

— Helen Mirren

47. “I remember thinking, when I was in my early 30s, that this is the best age to be, and I still believe your 30s are a wonderful time.”

— Helen Mirren

48. “I love men that love women. Morgan Freeman, who I worked with on ‘RED,’ was very flattering to me. But he is flattering to all women. He is a woman-charmer.”

— Helen Mirren

49. “I don’t mind being sexy, but on my terms. To this day, I love sexuality. I love the art of sexuality. I love Lady Gaga and the performance of sexuality. The mysterious, the artistic and the slightly perverse. I’m interested in all that.”

— Helen Mirren

50. “Southend is a dormitory town for London. But it also had this thing of being the playground of the East End – a glamorous holiday town.”

— Helen Mirren