Laura Linney

Comedy is a way to make sense of chaos. It's a way of dealing with things that are overwhelming, that threaten you it's a way to survive and get closer to the truth.

I get cold - really cold - when I travel.

You know when someone's over-flattering you in a way. You smile but you can't believe it.

Doing the right thing has power.

I love 70's music.

I tend to make low-budget movies but, yeah, I make more money than I ever thought I would make.

I enjoy learning about different periods and people, and then taking what's universal about the human condition and seeing where it matches up. No matter where you are, certain things unite everybody.

I had learning disabilities, and I couldn't express myself in the written word.

It is always good to explore the stuff you don't agree with, to try and understand a different lifestyle or foreign worldview. I like to be challenged in that way, and always end up learning something I didn't know.

I had a good imagination and I still have one a child-like imagination that hasn't gone away.

I hope that anyone I worked with wouldn't exploit our relationship.

What I hope in my ideal world is that with each project, I'll either get to work with a really great script that would force me to grow, or work with a really great actor who will make me better.

I've seen the greatest actors in the world, transcendent talents, who can't find a home.

History's a resource.

It's always nice when you do something and it's well received as opposed to the other way which God knows happens to everybody. When the good times come around, you take a deep breath, appreciate it, but not take it too seriously.

Fear, anxiety and neurosis: that's just in the suitcase when you're an actor.

Just because you're not famous, doesn't mean you're not good.

My family is from the South, and I can remember all those ladies I grew up with, like my great-aunts, who had handkerchiefs. There's something sweet about them.

My experience is that's rare - that you have a script that is... what they call 'film-ready.'

I think everyone's experience with a terminal disease is so deeply personal and unique to the person, the context in which they're living and the relationships that they have.