Quotes by

Emma Thompson

I dont think people understand that being poor means you have to work from dawn until dusk just to survive through the day. I think theres some notion that poor people lie about all day not doing anything. – Emma Thompson

You cant be a great mum and work the whole time necessarily those two things arent ideal. We have an awful lot to work on and to debate about in relation to our working lives, because it isnt working for a lot of people, particularly for a lot of women. – Emma Thompson

A lot of very beautiful women can be a pain because all theyre thinking about is how they look. – Emma Thompson

One is a child when one has a child. No one says, You will never be the same again. Which is the truth! And were all supposed to be happy all the time. What is that about? – Emma Thompson

The trouble is its very difficult to pin-point the most important thing because Aids affects everyone in different levels of society, differently and you have to respond to it differently. – Emma Thompson

The only way you can have it all is by delegating all the running of the home to other people – which I dont ever want to do… So you do it yourself, and it takes time and energy and effort. And if you give it the time, its profoundly enjoyable. – Emma Thompson

Weve got people looking at our seamy side and our sad side a lot of the time because thats easier. Its much more difficult to make a film about happiness with lots of jokes in it. – Emma Thompson

If you dont want women to do whatever they need to do then you must provide them with food, you must provide them with shelter and their basic human rights. – Emma Thompson

I dont mean being famous is a perk, because one knows that its not necessarily a perk, but there are certain perks to being well-known and respected in ones field. Public perks. Like, I dont know, general friendliness and willingness to please, just to point out two. – Emma Thompson

I have had lots of friends whove been affected by Aids and a very good friend of mine, Oscar Moore, died of Aids and I was with him in his last year quite a bit. And of course he was a man living in a very rich culture with a wealthy family who was able to afford health care. – Emma Thompson

I understand what its like to come with your family, and to uproot yourself and come to another culture. You need a lot of support. People say, Shes got her daughter shes got her husband. Yeah, but she hasnt got anyone else. – Emma Thompson

But when I lose my temper, I find it difficult to forgive myself. I feel Ive failed. I can be calm in a crisis, in the face of death or things that hurt badly. I dont get hysterical, which may be masochistic of me. – Emma Thompson

Any problem, big or small, within a family, always seems to start with bad communication. Someone isnt listening. – Emma Thompson

And its absolutely true that male sexual behaviour and female responses to male demands change a lot when they start communicating – and the levels of the communication that Ive seen on the ground in very, very poor areas are so high and I think why dont we have that here? – Emma Thompson

If youve got to my age, youve probably had your heart broken many times. So its not that difficult to unpack a bit of grief from some little corner of your heart and cry over it. – Emma Thompson

This morning, I went to wipe my hands on a tea towel, and while I was using it, it seemed like it felt a bit light. I unfolded it and realized my daughter had cut little bits out of it to make frocks for her dolls! – Emma Thompson

Indeed – judicious, consistent parenting is a dream of mine. No judgements, learning space and listening carefully are my goals. – Emma Thompson

It is remarkable how many misconceptions there are here about life in the developing world and I think that that knowledge gap has done a lot to contribute to the imbalance quite frankly. – Emma Thompson

I was brought up by very witty people who were dealing with quite difficult things: disease and death… I was brought up by people who tended to giggle at funerals. – Emma Thompson

We need men and women to sit down and talk to each other about sex honestly and openly. That would help us fight Aids so immediately. But our lack of communication is hugely problematic. – Emma Thompson