150+ Winona Ryder Quotes that are Most Memorable

These Winona Ryder quotes give us a window into the heart of one of Hollywood’s most beloved actresses. Ryder’s career has spanned from her breakout role in Heathers in Girl, Interrupted to her iconic role as Joyce in Stranger Things, and her words of wisdom will make you appreciate and fall in love with her even more.

You may also want to read: Best Johnny Depp Quotes That Will Make You Appreciate the Actor’s Wit and Wisdom

107 Famous Quotes by Winona Ryder

Explore her timeless wisdom with some of Winona Ryder’s famous quotes listed here:

• I don’t have any interest in being a movie star.
• My whole life is a darkroom. One big, dark room.
• You’ve got to grow up sometime.
• I approached work very seriously. I never went out. I couldn’t fathom people who could go out to clubs. I mean, if I had a 6 A.M. call, I had to be prepared. I had to be in bed at a certain hour.
• I love getting older. I think it has to do with always being the kid on set.
• I am not a person who can really sit around and think about regrets because, with every bad experience that you have, there is weirdly something good that comes from it.
• I was inspired by lots of people, certainly in acting and in writing and stuff, but I never wanted to be somebody else.
• You go through spells where you feel that maybe you’re too sensitive for this world. I certainly felt that.
• I would never give advice because I would feel very presumptuous.
• Money doesn’t matter on a deeply personal level. It doesn’t make you feel any happier. But of course, I am very aware that I don’t have to worry about earning a living or about those very important practical things that most people have to worry about on a very real level.
• My father is an atheist. My mother is Buddhist. They encouraged my siblings and me to take the best part of other religions to make our own belief system.
• There was a time when I was 19 when I really, really, really thought I was going crazy. I was exhausted and going through a terrible depression.
• Honestly, if it wasn’t for ‘Beetlejuice,’ where would I be? That movie was a big thing for me.
• You try to get out there and live. I’ve always had good friends who’ve been very supportive and help make me feel good and grounded because I’ve never felt attached to the film industry.
• It’s also a question of finding good material and interesting roles. I’m not the only actress out there, and good parts just don’t fall into your lap that easily. But I like most of the films I’ve made recently and so I’m pretty positive about the future
• I would have to say ‘The Crucible’ stands out because it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had, but, you know, Arthur Miller being present on the set – which was wonderful and incredible – but, to have him in your eye line is quite intimidating. It’s such a beautiful language he created, so that was challenging but exciting.
• I think it’s important to have as much as a normal life and take the time to get perspective because it only helps your work in the long run.
• I would love to someday do a play. I did one when I was very young in San Francisco, where I grew up. A girl can dream.
• You can’t pay enough money to cure that feeling of being broken and confused.
• But I’ve always felt a need to have a life that is completely separate – at least as far as possible – from the kind of illusory lifestyle that comes with being a celebrity.
• I’ve been embracing aging. I always have had, since I was a kid. When you’re the kid on the set for so long, you just, like, daydream about being older.
• Remember, I’m the kind of kid who used to get stuffed into a locker by school bullies. I’ve never felt like I’m a big star at any level of my life.
• I feel my best when I’m happy.
• I remember when I was about 18, Sean Penn made a bet with me. He had just directed his first movie, and he’s like, ‘By the time you’re 30, I will bet you $500 that you’ll be sick of acting.’ I’m still waiting to collect, because I’m not.
• I went from weirdo teenager to pixie waif to them not knowing what the hell to do with me.
• I love books and going to bookstores. My favorite sound is the sound of the needle hitting the record.
• When you finally accept that it’s OK not to have answers and it’s OK not to be perfect, you realize that feeling confused is a normal part of what it is to be a human being.
• I have this sense that I didn’t really start growing up until my twenties.
• What you wear – and it always starts with your shoes – determines what kind of character you are. A woman who wears high heels carries herself very differently from a girl who wears sneakers or sandals. It really helps determine how you carry yourself.
• Part of me feels like when you had a lot of success in your teens and 20s, it gets harder for you in your 30s because people are so attached to you as this ingenue. So even though you’re older, they still think of you as that girl – that waifish young girl. And so it was sort of like a struggle.
• I’m not into older guys. To tell you the truth, Richard Gere is not the sexiest man alive, in my book.
• In real life, and for women everywhere, no matter what their job is, your 30s and your 40s and beyond should be celebrated.
• I was single for a while and dating and. I just didn’t know how to do it! I’ve always been like that: when I was 15, there was a guy I liked, and we made out, and I thought that meant he was my boyfriend.
• I can see it in even great actors’ performances when they’re phoning it in. 
• There are certain directors who will start talking to you about something, and suddenly you’ll be ready to roll, and you’ll realize it was very specific.
• Even though ‘Heathers’ didn’t make a lot of money, I really was able to transition into a situation where people thought I could play an attractive role because of it.
• As a teenager, I worked on Indian reservations, and it was such an incredible culture: the elders are so respected.
• I don’t use the Internet, but apparently you can find out everything on it.
• It’s like, sometimes I’ll watch a movie, and it’s got some big star in it playing a working-class person, and the character is in a grocery store, and you can kind of tell, from just watching the scene, that this actor doesn’t do their own shopping. So you have to have some sense of reality.
• Usually, the roles that you get offered that are the mom roles are very much the mom role.
• I’m not interested in playing the girl that’s just there to make the guy, you know, give him a talking to.
• The 1980s was the era of the blonde cheerleader.
• People think that they just want movies like Pretty Woman, when really they – at least the ones that I know personally – have been waiting for something that doesn’t completely insult them.
• I don’t hang out with agents and producers and I’m not into the business side at all.
• It’s part of the celebrity process but my life has never been as interesting or as wild as what’s been printed about me.
• My parents are awesome, but they’re pretty left-wing.
• My dad took me to all the best rock and punk shows when I was growing up and music has always been a part of my life. So I’m very interested in the music scene and I suppose that’s why I’ve ended up going out with musicians. Dave Pirner is still one of my best friends.
• If I showed you scripts from my first few movies, the descriptions of my characters all said ‘the ugly girl’.
• My home is San Francisco – that is definitely what I consider my home.
• I’m not into wrinkles.
• I’m so sick of people shaming women for being sensitive or vulnerable. It’s so bizarre to me. I do have those qualities, and I just don’t think there’s anything wrong with them.
• With ‘Ed Wood,’ I sobbed. With ‘Frankenweenie,’ I was crying. With ‘Edward Scissorhands,’ I always cry. There’s always an incredible amount of purity, even if they look a certain way.
• What’s awful about being famous and being an actress is when people come up to you and touch you. That’s scary, and they just seem to think it’s okay to do it, like you’re public property.
• I’m not someone like Norma Desmond who’s harking back to her younger days. Winona Ryder One of my worst fears is being a self-indulgent person.
• I’m part of the crew obsessed with ‘The Wire.’ Like, I’m not over that yet.
• I binge-watched this show ‘Damages.’ Glenn Close and Rose Byrne are so good. Lily Tomlin is in it. You see all these great actors, and the writing is terrific. There are a lot of shows like that.
• John Ford is one of the 10 best directors.
• Even though I never really had to pound the pavement as an actor, I always worked really hard. But, at the same time, I always felt like people thought that I didn’t have to struggle even though I was struggling.
• When I was young, I was the sweetheart of the press. They loved me but were kind of waiting for me to mess up. I had no skeletons in my closet, no major past to talk about.
• I was regarded as the school freak which further reinforced a lot of inhibitions and doubts I had about myself. I was a shy, frightened teenager for a long time.
• That’s an aspect of this business which can be very frustrating and aggravating. Most of what is written about you is wrong and so much of what does get printed is often about personal things that you don’t want to have other people read about.
• Weird people follow you in the streets, you can’t sit alone in a restaurant or a cafe and read a book in peace, and I think everybody values those moments of being alone.
• I think I’m learning to be bolder in my career choices and be more confident in my personal life. I haven’t always felt very secure as an individual, but now I feel I certain confidence and sense of self that gets me through the day a lot better than before.
• I was very depressed after breaking off my engagement with Johnny ten years ago. I was embarrassingly dramatic at the time, but you have to remember I was only 19 years old.
• I remember a lot of conversations where I was constantly hearing, ‘You’ve gotta do this movie so you can do that movie. You’ve gotta make a big movie so you can make a small movie.’ But I can’t act like that.
• Break-ups are hard for anybody, but it’s particularly tough when it’s being documented and you see the person’s picture everywhere. Most people don’t have that added problem when they break up with someone.
• I was watching TV, and there was this oldies-but-goodies film fest, and ‘Lucas’ came on. I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m an oldie!’
• Googling yourself is maybe one of the worst things you can do. I did it once, and someone had to talk me off a ledge.
• It used to be that you commit to something, and then basically you spend your year doing that. Now there’s a constant conversation of how you have to keep working in order to remind people that you’re around.
• It’s just people should realize that the celebrity aspect of being an actor is very rarely enjoyable for people like me who would always rather go unnoticed and disappear into the crowd.
• Remember when you were a kid, and everyone used to say, ‘Would you rather be interested or interesting?’ And to me, it was always like, ‘Interested!’ How is that even a question? I feel very lucky that I’m just really, really interested in a lot of things.
• It’s interesting because, even with ‘Beetlejuice,’ I was an awkward kid. I started at puberty and went through it on film. Lydia was one of my favorite roles because I related to her a lot.
• I did this little movie I really love called ‘Experimenter,’ but that took six years to get made and no money.
• On the set for ‘Beetlejuice,’ it was before people would go watch on monitors, and directors would be next to the camera
• I’m quite comfortable looking at myself in movies, probably because I’ve been doing it for so long, since I was a kid. So I sort of watched myself grow up and go through adolescence, like, basically on camera.
• I was very lucky because Tim Burton really gave me a career. I don’t think Hollywood would’ve known what to do with me. If I hadn’t done ‘Beetlejuice,’ I think I would’ve just gone back to my school.
• I’ve always been fascinated with twins. Winona Ryder Scorsese would talk to me about this movie ‘The Heiress’ with Olivia de Havilland. We were talking about this scene in it, and suddenly we were rolling. It was very intentional, and I didn’t realize – because we talk old movies all the time.
• My favourite performances are by actresses like Bette Davis in ‘All About Eve’ or Gena Rowlands in pretty much anything – performances that have nothing to do with age.
• The Duffers can be super articulate or very straight to the point. I was really impressed with how they were with each other.
• I’m the type who’d rather not work than work on something I’m not into. I’ve done that a couple of times, and I feel like I can totally see it in my performance.
• It was hard to find that transition to adult roles.
• I loved movies, but I can’t remember ever really wanting to be an actress, and I certainly didn’t imagine ever being in a movie. I think I wanted to be a writer.
• I love photography and first editions. I have that in my genes. My father was an archivist.
• I wanted to be just a normal girl flirting with a normal guy. It’s like, you meet people, and they know this stuff about you. It’s why you want to meet somebody who’s in the same business, only because they understand more. But you don’t necessarily want to be with another actor.
• When I think about the stuff I’ve turned down or the stuff I wasn’t interested in, I don’t have any regrets. Yes, there were some movies that went on to be really popular. But now, how do they really fit into things?
• Some people go to L.A. just to see recognizable people. There are tour buses. But in New York, everyone seems a little less into that.
• Apparently, Bette Davis and a lot of actresses had a hard time in their 30s, too.
• I have my email on my Blackberry, and that’s about it.
• It’s equally as important to me to be a good friend and a good sister and a good daughter. I’m very close with my family and friends.
• I think I really scored with my parents. All of my friends pretty much came from broken homes, and my parents are still together, but not only that, they’re still in love and still write together.
• I don’t have a director’s mind.
• I was unusual looking – I didn’t have the look of that time. If you look at ‘Lucas’ – and, basically, my first five or six movies – the characters are not described in the scripts as attractive people.
• I’m acting well, it’s the most exhilarating experience. When I’m bad, it’s miserable.
• I get sent a lot of scripts where you’re just the mom.
• I just did what I found interesting. I was so lucky that I was able to do that, especially in the ’90s. I was really able to have a life to go back to.
• My problems seemed so glamorous to other people, and everyone just thought I was so lucky. But then, I was lucky because my family was really there for me – San Francisco was a real refuge.
• I did ‘Beetlejuice,’ and it was a big movie, but it didn’t help my high-school experience. In fact, it made it worse. I was a freak and a witch.
• I’ve always been super-private and protective of certain experiences and certain friends.
• There’s a couple of times that I did it for the paycheck. Even when I was younger – I remember I did this movie that wasn’t good, called ‘1969.’ I totally did it ’cause I could get out of school.
• I’ve loved making movies. I feel like I’ve been so lucky because I’ve gotten to be in movies that are some of my favorites, regardless of my being in them – like ‘Heathers.’
• I’m just coming from a more personal – and, I guess, more nostalgic – point of view.
• For a long time, I was almost ashamed of being an actress. I felt like it was a shallow occupation. People would be watching my every move.
• There was a time when all that mattered was that you were in a good movie.
• I would not want to go back to playing the ingenue.
• I was fired from a movie because I did ‘Heathers!’ I was cast in a movie, and the director saw an advance screening and was offended by it and fired me.
• I love watching old movies, and I read a lot of autobiographies.
• The description of my character in the first few movies I did was always ‘nerdy,’ but I liked that; it was way more interesting.

4 Winona Ryder Quotes on Love

If you’re looking for Winona Ryder love quotes, we’ve got you covered:

• It’s really good to be able to think about past loves without having a pit in my stomach, or cringing or feeling heartbroken, or like they hate you. Don’t you think?
• It’s an indication of how cynical our society has become that any kind of love story with a sad theme is automatically ridiculed as sentimental junk.
• I’d rather never have been married than been divorced a few times. Not that there’s anything wrong with divorce, but I don’t think I could do it if that was a possibility.
• When your parents are madly in love for 45 years, your standards are really high.

4 Life Quotes by Winona Ryder

As we know her, Ryder is full of life and humble, and here are some of the best Winona Ryder life quotes that may help you look at life from a different perspective:

• The older you get, the more yourself you can be and the less worried you are about what other people think.
• I don’t believe I am influencing anybody but myself.
• You have good days and bad days, and depression’s something that, you know, is always with you.
• Crazy isn’t being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It’s you or me, amplified.

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6 Winona Ryder Motivational Quotes 

Winona Ryder has always been quite open about her personal life and its hurdles. Here you can find some Winona Ryder motivational quotes that can help you come in difficult times:

• I’ve learned that it’s OK to be flawed.
• It’s all about knowing when to listen to that conversation and – without sounding really hokey – when to tune it out and follow your heart.
• Life’s short, so if you’re going to spend months doing something, it’s gotta be pretty special. But I’m very happy to enter my Baby Jane years, and hopefully segue into the Ruth Gordon years.
• I feel like I had to learn how to take care of myself and find out what made me happy aside from just making films.
• I’m getting asked a lot, ‘You don’t have kids, so how do you know how to act like a mother?’ I know nothing could compare, and I haven’t had that experience, but when my niece was born, I felt like I would jump in front of a car and die for this little person I didn’t even know yet.
• You have to work to be relevant. If you don’t, then people will forget, and the studios won’t want you because they won’t remember the last thing you did that made money.
• I wish I could unknow this, but there is a perception of me that I’m super-sensitive and fragile. And I am super-sensitive, and I don’t think that that’s a bad thing. To do what I do, I have to remain open.

5 Winona Ryder Inspirational Quotes 

Here are a few of Winona Ryder inspirational quotes:

• I’d always find the positive in someone.
• I don’t want to preach, and I don’t want to tell people what to do.
• I definitely count my blessings. I feel like I’ve had such a great ride. Early on, to be able to work with some of the people I did, I feel really lucky.
• I feel a little stronger than people perceive me.
• I’m used to being told what to say, but not what to think. That’s usually left up to me.

18 Winona Ryder Movie Quotes

Here are some Winona Ryder movie quotes from some of her most popular movies of all time:

• Hold me. –Edward Scissorhands
• Well, I read in that Handbook for the Recently Deceased. It says, ‘Live people ignore the strange and unusual.’ I, myself am strange and unusual. – Beetlejuice
• I will live with you in this hellhole, but I must express myself. – Beetlejuice
• You have got to take the upper hand in all situations or people, whether they’re dead or alive, will walk all over you. – Beetlejuice
• How am I supposed to recover when I don’t even understand my disease? – Girl, Interrupted
• Before he came down here, it never snowed. And afterward, it did. I don’t think it would be snowing now if he weren’t still up there. Sometimes you can still catch me dancing in it. – Edward Scissorhands
• I have to work around here, and, unfortunately, Troy, you are a master at the art of time suckage. – Reality Bites
• If you were happy every day of your life you wouldn’t be a human being. You’d be a game-show host. – Heathers
• You know what I want? Cool guys like you out of my life. – Heathers
• I don’t know how to be a wife. I’m only thirteen. – –Great Balls of Fire!
• It’s like Popeye says: I yam what I yam! – Night on Earth
• I want to be what you are, see what you see, love what you love. – Bram Stoker’s Dracula
• You do love me, Newland. You’ve made me so happy. – The Age of Innocence
• Don’t just dick around the same coffeehouse for five years. – Reality Bites
• Maybe the whole world is stupid and ignorant, but I’d rather be in it. – Girl, Interrupted
• He is not a dipshit! He is a kind, sweet-hearted guy who we think is a dipshit because he doesn’t have our sense of cynicism and negativity that we put into the news to make it sell! – Mr. Deeds
• Drippy little things, moving along, about a foot above the ground. Just dripping, behind furniture. Little spring flowers with blue in them might come up first. – A Scanner Darkly
• I’m not perfect. I’m nothing. – Black Swan

5 Winona Ryder Funny Quotes

Winona Ryder is famous for her witty statements. Check out some popular Winona Ryder funny quotes below:

• Will wanted me to give him some space, so I’m giving him a few feet.
• I prayed for the death of Heather Chandler many times and I felt bad every time I did it but I kept doing it anyway. Now I know you understood everything. Praise Jesus, Hallelujah.
• They wanted me to dissect a frog, I told them it was against my religion.
• It’s great concentrating so hard you feel your brain will explode.
• People don’t realize how much tension they hold in their forearms.

5 Winona Ryder Birthday Quotes

Wishes that may be suitable as Winona Ryder birthday quotes are listed here:

• Today is an opportunity to celebrate your incredible talents and all the amazing things you have achieved. Happy Birthday!
• Wishing you a birthday filled with joy, contentment, and success. Your talent is a gift that will bring you great things.
• Your birthday is a reminder of how far you have come and how many wonderful things you have achieved. Happy Birthday!
• Your birthday is a special occasion to celebrate the amazing person you are and the wonderful things you do. Happy Birthday!
• Wishing you an amazing day filled with love, laughter and lots of special moments. Happy Birthday!

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