Every day, I define myself. I know who I am today. I dont promise you — Salma Hayek

"The biggest thing [Frida] brought into my life was this peacefulness. I still get passionate about things, but my passion is not so scattered and its not needy. Its a lot more powerful because it comes with this groundedness and peacefulness. That its about the process, not about the results."

"I also was afraid I was a very bad actress, because Id become famous very fast and was making money for people. When youre making money, theyre never going to tell you whether youre good or bad. They dont care. I knew that if I had any talent, this would kill it. I never wanted to be a famous bad actress!"

"I had been already trying to do Frida, but I would sit on my sorrows because it was so difficult. But now I was learning new things. And so I thought, this is what I want to do. I want to do one movie that if I die the next day, I know I left one thing in this world that I was very proud of, that other people can see, that meant something to me, that had my voice. Because God forbid I die tomorrow, Im the bombshell for the rest of my existence. … Then I became very angry I said, I have become what they decided I am. When did I fall in this trap? Somebody decided I was this, and I became that. And I said, "Im going to change it now. Im going to define myself."

"Ive learned from others lives... What works in a relationship of very public people is not making the relationship public — keeping it as personal as it can be. Its the only way it is real. I am suspicious of those who have to let the world know how much they love each other. Its a little sad when you have to brag about how much you love someone. That kind of declaration doesnt always reflect the moment of truth between two people who care deeply for each other. When that truth is there, you dont need others to know it. And when somebody truly loves you, you dont even need him or her to be affectionate. Affection is fantastic, but it doesnt necessarily mean theres love — and the public display of affection is often just a show."

"You have to be able to walk away from a relationship when its time to walk away —and you have to teach your children this. Its the best way to love your children, because then theyll learn this from you — that you had the courage to walk away from a relationship when you were unhappy. You have to do what you have to do. And the children have to understand it. I think we have to teach this to our boys and our girls when they are young — 11, 12. They need to understand that you got in a situation when you were too young, when you didnt understand what you wanted, and because you listened to everyone else. Your children may not listen to you — so you also have to be brave enough to respect their dreams. … I think everybody knows this. We have an uncomfortable feeling for situations we are in, but we dont understand why we are uncomfortable. And then we want to know what would be the other option."

"Id hear, "Because they paid the man, theres no money for the woman." How many times do you think I heard this? Over and over. Then I became a sex symbol. Now, how the hell did that happen? I dont exactly know the moment when it happened, but all of a sudden Im a bombshell. The way I discovered this was I did Desperado. I had a very hard time with the love scene. I cried throughout the love scene. Thats why you never see long pieces of the love scene — its little pieces cut together. Im crying most of the time so they have to take little pieces. It took eight hours instead of an hour. I nearly got fired. … Because I didnt want to be naked in front of a camera. The whole time, Im thinking of my father and my brother... And then when the movie comes out, I read the first review. What do they say about me. "Salma Hayek is a bombshell." I had heard that when a movie does badly here, they say it bombs. So Im crying. Thinking theyre saying, "That terrible actress! Its a bomb! Salma Hayek is the worst part of the movie!" I called my friend and said, "The critics are destroying me!" She says, "No, theyre saying youre very sexy." And then I look at all the reviews, and everybody said I was very sexy. So Im very confused. I said, "I wonder if thats good or bad." I hear, "Yes, thats good." Then I do Fools Rush In, and Im a pregnant woman. And they say Im sexy again! I go, "But Im pregnant!" Im not even naked in this movie, and they still say Im sexy. And then it became very depressing — I thought, I guess Im reduced to that now. Thats all I am in the perception of these people."

"In the life of the mass-order, the culture of the generality tends to conform to the demands of the average human being. Spirituality decays through being diffused among the masses when knowledge is impoverished in every possible way by rationalisation until it becomes accessible to the crude understanding of all."

"I say this to you because we Spaniards are a forgetful people, because we are used to living for the moment, because we do not look back, because we do not know how to see the chain of heroes, because we do not contemplate the sum of sacrifices."

"Sharon Tate was my best friend. Once, we were roommates. She introduced me to my husband. She was the godmother to my baby daughter who is named for her. In the six years time that I knew her, she never said an unkind word about anyone."

"Long time to see. (VS: Tapion)"

"Most mathematicians prove what they can, von Neumann proves what he wants." Once in a discussion about the rapid growth of mathematics in modern times, von Neumann was heard to remark that whereas thirty years ago a mathematician could grasp all of mathematics, that is impossible today. Someone asked him: "What percentage of all mathematics might a person aspire to understand today?" Von Neumann went into one of his five-second thinking trances, and said: "About 28 percent."

"Children must be free to think in all directions irrespective of the peculiar ideas of parents who often seal their childrens minds with preconceived prejudices and false concepts of past generations. Unless we are very careful, very careful indeed, and very conscientious, there is still great danger that our children may turn out to be the same kind of people we are."