“All my life, I have judged my worth by how much I have been loved by a man. It's so with a lot of women, that their self-esteem is measured by how much they are loved by a man, their partner, their boyfriend or maybe their husband. In my case, it may be because I grew up without my father.”

“At the end of the day, it is about working in a good film. It's the films that you leave behind that matter.”

“Dance has been a big passion for me.”

“Every one has her own love life. Every one has a dream to get a perfect life partner. But this is not so easy in real life. In fact, one doesn't love; it happens.”

“For me, physical beauty is never the reason for attraction to anyone.”

“Going by my past journey, I am not certain where life will take me, what turns and twists will happen; nobody knows where they will end up. As life changes direction, I'll flow with it.”

“Guys never looked at me. I always had crushes on older seniors who never looked at me. So, when I tell directors that I wanna play that girl who gets rejected, they're like, 'Why?' I tell them it's because I relate to that girl much more than being the girl who makes jaws drop when she walks into a room.”

“I am a religious person and rely heavily on prayers.”

“I believe in destiny, God's hand and hard work.”

“I believe that if you reject and don't respect what you have now, that's ingratitude. I'm grateful for everything I have today.”

“I don't believe there is any point in holding on to too many things in life.”

“I don't click pictures. People carry a camera with them while travelling, take pictures, keep them as memories, but I don't. I don't even have a camera.”

“I feel it is important not to get overly obsessed and overly carried away with just the physical aspect. There is more to beauty than just the physical appearance. You are also a complete person, and a woman should have an identity beyond just the way she looks.”

“I have a very positive attitude in life. My insecurity, fear and need to know about tomorrow has fortunately eased. What is going to happen will happen anyway. So why break my head over it?”

“I have an impeccable memory, and I can learn dialogues in any language in 20 minutes, including Telugu and Malayalam.”

“I have never dissected my personal life. What sense would it make?”

“I live my life exactly the way I want to. Nothing stops me from going out or being anywhere that I want to be. I am doing whatever I want to do. I do not live my life according to any restrictions whatsoever!”

“I make an attempt to do different kinds of films. There's no such formula for guaranteed success.”

“I realised that you can go through times of extreme happiness, but if that happiness is not coming from a deeply rooted place, you will also be going through extreme lows of sadness.”

“I seriously don't take praise to my heart or to my head. I only want to work harder and never get complacent.”

“I think I have been very conscious throughout my career. I can't go back and remember every line of every ad I have done, but I think in the most part I have been pretty conscious that we are not making a wrong claim. I am pretty confident with everything I do.”

“I think people who are regarded as better actors must have better instincts because, at the end of the day, once they say 'action,' it's you who has to do it right. You can do all the research and preparation or none at all, but it's your instincts that tell you, 'No, I'll do it like this.'”

“I think what you learn from relationships is that they are unpredictable.”

“I want to clear this once and for all. I was born in Hong Kong. I grew up in Japan and China. London is not home for me. I was there only for three years before I moved to India, but that's probably why I am connected with it. London is definitely not the place I consider my home. It's India that I consider home.”

“I wanted to be an actress. I wanted to be known. Yes, it's difficult sometimes. I believe that if you're going to be in a profession like this, which is so open to criticism, to speculation, you need to have people around you who will believe in you and stand by you.”

“I was always interested in fabric, clothes and designing. Maybe I would have been a designer by profession if I didn't start acting.”

“I will give my life to whoever in need, to any dear friend of mine.”

“I would die without goals or a focus. I need something to keep me going.”

“I'd like to do an action film like Angelina Jolie's 'Salt.'”

“If you're a public figure, people have the right to speculate and gossip.”

“I'm here to work.. not to like or dislike people. Neither am I here to win a Miss Congeniality competition. I maintain professional relations with my co-stars.”

“It's not my style to either wear minimum clothes, to strip, or to even be comfortable with a sex-symbol label. I just want to do good work instead of sporting such meaningless tags. Sex sells, but to a small extent, not always. And this is what filmmakers have to accept.”

“I've never made a plan for my life. I have just taken whatever opportunities have come and been very genuine with them.”

“Learning what all you can overcome as a person, as a human being, is very important. It's very important to understand your strength. Which is not to say you become hardened or bitter.”

“Like the Bond girl, there's a stigma attached to being a 'Dhoom' girl. You have to look pretty good, and people are going to judge you.”

“Love should be all about giving and trusting.”

“Luck and being honest and sincere about work has worked for me and helped me reach where I am.”

“'Moral police' is my new word. I am very against the media doing moral policing, giving opinions on actor's lives. Media should not become moral police; they should just report.”

“My choice of films has never been governed by money. That is perhaps why I don't have a very fancy bank account. I'd rather get respect and creative satisfaction through my work than just earn money.”

“My only plan every day is to get up and go to work, work hard and come back home. And whatever else needs to happen in my life will come in its own time.”

“My relationship with Salman Khan is too personal to talk about. I take my work like any other regular job, and what I do in my personal life is no one's business. I'd rather let my work do all the talking.”

“No support of one star or one director or one producer can make any individual actor a star. You have to connect with the audience; the audience have to like you. That is something that cannot be manipulated or fought for or tried for. Either they like you, or they don't.”

“Nobody would be an actor if he/she were not charming at some level.”

“Salman Khan did not help me get movie offers. What rubbish! Will any producer take a risk of millions of rupees at the instance of any person? Everyone knows that the film industry is highly competitive, and one gets a job on one's talent only and not on any recommendation.”

“There are so many actors whom I can be paired with... like Hrithik Roshan, but there hasn't been an opportunity. Abhishek and I looked good together in 'Sarkar.' And of course, there's Shah Rukh Khan, but I haven't been offered a film with him yet. I hope to work with them in the future; it's just a matter of time.”

“There was a time when I desperately wanted to be part of a Yash Chopra film, not because he was a great director, but because I was an outsider and I wanted that validation of being accepted in the film industry.”

“When you're walking at the airport, you're expected to smile at people because they know you... I find that tough. I'm only trying to protect myself. So I don't take my eyes off the floor. People can take that as attitude. But it's actually shyness. Yes, it is a bad habit. But it's a defense mechanism.”

“With every film, we form a small little world for a period of time. Everybody is close, and then one fine day everything is over. That can throw you off. So you have to learn to take things in your stride and not get too emotional about people or situations.”

“You can try to plan your career, but not marriage.”

“You don't really know how your film is going to turn out, but you can give it your best shot and hope the audience loves it. This has been my approach right from the beginning, and it's helped me a lot in my journey. All you can do is give the film your everything.”

“You have to grow. I can't be the same person I was at 18; otherwise, I'd be stagnant.”

“You have to understand, beauty differs from country to country. When I came to India, I found my sense of belonging and appreciation. People thought I was beautiful.”