Gillian Anderson

"“How do you have a child without being terrified all the time?” “Well, that’s the big secret to parenting, Ben,” Caitlin whispered. “You are terrified all the time. You get used to it. It becomes part of the background. Except for the times when it stabs you through the heart.” He gazed at her a moment, then looked down at his menu. “That was probably the worst sales pitch ever for having kids,” he said."

"The United States ambassador’s proposal for a demilitarized zone between the nations had been met with derision in India, whose pundits pointed out that Pakistan could not even establish a de-terrorized zone within it own borders."

"If irony were clean water, this would be a paradise."

"“Do you think I am ill? Mentally?” “Not at all. I believe you had a reaction to something—” “Like an allergy? Peanuts? We don’t have food allergies in Haiti,” she said with disgust. “We cannot afford to.”"

"Is that the ultimate paradox of life, she wondered, that the universe should become less clear with age?"

"Every fictional character is based on someone. My English teacher told us that."

"But “everyone knew” were words of death in scientific research."

"Predawn has always been undervalued as a witching hour, she thought. Midnight, in prose and poem, had gotten all the glory. At this hour, though, people had to gather their lonely, enervated willpower and make the first choices of the day. For that you needed raw courage."

"The universe doesn’t editorialize."

"Familiarity helped to construct subterfuge."

"“So,” Adrienne said. “You’re one of those.” “One of what?” Flora said, not turning her head. “One of those people who has a single success and takes that as a mandate to do anything you want.”"

"“I thought we had the conversation about my being uninterested in your opinions,” Flora said."

"Flora chose that moment to selectively not hear."

"“Dr. Davies, why are you obsessed with these?” “A scholar’s interest in the inexplicable.” “No,” Adrienne said. “A scholar would be publishing articles about these in journals, and asking every scientist and researcher she could contact for help with studying them.” Flora ignored her. “You’re keeping secrets,” Adrienne said. Again, she made no reply."

"An archaeology group that hadn’t publicized one of the greatest finds in the history of the field was probably not to be trusted."

"It’s a fair bargain. Some trust, some distrust, in the end win win."

"Mikel knew better than to question her. Not because she was always right, but because there was no changing her mind once it was set."

"Hot water is good for bathing, bad for fish."

"“The intrigue is not even what makes this work intriguing,” he quipped."

"“That is irreligious.” “As your comment is ill-informed,” Caitlin replied."

"The geology, the cosmos, they waken something. Even in scientists."

"“Divination has always embraced strange, ultimately disproved customs,” she said."

"He had looked at Qala then and said, “And I hope we never find out. That would make someone right and someone wrong.” “Isn’t knowledge worth that?” Qala had asked. “Questions are always more valuable than answers,” Nimma had replied. “I suppose if answers encourage new questions, they are valid. But this one? I do not think any of the major participants would receive the truth kindly, or willingly.”"

"Either everything matters or nothing does."

"She's a beautiful actress and a beautiful person. We bonded in the abandoned mental institution we were filming in together."

"I ADORE Gillian. She's smart and strong and fascinating. What a talent."

"Gillian Anderson is greatest actress of her generation."

"Every time Gillian Anderson appears on the television, my wife looks at me like I'm mentally cheating on her."

"She arrived as a surprise guest, and was charming and funny and utterly wonderful. On seeing her, I was as cool as you might expect, if by being cool means standing at the sides of the stage, unable to move my limbs in her direction. The many nights I'd spent with Agent Scully in my 20s, imaging our imaginary life together, left me flushed and embarrassment."

"She has become like a proper feminist icon. There are so many straight women having girl crushes. You're turning Britain lezzy!"

"I had to fight for Gillian. Not because of her youth or relative inexperience, but because she didn't fit the network's or the studio's idea of the prime-time tootsie. She didn't have the usual assets they thought of in a TV man-woman relationship."

"Gillian Anderson is one of a kind. She's lovely. She's a fantastic mother. A steadfast friend. More beautiful today than she's ever been. And a natural actor who was born to her art."

"I gaze at her perfect skin, unable to suspend my disbelief. One of the more unnerving things about Anderson is that no photographer has ever done her justice; in the flesh, she is 10 times more exquisite than on the page – today, as I now point out, being no exception."

"One of the reasons why I thought she is the best actress of her generation is because she is incredibly focused, understated, truthful, detailed, intelligent, with an underpinning of emotion that she chooses, for the most part, to keep in check."

"I didn't want her to look kind of perfect, but one of the things about Gillian is that she always kind of looks stunning, just because she's got such an interesting face. There's such an intelligence going on in her acting, I think, your eye is drawn to her."

"My secret crush of a famous person that people will actually have heard of? I'm quite conventional. I really love Gillian Anderson. Like, ever since she was Scully and I wasn't even out then. It always surprised me but now I know. I love Gillian Anderson. I like red heads so I quite like Susan Sarandon and Helen Mirren. But Gillian Anderson -- totally, totally love that."

"I think she's got a wonderful stillness in her performances, so that she never seems to be acting particularly. She just brought a terrific sense of tragedy to this part, a woman who has spent her life being so contained, with almost no ability to express herself."

"She's so remarkable. She's not one of those actors who just does her usual thing every time. She's completely different in everything she does – she even has a different voice in every role."

"I was looking for someone who had that kind of period look; I wanted the film to look like Singer Sargent portraits and I saw her extraordinary face and that kind of luminosity that one associated with Greer Garson in the late 40s. I just thought... she'll never meet me; she'll never say yes."

"She's a fantastic amazing actress. That’s so evident in her work; in everything she has done – I think especially in The Fall, but she's so fun as well... For my money, she's really sweet and funny and easy and has really giggly childish side to her that comes out often on set. She's great and I can't say enough of good things about her. She's brilliant."

"I think she gets better and better and she's more and more beautiful every year. And she's just... she's a dream."

"...Gillian Anderson, the best co-star anybody could have."

"Gillian has beautiful eyes. Her eyes anchor me to the scene. They're big and they're blue and they're wet."

"Gillian's a really hard working actress. I can tell you that much. A lot of times when I give up on a scene, she stays in there. She never doesn't try to do it as well as she can. That can be pretty inspiring. And infuriating."

"Gillian is every bit as hot, and hotter. It's somewhat shocking."

"There's a recognition, an animal recognition, of meeting your match. Stanley is not going to give up and neither is Blanche. That’s what’s exciting about what Gillian has done is empower Blanche. Her performance is very strong – she's a warrior – a glamorous warrior."

"[She's] one the of the most elegant and savage performers I've worked with. We're boxing each other off the stage every night, with love."

"There is such a clever quality to Gillian's performance where she's balancing so much in terms of tone that she goes from these very serious pontificating scenes about the nature of what they’re doing to virtually a broader comedy of sorts."

"What self-respecting gay man doesn't want to be Gillian Anderson?"

"I think that’s the fun of playing with such an iconic actress like Gillian Anderson who really expands to fill the vessel of whatever role she’s inhabiting. Working with her has been such a joy: A, I love her as a human being and find her to be such a bright spark of light, and B, it’s a ball to throw some absolutely ridiculous dialogue her way and see how it spins off the edge of her bat. If you are watching the show and you see a particularly bloated piece of dialogue, chances are it’s a direct quote from one of the Thomas Harris books that I’ve fetishized over in the process of making the show, and there are some doozies where I'm like, 'this is such a great line — I want to make it dialogue but it’s so over the top... I’ll give it to Gillian!' So that’s a joy."