"If I get concerned with what kind of part I would like to play, I would then start to wonder what roles would be good for me, good for my career, pleasing for the public. Life does not invite this choice and neither should films."
– Jeanne Moreau

"I do not think that for human beings the physical beauty is totally separated from inner beauty. Your mood shows on your face. That is something that comes from the inside. If you’re in a good mood there is something different about your complexion, the light in your eyes, your mouth doesn’t droop. There is energy coming out of you."
– Jeanne

"The love, suffering, and happiness I experience in life appear in my movies, become an integral part of them. When I see a film after I’ve made it, I see my own life before me."
– Jeanne

"Life is just a lot of interesting landscapes and one makes one’s own geography."
– Jeanne

"Making a film is like life aboard ship, except that every day is an emergency."
– Jeanne

"I never use the word ‘career’, it’s a journalistic term. I can’t separate creation from life."
– Jeanne

"I’ve never worried about age. If you’re extremely, painfully frightened of age, it shows. Life doesn’t end at 30. To me age is a number, just a number. Who cares?"
– Jeanne Moreau

"Movies influence people once you get successful, and people give importance through you to the characters you do. I refused parts showing aging women getting drunk and suicidal. I know it exists, but I refuse to give that image of women; it’s not my task to show the worst side of what can happen to them. I want to be an upper, not a downer."
– Jeanne