20 Best Quotes From The Princess Diaries

The Princess Diaries was one of those movies that made a bigger impact than any of its creators could have guessed and Princess Diaries quotes have made a lasting impression in the world of pop culture. The movie is responsible for bringing Anne Hathaway into the spotlight as Amelia “Mia” Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi, Princess of Genovia. The film takes an honest approach to the frustrations and insecurities of being a teenager, and despite the outlandish plot, Mia never feels like an unrealistic character.

While Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews’s performances were incredible, the writing made the movie what it was, with memorable quotes that still resonate over two decades later. Inspired by Meg Cabot’s series of novels, The Princess Diaries sees Mia adjust to royal life after her family heritage is revealed to her and spawned a sequel with Chris Pine. Fans have been clamoring for a Princess Diaries 3 ever since, and the best Princess Diaries quotes each highlight why the original is so beloved.

20 “No One Can Quit Being Who They Really Are…”

Joe (Hector Elizondo)

The Princess Diaries has a surprising amount of thematic depth, and many of the best quotes from the movie are also sound advice to live by, both for Anne Hathaway’s Mia as she attempts to navigate both adolescence and her life as royalty, and for viewers. Many people struggle with accepting just how unpredictable life is when it comes down to it, trying to beat uncertainty and ensure themselves the future they dreamed up. However, nobody actually has that much control over their lives.

Whether it’s health crises, natural disasters, or social pressures, there are always things keeping people from total control. Mia does not want the pressures of being royalty, but Joe reminds her that saying no to the job doesn’t change who she really is. Once she stops fighting that, she can work on changing the things she can control, a plot that really applies to any unexpected change that a person could attempt to resist.

19 “The Brave May Not Live Forever, But The Cautious Do Not Live At All.”

Prince Eduard (René Auberjonois)

Some of the Princess Diaries quotes originate in the novels by Meg Cabot that inspired the movie. One of the most prominent of these is the narrative voiceover that sets the scene for the events of the story. The 2001 movie from Gary Marshall is opents with a voiceover taken directly from the novel, and is the voice of Prince Eduard (René Auberjonois). The full monologue is a little more detailed, and in full makes for one of the most poignant and memorable quotes in The Princess Diaries:

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all.

This particular The Princess Diaries quote is a nice snapshot of Mia’s journey in the first movie. Mia laments that she is invisible to others, but also is afraid to get too much attention from other people. Her journey to act like a princess for her grandmother also helps Mia to gain more confidence and understand that sometimes, it’s okay to stand out, otherwise, she might not get the chance to experience some of the things in life that she wants to.

18 “What Am I? A Duck?”

Miss Harbula (Mindy Burbano)

One of the best things about the script of The Princess Diaries is that the best quotes come from a multitude of different characters, with even relatively minor roles giving pearls of wisdom to Mia and, by extension, viewers. Such is the case with Miss Harubla (Mindy Burbano), who is Mia and Lilly’s gym teacher at school. While she’s hard on her students, it’s clear that she cares about them as well. She actively tries to help Mia pass her class despite Mia’s lack of coordination or participation.

In this particular instance, Mia protests that act as the goalie for soccer shots because she’s a girl, which prompts this surprised question from the teacher. Miss Harbula doesn’t want her female students to feel limited in her class, and that’s something the audience can really appreciate about her. It’s an important thematic moment, and one that ensures Mindy Burbano’s appearance comes complete with a highly quotable The Princess Diaries line.

17 “Just In Case I Wasn’t Enough Of A Freak Already, Let’s Add A Tiara!”

Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway)

While many of the best The Princess Diaries quotes are memorable due to them veing emotional, touching, or wise, there are just as many fans will never forget due to the fact they’re so funny. One of the best examples is also one of the most-quoted lines from The Princess Diaries, and comes from Anne Hathaway’s titular Princess, Mia. It’s the line that was used to promote The Princess Diaries in trailers for prior to its 2001 theatrical release, and the one in commercials when the movie finally aired on television.

Anne Hathaway’s delivery as an angry teenager who just wants to blend in instead of stand out is pitch-perfect, and this single quote sums up a great deal about her character. When Mia finds out she’s a princess in The Princess Diaries, it’s not a fairy tale or a dream come true for her. Instead, it’s an obstacle she has to get beyond because she’s so worried about the attention her new status will bring. She already sees herself as an outsider who can’t fit in with anyone, and the idea of being royalty terrifies her.

16 “No Matter How Many Times You Press That, It Will Still Go Up And Down The Same Way.”

Joe (Hector Elizondo)

Joe is the head of Queen Clarisse’s security in The Princess Diaries, but he also becomes the one responsible for Mia’s safety as Mia travels back and forth between school and princess lessons. The two form a close friendship, with Joe being a source of guidance and counsel for Mia as well as simply being her bodyguard. Joe sees the version of Mia that her grandmother doesn’t necessarily see, and it’s his perspective and the well-meaning advice he gives her that ensures many of the best The Princess Diaries quotes are delivered by Hector Elizondo’s character.

Joe sees the Mia who is nervous in the car and changes into clothing she thinks her grandmother will approve of, for example. Joe is able to see Mia’s nerves and angst, especially if she’s repeatedly pushing the button for the divider between the front and back seats of the limo. While Joe might be amused by some of Mia’s antics, he’s also not someone who is going to hesitate to tell her that something she’s doing is ridiculous.

15 “Remember, Virtual Homework May Not Be Submitted For Actual Credit.”

A Student Over The PA system

There are a lot of announcements made over the PA system at Mia’s high school that might have gone unnoticed by the audience on the first watch of the movie. This Princess Diaries quote is one of them. The quote has only become funnier over time too, since in the 2020s digital homework (as well as remote learning) has become something of the norm. This definitely wasn’t the case in the ealry 2000s, however.

What makes this quote so great is that it really is a snapshot of how times have changed. The idea in 2001 when the movie was released is that “virtual” implies fake. In the modern day, however, virtual work has become the norm. Students can attend school in a virtual sphere and turn in homework digitally. Students can, in fact, turn in virtual work for actual credit.

14 “You Want To Know A Big Secret? The Cucumber Does Nothing.”

Paolo (Larry Miller)

Many of the funniest characters in The Princess Diaries are the entourage of helpers Mia encounters during her transformation from American teenager to Genovian Royalty, such as the hairdresser and beautifican Paolo (Larry Miller). Queen Clarisse is determined that Mia be turned into the perfect princess for Genovia. She wants to make sure that the country can continue with the royal family. To get Mia ready to present to the press and other dignitaries. To do that, she hires Paolo.

Paolo initially talks down to Mia and treats her like someone unworthy of his services, but he gradually thaws and becomes more friendly toward Mia the more he works with her. During the course of Mia’s makeover, this is one of Paolo’s most memorable Princess Diaries quotes as he reveals the cucumber slices over Mia’s eyes aren’t actually doing anything to improve her appearance or the health of her skin.

13 “A Queen Is Never Late. Everyone Else Is Simply Early.”

Queen Clarisse (Julie Andrews)

The presence of The Sound Of Music star Julie Andrews added no shortage of gravitas to The Princess Diaries, and its unsurprisingly that she’s also responsivle for several of the best quotes in the 2001 movie. While Mia might spend a lot of her time worrying about how others see her, Queen Clarisse is supremely confident in her own image. She understands that she is the queen, and she understands that her decisions are her own and other people will simply have to deal with them.

This concept is something Mia can’t understand right away, and one of the key emotional hurdles she has to get past by the ending of The Princess Diaries. When Mia is worried about everyone else waiting on her, Queen Clarisse points out that she is never late because she is queen. Queen Clarisse embraces her confidence in a way that Mia still has to learn to do.

12 “Wait Up, Wait For Me! Not You, I Don’t Even Know You.”

Lilly Moscovitz (Heather Marazzo)

For Mia, life as a highschooler is just as important as life as a Genovian princess, and she often gets advice from her friends that can be applied surprisingly well to her royal duties in The Princess Diaries. Not only that, but many of these moments are funny too, such as many of the lines from Heather Matarazzo as Lilly. Though Mia would prefer to blend into the background during most of her high school experiences, her best friend Lilly doesn’t have that issue. Lilly would rather do anything she could to make herself heard than blend into the background which is why they balance one another out.

Because Lilly is so ready to speak her mind, she has a few great Princess Diaries quotes, including this one, which involves her running down the street and trying to get Mia’s attention. While calling for Mia to wait, however, she ends up getting someone else’s attention, who, surprisingly, stops to wait for Lilly, despite Lilly not even knowing them.

11 “Oh Come On Girls, It’s A Ball Not A Snake. Back In Formation!”

Vice Principal Gupta (Sandra Oh)

Sandra Oh had a short but memorable appearance in The Princes Diaries as Vice Principal Gupta, and while only having a few lines the future Grey’s Anatomy and Killing Eve star is still responsible for one of the best quotes in the film. One of the great aspects of The Princess Diaries is that it plays to many of the teen comedy stereotypes but in fun ways. One of those ways is by making the cheerleaders in Mia’s school the mean girls, but also by making them hyperfeminine.

Mandy Moore leads that group of characters as Lana. They’re cheerleaders, so they clearly have athletic ability, but when a ball comes their way while practicing, they all promptly scatter and scream. Vice Principal Gupta, played by the fantastic Sandra Oh, admonishes them with one of the strangest Princess Diaries quotes: “...it’s a ball, not a snake.” It’s a ridiculous scene, but in the movie, it works. Oh’s most mimicked Princess Diaries scene might be her phone call with Queen Clarisse, but this is arguably one of her funnier lines.

10 “Wow Is Having The Power To Affect Change…”

Lilly Moscovitz (Heather Matarazzo)

While Lilly wasn’t a great friend to Mia throughout most of The Princess Diaries, she was critical in helping her figure out what she should do about being a princess. This led to some great Princess Diaries quotes coming from Heather Matarazzo, and ensured Mia’s friend was one of the msot memorable characters in the 2001 movie. Lilly is the kind of person who wants to save the world, and she knows that nothing she does is going to have as big of an impact as one comment from someone with real power.

This The Princess Diaries quote inspires Mia’s entire final speech, and while Lilly is insensitive to Mia’s concerns, she’s also right. Teenagers live in a world where they feel like they have no real power, and despite all the TV shows that portray teenagers saving the world, few actually have that opportunity. Lilly inspires viewers to claim whatever power they do have and use it for good.

9 “Because You Saw Me When I Was Invisible”

Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway)

As well as being a laugh-out-loud comedy about a US teen becoming royalty in a faraway country, The Princess Diaries also had an incredible romance arc for its central character, and one that managed to tie together many of the core themes of the story. Mia was seduced by the allure of popularity, and Josh took advantage of that. From that moment on, Mia knew that anybody who met her would be factoring her status into any friendship or relationship they formed.

That’s a horrible situation to be in. However, it also opened Mia’s eyes to the people in her life who loved her before she was a princess. Those relationships were real, and Mia finally figured out that the truth is better than a fantasy every time. This is ultimately what leads her to Michael (Robert Schwartzman), and the emotional kiss the two share.

8 “If I Cared About The Other 7 Billion Out There…”

Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway)

“If I cared about the other 7 billion out there that’s probably a much better use of my time” is one of the best quotes from Mia in the entirety of The Princess Diaries, and shows just why she’s such an endearing character. There’s nothing wrong with Mia thinking about how being a princess impacts her, but it’s a lot more impressive to think about what she can do with that power. Most people who are in power have always had power, which means that they don’t even know what other people need.

Realizing she’s a member of the Genovian royal family never makes Mia forget her roots nor the values she’s come to have from her difficult life as seen at the start of The Princess Diaries. Mia grew up with a single mom. She was bullied. That’s not the height of oppression by any means, but it did give her the perspective to use her power for the good of others. For a character who’s supposed to be famously bad at public speaking, she does a good job putting that perspective into words.

7 “The Future… Is In The Hands Of My Fifteen-Year-Old?”

Helen Thermopolis (Caroline Goodall)

One of the best parts of The Princess Diaries was the fact that it was completely aware of what it was. The movie never took its premise too seriously, and this self-awarness led to one of the funniest The Princess Diaries quotes. The idea that a random girl was secretly a princess was absurd enough, but continuing that idea by having her as the sole heir who somehow managed to fly completely under the radar just doesn’t make logical sense. Mia’s mom, Helen, got to point those problems out.

If Clarisse had known about Mia from the start, known Phillipe had no other children, and known that the others in line for the throne were terrible choices, Mia absolutely would have had more than a few weeks to learn about her birthright and prepare for it. By having Helen comment on the plot hole, the movie gets away with it, because nobody tries to pretend it is realistic.

6 “I Am Invisible, And I Am Wet.”

Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway)

Some quotes from The Princess Diaries are great because they are inspiring or because they feel poetic. However, others are great because they deserve to be made into memes, such as when Mia reaches the end of her tether due to a sudden downpour. Mia was having a bad day that just seemed to keep getting worse, and this quote from The Princess Diaries sums up exactly how that feels in perhaps the most memorable and hard to forget way possible.

Mia was completely isolated from her friends and family and felt her only path forward was running away, but before she could make a dramatic escape, her car stopped working and the top refused to close. It’s melodramatic and childish and pessimistic and completely justified. Only by acknowledging the bad and giving in to it could she find her way out.

5 “Someday I Might Just Grow Out Of That…”

Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway)

The moment Mia tells her highschool bully, Lala, that “someday I might just just grow out of that, but you—you will never stop being a jerk” in response to Lala calling her a freak was one of the most satisfying scenes in The Princess Diaries The great thing about movies and TV is that characters can actually say the brilliant comebacks that everybody else just thinks up after the confrontation. This is the perfect example of that phenomenon.

Mia accepts that she is the freak Lana says she is, but that’s a much better fate than being a jerk. It’s cliché, but sometimes clichés exist for a reason, and The Princess Diaries certainly gets away with leaning into the trope. Mia learns to embrace her true self, exactly as she is, and that’s powerful, especially when the whole world has unreasonably high expectations for her.

4 “No One Can Make You Feel Inferior Without Your Consent.”

Joe (Hector Elizondo)

Mia calls Joe out for quoting Eleanor Roosevelt with this line, but putting it in The Princess Diaries definitely brought this advice into the public sphere. While the quote has dubious origins, it basically tells the audience that they are in control of their own reactions. Other people can be cruel, but they cannot make anybody feel bad about themselves unless the person gives them that power.

It’s easier said than done, but this quote from Joe in The Princess Diaries really meant a lot to audience members who felt like they too had been bullied and used like Mia. The quest for popularity is a big part of being a teenager, but most adults eventually realize that their own self-image is more important than what anybody else thinks.

3 “My Expectation In Life Is To Be Invisible… I’m Good At It.”

Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway)

One of the things that made Mia so relatable in The Princess Diaries was how little she wanted to be a princess. The fact she wasn’t instantly drawn in by the prospect of a life of wealth and luxury is a key reason she’s so likeable in the movie, and leads to some great The Princess Diaries quotes. Rather than thinking about all the money and power she could gain, she thought about how much she struggled being in the spotlight as it was.

Most 2000s “chick flicks” highlighted female protagonists who seemed to have it all together—or at least, who would figure it out by the end of the movie. However, Mia was an introverted protagonist, and many audience members could relate to that. Importantly, she wasn’t on a journey to become an extrovert; she was on a journey to put others first, and her former invisibility was a critical part of that.

2 “You’ve Been Hurt, So You Just Cry, Okay?”

Helen Thermopolis (Caroline Goodall)

This Princess Diaries quote from Mia’s mother Helen is one of the best both because it’s funny, and because it contains an apt and relatable message. When things go wrong, teenagers are used to hearing that life isn’t fair and that they need to push through the pain. While this might be important advice, it’s also extremely dismissive to tell someone who’s hurting to just get over it. Helen Thermopolis provides audiences with the answer they didn’t know they needed to hear.

The popular kids at school made Mia think they actually liked her, just to get their fifteen minutes of fame and make her look like a fool. Taking the international press out of it, that’s a pretty common experience, and this line is incredibly important for telling kids that their feelings do matter.

1 “Shut Up!”

Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway)

There are no Princess Diaries quotes more iconic than Mia’s repeated line in the movie. Mia says “shut up” whenever she is shocked, or actually wants someone to be quiet, or doesn’t know what else to say. It becomes a phrase that stands in for other words for Mia, and one that initially Queen Clarisse is ready to be offended by.

Eventually, however, Queen Clarisse even uses the phrase herself in the sequel movie. Mia’s enthusiasm and reaction to surprises become infectious. It’s one of the most endearing links between Mia and her grandmother. The fact it became so repeated elsewhere also speaks volumes for the cultural impact The Princess Diaries truly had.