"I went through a wood-chopping phase when I was nine or 10"
About this Quote
The intent isn’t to impress you with grit; it’s to signal a refusal to be curated. Lawrence’s brand has long been “famous, but not fragile,” and this story is a shorthand for tomboyish energy without turning it into a manifesto. She’s also sneaking past the usual celebrity origin story template. Instead of “I always knew I’d act,” we get a messy, physical hobby that has nothing to do with stardom. That detour reads as authenticity because it doesn’t conveniently foreshadow success.
The subtext is gendered, too: wood-chopping is coded masculine labor, and placing it in girlhood turns it into quiet rebellion. It suggests a child testing power, independence, maybe even anger, in a socially acceptable disguise: “It was just a phase.” The charm is that it sounds like a joke, but it still leaves splinters.
Quote Details
| Topic | Youth |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Lawrence, Jennifer. (n.d.). I went through a wood-chopping phase when I was nine or 10. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-went-through-a-wood-chopping-phase-when-i-was-80720/
Chicago Style
Lawrence, Jennifer. "I went through a wood-chopping phase when I was nine or 10." FixQuotes. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-went-through-a-wood-chopping-phase-when-i-was-80720/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I went through a wood-chopping phase when I was nine or 10." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-went-through-a-wood-chopping-phase-when-i-was-80720/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.



