"No triumph of either my stage or screen career has ever rivalled the excitement of trips down the Mississippi on the river boats with my father."

"[Comedy] demands more timing, pace, shading and subtlety of emphasis. It is difficult to learn but once it is acquired it can be easily slowed down and becomes an excellent foundation for dramatic acting."

"Whenever I have to weep for the cameras, I prefer to cry real tears..., provided I have enough time to recover my emotions before I make the 'take'. But if I have to do another and greatly different scene afterward...it frequently is easier on my emotions just to put glycerine or some other tear substitute in my eyes."

"When we have learned to love our neighbour, not just ourselves, no matter where we come from, then America will be perfect."

"Trying to build the brotherhood of man without the Fatherhood of God is like having the spokes of a wheel without the hub."

"I don't know why the public took a liking me so fast. Popularity is a curious thing. The public responds to a dimple, a smile, a giggle, a hairstyle, an attitude. Acting talent has less to do with it than personality."

"I appeared with many leading men. But working with Cary Grant was different from working with other actors - he was much more fun! I think we were a successful team because we enjoyed working together tremendously, and that pleasure must have shown through onto the screen ... I will always remember two compliments he made me. He said I had perfect timing in comedy and that I was the sweetest-smelling actress he ever worked with."

"I love beautiful things, but a woman who considers herself best dressed usually spends all of her time at it."

[on being asked if she would ever write her memoirs, 1983] "The Lord never wrote a book, not that I knew about. Not really. And I don't think Abraham Lincoln ever wrote a book. So I have put it off again."