"People
have grown fond of me, like some old building."
"I'm
a personality as well as an actress. Show me an actress who isn't a personality, and you'll show me a woman who isn't a star."
"Wouldn't
it be great if people could get to live suddenly as often as they die suddenly?"
"I don't
regret anything I've ever done; As long as I enjoyed it at the time."
"Love'
has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get - only with what you are expecting to give - which is everything."
"I often
wonder whether men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then."
"I've
been loved, and I've been in love. There's a big difference."
"Not
everyone is lucky enough to understand how delicious it is to suffer."
"There
are no laurels in life...just new challenges."
On Hollywood:
"They didn't like me until I got into a leg show."
"I can't
say I believe in prizes. I was a whiz in the three-legged race - that's something you CAN win."
"Afraid
of death? Not at all. Be a great relief. Then I wouldn't have to talk to you."
"Once
a crowd chased me for an autograph. 'Beat it,' I said, 'go sit on a tack!' 'We made you,' they said. 'Like hell you did,'
I told them."
On fashion:
"I wear my sort of clothes to save me the trouble of deciding which clothes to wear."
"My
father, a surgeon and urologist, studied sex professionally all his life. Before he died at 82, he told me he hadn't come
to any conclusions about it at all."
On marriage:
"It's bloody impractical. 'To love, honor, and obey.' If it weren't, you wouldn't have to sign a contract."
"At
my age, you don't get much variety - usually some old nut who's off her track."
"With
all the opportunities I had, I could have done more. And if I'd done more, I could have been quite remarkable."
"I find
a woman's point of view much grander and finer than a man's."
"I remember
as a child going around with Votes For Women balloons. I learnt early what it is to be snubbed for a good cause."
"Life
is full of censorship. I can't spit in your eye."
"Only
when a woman decides not to have children, can a woman live like a man. That's what I've done."
"Acting
is a nice childish profession - pretending you're someone else and at the same time selling yourself."
"It's
a bore - B-O-R-E - when you find you've begun to rot."
"Plain
women know more about men than beautiful ones do."
"Life
is hard. After all, it kills you."
"I think
most of the people involved in any art always secretly wonder whether they are really there because they're good - or because
they're lucky."
"I never
realized until lately that women were supposed to be inferior."
"Life
is to be lived. If you have to support yourself, you had bloody well find some way that is going to be interesting. And you
don't do that by sitting around wondering about yourself."
"If
you want to sacrifice the admiration of many men for the criticism of one, go ahead, get married."
"The
lack of work destroys people."
"Life's
what's important. Walking, houses, family. Birth and pain and joy. Acting's just waiting for a custard pie. That's all."
"Life
can be wildly tragic at times, and I've had my share. But whatever happens to you, you have to keep a slightly comic attitude.
In the final analysis, you have got not to forget to laugh."
"If
you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased."
"It's
life isn't it? You plow ahead and make a hit. And you plow on and someone passes you. Then someone passes them. Time levels."
"If
you survive long enough, you're revered - rather like an old building."
"Enemies
are so stimulating."
"I can
remember walking as a child. It was not customary to say you were fatigued. It was customary to complete the goal of the expedition."
"I have
many regrets, and I'm sure everyone does. The stupid things you do, you regret if you have any sense, and if you don't regret
them, maybe you're stupid."
"I welcome
death. In death there are no interviews!"
"I'm
an atheist, and that's it. I believe there's nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we
can for each other."
"I'm
what is known as gradually disintegrating. I don't fear the next world, or anything. I don't fear hell, and I don't look forward
to heaven."
"Listen
to the song of life."
"Who
is Katharine Hepburn? It took me a long time to create that creature."
"I don't
fear death, it must be like a long sleep."
"I always
wanted to be a movie actress. I thought it was very romantic. And it was."
'Isn't
it fun getting older' is really a terrible fallacy. That's like saying I prefer driving an old car with a flat tyre.
"I have
loved and been in love. There's a big difference." (1993)
"In
some ways I've lived my life like a man, made my own decisions etc.. I've been as terrified as the next person, but you've
got to keep going." (1993)
"The
lack of work destroys people." (1993)
[Describing
Cary Grant]: "He is personality functioning".
[When
asked what star quality is] "It's either some kind of electricity or some kind of energy. I don't know what it is, but whatever
it is, I've got it."
[When Barbara Walters asked her if she owned a skirt] "I have one Ms. Walters. I'll wear it to your funeral".
[On Marlon Brando]: I don't think he's a limited actor at all - I think he's a very gifted actor.
Although, I'm afraid he may be a limited person.