Quotes

The great have no friends. They merely know a lot of people.

Why should ruts be so comfortable and so unpopular?

The kiss. There are all sorts of kisses, lad, from the sticky confection to the kiss of death. Of them all, the kiss of an actress is the most unnerving. How can we tell if she means it or if she's just practicing?

The best impromptu speeches are the ones written well in advance.

Never give up; and never, under any circumstances, no matter what - never face the facts.

If you believe, then you hang on. If you believe, it means you've got imagination, you don't need stuff thrown out on a blueprint, and don't face facts-what can stop you? If I don't make it today, I'll come in tomorrow.

All I wanted out of a career was to look like Hazel Dawn and wear pink feathers.

[on winning the Oscar at age 72, after more than fifty years in show business.] I can't tell you how encouraging a thing like this is. The first film that I was ever in was in 1915, and here we are, and it's 1969. Actually, I don't know why it took me so long, though I don't think, you know, that I'm backward. Anyway, thank you Bill, thank you Bob, thank you Roman and thank you Mia, and thank all of you who voted for me. And all of you who didn't: Please excuse me.

[As a winner on Oscar night, 1969] My husband told me if I didn't win this time he wouldn't bring me again. But I figured even if I didn't win I'd get got a new dress out of it. I feel absolutely groovy.

[on having her legs broken to take the bow out of them] My legs were a liability, so I came to the hospital and had them broken to make them straight. Any woman who has bow-legs should be willing to suffer to have them right.

[on having her legs broken at a Chicago hospital in December 1920 to correct her bow-legged condition] Three years ago, I was walking down an aisle in a Chicago department store and I saw a pair of legs walking toward me that made me laugh because they were funny. Then I discovered that the legs were mine.