Marilyn Monroe

“For life: It is rather a determination not to be overwhelmed. For work: The truth can only be recalled, never invented.”

“Being a sex symbol is a heavy load to carry, especially when one is tired, hurt and bewildered.”

“I had the radio on.”

“Marriage destroyed my relationship with two wonderful men.”

“The nicest thing for me is sleep, then at least I can dream.”

“If you get massages, you'll never need another sleeping pill.”

“Dogs never bite me - just humans.”

“I'm a failure as a woman. My men expect so much of me, because of the image they've made of me — and that I've made of myself — as a sex symbol. They expect bells to ring and whistles to whistle, but my anatomy is the same as any other woman's and I can't live up to it.”

“Fame will go by and, so long, I've had you, fame. If it goes by, I've always known it was fickle. So at least it's something I experience, but that's not where I live.”

“Unfortunately, I am involved in a freedom ride protesting the loss of the minority rights belonging to the few remaining earthbound stars. All we demanded was our right to twinkle.”

“What do I wear in bed? Why, Chanel No. 5, of course.”

“I think that when you are famous every weakness is exaggerated. … Goethe said, "Talent is developed in privacy," you know? And it's really true. … Creativity has got to start with humanity and when you're a human being, you feel, you suffer. You're gay, you're sick, you're nervous or whatever.”

“I have always had a talent for irritating women since I was fourteen.”

“Say goodbye to Pat, say goodbye to the president, and say goodbye to yourself, because you're a nice guy. … I'll see, I'll see.”

“An actress is not a machine, but they treat you like a machine. A money machine.”

“I defy gravity.”

“Please don't make me a joke. End the interview with what I believe. I don't mind making jokes, but I don't want to look like one... I want to be an artist, an actress with integrity... If fame goes by, so long, I've had you, fame. If it goes by, I've always known it was fickle. So at least it's something I experienced, but that's not where I live.”

“You know, most people really don't know me.”

“Say good-bye to Pat, say good-bye to Jack and say good-bye to yourself, because you're a nice guy.”

“Someone said to me, 'If fifty percent of the experts in Hollywood said you had no talent and should give up, what would you do?' My answer was then and still is, 'If a hundred percent told me that, all one hundred percent would be wrong.'”

“An actress is not a machine, but they treat you like a machine. A money machine.”

“I've been on a calendar, but I've never been on time.”

“Why? — It paid the rent.”

“Fame is like caviar, you know - it's good to have caviar but not when you have it at every meal.”

“I restore myself when I'm alone. A career is born in public — talent in privacy.”

“I'm selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I'm out of control, and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.”

“That's the trouble, a sex symbol becomes a thing. But if I'm going to be a symbol of something, I'd rather it be sex than some of the things we've got symbols of... I just hate to be a thing.”

“We are all of us stars, and we deserve to twinkle.”

“I'm not interested in money, I just want to be wonderful.”

“Sex is a part of nature. I go along with nature.”

“The studio people want me to do "Good-bye Charlie" for the movies, but I'm not going to do it. I don't like the idea of playing a man in a woman's body — you know? It just doesn't seem feminine.”

“Success makes so many people hate you. I wish it wasn't that way. It would be wonderful to enjoy success without seeing envy in the eyes of those around you.”

“First, I'm trying to prove to myself that I'm a person. Then maybe I'll convince myself that I'm an actress.”

“A woman knows by intuition, or instinct, what is best for herself.”

“The truth is I've never fooled anyone. I've let men sometimes fool themselves. Men sometimes didn’t bother to find out who and what I was. Instead they would invent a character for me. I wouldn't argue with them. They were obviously loving somebody I wasn't. When they found this out, they would blame me for disillusioning them — and fooling them.”

“Men are so willing to respect anything that bores them.”

“Beauty and femininity are ageless and can't be contrived, and glamour, although the manufacturers won't like this, cannot be manufactured. Not real glamour; it's based on femininity.”

“The body is meant to be seen, not all covered up.”

“We should all start to live before we get too old.”

“Fame will go by and, so long, I've had you, fame. If it goes by, I've always known it was fickle. So at least it's something I experience, but that's not where I live.”

“Husbands are chiefly good as lovers when they are betraying their wives.”

“If I'd observed all the rules, I'd never have got anywhere.”

“Girls shouldn't worry about being the equal of men in the business world.”

“My work is the only ground I've ever had to stand on. I seem to have a whole superstructure with no foundation — but I'm working on the foundation.”

“If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything.”

“Hollywood's a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss, and fifty cents for your soul. I know, because I turned down the first offer often enough and held out for the fifty cents.”

“Experts on romance say for a happy marriage there has to be more than a passionate love. For a lasting union, they insist, there must be a genuine liking for each other. Which, in my book, is a good definition for friendship.”

“Respect is one of life's greatest treasures. I mean, what does it all add up to if you don't have that?”

“When you're famous you kind of run into human nature in a raw kind of way. It stirs up envy, fame does. People you run into feel that, well, who does she think she is, Marilyn Monroe? They feel fame gives them some kind of privilege to walk up to you and say anything to you, of any kind of nature — and it won't hurt your feelings — like it's happening to your clothes not you.”

“I want to be an artist, not... a celluloid aphrodisiac.”

“Success makes so many people hate you. I wish it wasn't that way. It would be wonderful to enjoy success without seeing envy in the eyes of those around you.”

“A strong man doesn't have to be dominant toward a woman. He doesn't match his strength against a woman weak with love for him. He matches it against the world.”

“I don't know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot.”

“Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.”

“I sleep in the nude but I pull the sheets up.”

“I have feelings too. I am still human. All I want is to be loved, for myself and for my talent.”

“I am alone; I am always alone no matter what.”

“I guess I never felt I had an effect on people until I was in Korea.”

“A career is born in public - talent in privacy.”

“The sweaters were hand-me-downs. They were really too small for me, and I guess that's what made everyboy take notice take notice. But it made me feel important. Men were looking at e for the first time. And I liked it. I felt good in them. And when I felt how tight they held me in, I quit wearing a bra.”

“I am trying to find myself. Sometimes that's not easy.”

“Elizabeth Taylor converted too. So we're both Jewish.”

“One of the best things that ever happened to me is that I'm a woman. That is the way all females should feel.”

“People have curious attitudes about nudity just as they have about sex. Nudity and sex are the most commonplace things in the world. Yet people often act as if they were things that only existed on Mars.”

“What I really want to say: That what the world really needs is a real feeling of kinship. Everybody: stars, laborers, Negroes, Jews, Arabs. We are all brothers.”

“It's far better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone — so far.”

“I like to feel blonde all over.”

“It stirs up envy, fame does. People you run into feel that, well, who does she think she is, Marilyn Monroe? They feel fame gives them some kind of privilege to walk up to you and say anything to you, of any kind of nature — and it won't hurt your feelings — like it's happening to your clothes not you.”

“I don't mind making jokes, but I don't want to look like one.”

“Fame is like caviar, you know - it's good to have caviar but not when you have it at every meal.”

“A career is wonderful, but you can't curl up with it on a cold night.”

“It's all make believe, isn't it?”

“Arthur Miller wouldn't have married me if I had been nothing but a dumb blonde.”

“I'm very definitely a woman and I enjoy it.”

“People had a habit of looking at me as if I were some kind of mirror instead of a person. They didn't see me, they saw their own lewd thoughts, then they white-masked themselves by calling me the lewd one.”

“If I close my eyes and think of Hollywood, all I see is one big varicose vein.”

“To put it bluntly, I seem to have a whole superstructure with no foundation. But I'm working on the foundation.”

“Designers want me to dress like Spring, in billowing things. I don't feel like Spring. I feel like a warm red Autumn.”

“Men are so willing to respect anything that bores them.”

“I never wanted to be Marilyn - it just happened. Marilyn's like a veil I wear over Norma Jeane.”

“The truth is, I've never fooled anyone. I've let men sometimes fool themselves.”

“How do I know about a man's needs for a sex symbol? I'm a girl.”

“The real lover is the man who can thrill you just by touching your head or smiling into your eyes - or just by staring into space.”

“We human beings are strange creatures and still reserve the right to think for ourselves.”

“I am involved in a freedom ride protesting the loss of the minority rights belonging to the few remaining earthbound stars. All we demanded was our right to twinkle.”

“I have been told my eating habits are absolutely bizarre. But I don't think so.”

“I guess I have always been deeply terrified to really be someone's wife since I know from life one cannot love another, ever, really.”

“I am alone; I am always alone no matter what.”

“What's the good of drawing in the next breath if all you do is let it out and draw in another?”

“I think that when you are famous every weakness is exaggerated.”

“Arthur Miller wouldn't have married me if I had been nothing but a dumb blonde.”

“Before marriage, a girl has to make love to a man to hold him. After marriage, she has to hold him to make love to him.”

“I want the world to see my body.”

“It's not to much fun to know yourself too well or think you do - everyone needs a little conceit to carry them through & past the falls.”

“For a long time I was scared I'd find out I was like my mother.”

“Some of my foster families used to send me to the movies to get me out of the house and there I'd sit all day and way into the night. Up in front, there with the screen so big, a little kid all alone, and I loved it. I loved anything that moved up there and I didn't miss anything that happened and there was no popcorn either.”

“I want to be an artist, an actress with integrity, and that includes all kinds of parts.”

“Naturally, there are times when every woman likes to be flattered... to feel she is the most important thing in someone's world. Only a man can paint this picture.”

“I read poetry to save time.”

“First, I'm trying to prove to myself that I'm a person. Then maybe I'll convince myself that I'm an actress.”

“Nothing's ever easy as long as you go on living.”

“I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil. I am just a small girl in a big world trying to find someone to love.”

“A woman can bring a new love to each man she loves, providing there are not too many.”

“I knew I belonged to the public and to the world, not because I was talented or even beautiful, but because I had never belonged to anything or anyone else.”

“I've found men are less likely to let petty things annoy them.”

“I don't consider myself an intellectual. And this is not one of my aims. But I admire intellectual people.”

“Sometimes, wearing a scarf and a polo coat and no makeup and with a certain attitude of walking, I go shopping or just look at people living. But then, you know, there will be a few teenagers who are kind of sharp, and they'll say, 'Hey, just a minute. You know who I think that is?' And they'll start tailing me. And I don't mind.”

“I don't want to make money, I just want to be wonderful.”

“I don't look at myself as a commodity, but I'm sure a lot of people have.”

“Sometimes I've been to a party where no one spoke to me for a whole evening. The men, frightened by their wives or sweeties, would give me a wide berth. And the ladies would gang up in a corner to discuss my dangerous character.”

“I'll think I have a few wonderful friends and all of a sudden, ooh, here it comes. They do a lot of things. They talk about you to the press, to their friends, tell stories, and you know, it's disappointing.”

“A career is wonderful, but you can't curl up with it on a cold night.”

“There is a need for aloneness, which I don't think most people realise for an actor. It's almost having certain kinds of secrets for yourself that you'll let the whole world in on only for a moment, when you're acting. But everybody is always tugging at you. They'd all like sort of a chunk of you.”

“I've never dropped anyone I believed in.”

“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”

“I enjoy acting when you really hit it right.”

“Men who think that a woman's past love affairs lessen her love for them are usually stupid and weak.”

“It's often just enough to be with someone. I don't need to touch them. Not even talk. A feeling passes between you both. You're not alone.”

“I have evolved my own exercises, for the muscles I wish to keep firm, and I know they are right for me because I can feel them putting the proper muscles into play as I exercise.”

“Sometimes I think it would be easier to avoid old age, to die young, but then you'd never complete your life, would you? You'd never wholly know you.”

“I love a natural look in pictures.”

“An actor is supposed to be a sensitive instrument.”

“I used to think as I looked out on the Hollywood night, 'There must be thousands of girls sitting alone like me dreaming of being a movie star.' But I'm not going to worry about them. I'm dreaming the hardest.”

“When I was five, I think, that's when I started wanting to be an actress. I loved to play. I didn't like the world around me because it was kind of grim, but I loved to play house. It was like you could make your own boundaries.”

“I think that when you are famous every weakness is exaggerated.”

“Marriage destroyed my relationship with two wonderful men.”

“Consider the fellow. He never spends his time telling you about his previous night's date. You get the idea he has eyes only for you and wouldn't think of looking at another woman.”

“My dinners at home are startlingly simple. Every night, I stop at the market near my hotel and pick up a steak, lamb chops or some liver, which I broil in the electric oven in my room. I usually eat four or five raw carrots with my meat, and that is all. I must be part rabbit; I never get bored with raw carrots.”

“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”

“There was my name up in lights. I said, 'God, somebody's made a mistake.' But there it was, in lights. And I sat there and said, 'Remember, you're not a star.' Yet there it was up in lights.”

“Depending upon my activities, I sleep between five and ten hours every night. I sleep in an extra-wide single bed, and I use only one heavy down comforter over me, summer or winter. I have never been able to wear pajamas or creepy nightgowns; they disturb my sleep.”

“Friends accept you the way you are.”

“Having a child, that's always been my biggest fear. I want a child and I fear a child.”

“When I was a youngster I lived with different families. I nearly always felt closer to the man of the house. Maybe because I always dreamed of having a father of my own.”

“If there is only one thing in my life that I am proud of, it's that I've never been a kept woman.”

“I am invariably late for appointments - sometimes as much as two hours. I've tried to change my ways but the things that make me late are too strong, and too pleasing.”

“I want to grow old without facelifts. I want to have the courage to be loyal to the face I have made.”

“Of course, it does depend on the people, but sometimes I'm invited places to kind of brighten up a dinner table like a musician who'll play the piano after dinner, and I know you're not really invited for yourself. You're just an ornament.”

“This life is what you make it. No matter what, you're going to mess up sometimes, it's a universal truth. But the good part is you get to decide how you're going to mess it up. Girls will be your friends - they'll act like it anyway. But just remember, some come, some go. The ones that stay with you through everything - they're your true best friends. Don't let go of them. Also remember, sisters make the best friends in the world. As for lovers, well, they'll come and go too. And baby, I hate to say it, most of them - actually pretty much all of them are going to break your heart, but you can't give up because if you give up, you'll never find your soulmate. You'll never find that half who makes you whole and that goes for everything. Just because you fail once, doesn't mean you're gonna fail at everything. Keep trying, hold on, and always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don't, then who will, sweetie? So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life's a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about.”

“A woman can't be alone. She needs a man. A man and a woman support and strengthen each other. She just can't do it by herself.”

“It's nice to be included in people's fantasies but you also like to be accepted for your own sake.”

“The 'public' scares me, but people I trust.”

“The trouble with censors is that they worry if a girl has cleavage. They ought to worry if she hasn't any.”

“In fact, my popularity seems almost entirely a masculine phenomenon.”

“I just got to feel that whoever I marry has some real regard for me.”

“Just because you fall once, doesn't mean you're fall at everything. Keep trying, hold on, and always trust yourself, because if you don't then who will??”

“If you spend your life competing with business men, what do you have? A bank account and ulcers!”

“The public doesn't mind people living together without being married, providing they don't overdo it.”

“The thing I want more than anything else? I want to have children. I used to feel for every child I had, I would adopt another.”

“I have never cared especially for outdoor sports and have no desire to excel at tennis, swimming, or golf. I'll leave those things to the men.”

“In Hollywood a girl's virtue is much less important than her hairdo.”

“I have noticed... that men usually leave married women alone and are inclined to treat all wives with respect. This is no great credit to married women.”

“Having a child, that's always been my biggest fear. I want a child and I fear a child.”

“Sometimes, wearing a scarf and a polo coat and no makeup and with a certain attitude of walking, I go shopping or just look at people living. But then, you know, there will be a few teenagers who are kind of sharp, and they'll say, 'Hey, just a minute. You know who I think that is?' And they'll start tailing me. And I don't mind.”

“I wish I knew why I am so anguished.”

“What good is it being Marilyn Monroe? Why can't I just be an ordinary woman?”

“Creativity has got to start with humanity and when you're a human being, you feel, you suffer. You're gay, you're sick, you're nervous or whatever.”

“All my stepchildren carried the burden of my fame. Sometimes they would read terrible things about me, and I'd worry about whether it would hurt them. I would tell them: 'Don't hide these things from me. I'd rather you ask me these things straight out, and I'll answer all your questions.'”

“Experts on romance say for a happy marriage there has to be more than a passionate love. For a lasting union, they insist, there must be a genuine liking for each other. Which, in my book, is a good definition for friendship.”

“Someday I want to have children and give them all the love I never had.”

“Next to my husband, and along with Marlon Brando, I think that Yves Montand is the most attractive man I've ever met.”

“Dreaming about being an actress, is more exciting then being one.”

“The working men, I'll go by and they'll whistle. At first they whistle because they think, 'Oh, it's a girl. She's got blond hair and she's not out of shape,' and then they say, 'Gosh, it's Marilyn Monroe!'”

“The truth is, I've never fooled anyone. I've let men sometimes fool themselves.”

“When I was five I think, that's when I started wanting to be an actress.”

“I'm one of the world's most self-conscious people. I really have to struggle.”

“My public is growing up just as I am. After all, I'm not 19 anymore and if I stick with the sex bit, who will be paying to see me when I'm 50?”

“At twelve I looked like a girl of seventeen. My body was developed and shapely. I still wore the blue dress and the blouse the orphanage provided. They made me look like an overgrown lummox.”

“There is just no comparison between having a dinner date with a man and staying home playing canasta with the girls.”

“If I'm a star, then the people made me a star.”

“I was brought up differently than the average American child because the average child is brought up expecting to be happy.”

“An actress is not a machine, but they treat you like a machine. A money machine.”

“It is wonderful to have someone praise you, to be desired.”

“What good am I? I can't have kids. I can't cook. I've been divorced three times. Who would want me?”

“I don't want everybody to see exactly where I live, what my sofa or my fireplace looks like.”

“Some of my foster families used to send me to the movies to get me out of the house and there I'd sit all day and way into the night. Up in front, there with the screen so big, a little kid all alone, and I loved it. I loved anything that moved up there and I didn't miss anything that happened and there was no popcorn either.”

“Only the public can make a star. It's the studios who try to make a system out of it.”

“I'm selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I'm out of control, and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.”

“Girls shouldn't worry about being the equal of men in the business world.”

“Black men don't like to be called 'boys,' but women accept being called 'girls.'”

“A man has a tendency to accept you the way you are, while most women immediately start to pick flaws and want to change you.”

“A man makes you feel important - makes you glad you are a woman.”

“I don't digest things with my mind.”

“I know I will never be happy, but I know I can be gay!”

“Girdles and wire stays should have never been invented. No man wants to hug a padded bird cage.”

“When I was 11, the whole world was closed to me. I just felt I was on the outside of the world.”

“I won't be satisfied until people want to hear me sing without looking at me. Of course, that doesn't mean I want them to stop looking.”

“I used to get the feeling, and sometimes I still get it, that sometimes I was fooling somebody; I don't know who or what, maybe myself.”

“Sometimes I think it would be easier to avoid old age, to die young, but then you'd never complete your life, would you? You'd never wholly know you.”

“I think I have always had a little humor.”

“A strong man doesn't have to be dominant toward a woman. He doesn't match his strength against a woman weak with love for him. He matches it against the world.”

“I always have a full-length mirror next to the camera when I'm doing publicity stills. That way, I know how I look.”

“I am not a victim of emotional conflicts. I am human.”

“I don't know if high society is different in other cities, but in Hollywood, important people can't stand to be invited someplace that isn't full of other important people. They don't mind a few unfamous people being present because they make good listeners.”

“Experts on romance say for a happy marriage there has to be more than a passionate love. For a lasting union, they insist, there must be a genuine liking for each other. Which, in my book, is a good definition for friendship.”

“There are many times when a woman will ask another girl friend how she likes her new hat. She will reply, 'Fine,' but slap her hand to her forehead the minute the girl leaves to yipe, 'What a horror!'”

“I once wanted to prove myself by being a great actress. Now I want to prove that I'm a person. Then maybe I'll be a great actress.”

“I've often stood silent at a party for hours listening to my movie idols turn into dull and little people.”

“Fame is fickle, and I know it. It has its compensations but it also has its drawbacks, and I've experienced them both.”

“There isn't anybody that looks like me without clothes on.”

“Millions of people live their entire lives without finding themselves. But it is something I must do.”

“I think one of the basic reasons men make good friends is that they can make up their minds quickly.”

“I've always wanted a baby.”

“I've always felt toward the slightest scene, even if all I had to do in a scene was just to come in and say, 'Hi,' that the people ought to get their money's worth and that this is an obligation of mine, to give them the best you can get from me.”

“Fame may go by and - so long, I've had you.”

“Some of my foster families used to send me to the movies to get me out of the house and there I'd sit all day and way into the night. Up in front, there with the screen so big, a little kid all alone, and I loved it. I loved anything that moved up there and I didn't miss anything that happened and there was no popcorn either.”

“I've always felt toward the slightest scene, even if all I had to do in a scene was just to come in and say, 'Hi,' that the people ought to get their money's worth and that this is an obligation of mine, to give them the best you can get from me.”

“I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil. I am just a small girl in a big world trying to find someone to love.”

“Before marriage, a girl has to make love to a man to hold him. After marriage, she has to hold him to make love to him.”

“I restore myself when I'm alone.”

“A sex symbol becomes a thing. I just hate to be a thing.”

“I remember when I was in high school I didn't have a new dress for each special occasion. The girls would bring the fact to my attention, not always too delicately. The boys, however, never bothered with the subject. They were my friends, not because of the size of my wardrobe but because they liked me.”

“My work is the only ground I've ever had to stand on. To put it bluntly, I seem to have a whole superstructure with no foundation, but I'm working on the foundation.”

“When Clark Gable died, I cried for 2 days straight. I couldn't eat or sleep.”

“I learned to walk as a baby, and I haven't had a lesson since.”

“Confidentially, the type of male I find most enjoyable for a friend is one who has enough fire and assurance to speak up for his convictions.”

“A woman knows by intuition, or instinct, what is best for herself.”

“If your man is a sports enthusiast, you may have to resign yourself to his spouting off in a monotone on a prize fight, football game or pennant race.”

“I like actors very much, but to marry one would be like marrying your brother. You look too much alike in the mirror.”

“If a star or studio chief or any other great movie personages find themselves sitting among a lot of nobodies, they get frightened - as if somebody was trying to demote them.”

“An actor is supposed to be a sensitive instrument. Isaac Stern takes good care of his violin. What if everybody jumped on his violin?”

“The fact is that I find more most men are more open, more generous, and much more stimulating than the majority of females I know.”

“One of the best things that ever happened to me is that I'm a woman. That is the way all females should feel.”

“I often wake up in the night, and I like to have something to think about.”

“Like any creative human being, I would like a bit more control so that it would be a little easier for me when the director says, 'One tear, right now,' that one tear would pop out.”

“A man is more frank and sincere with his emotions than a woman. We girls, I'm afraid, have a tendency to hide our feelings.”

“I was honoured when they asked me to appear at the president's birthday rally in Madison Square Garden. There was like a hush over the whole place when I came on to sing 'Happy Birthday,' like if I had been wearing a slip, I would have thought it was showing or something. I thought, 'Oh, my gosh, what if no sound comes out!'”

“Husbands are chiefly good as lovers when they are betraying their wives.”

“I was honoured when they asked me to appear at the president's birthday rally in Madison Square Garden. There was like a hush over the whole place when I came on to sing 'Happy Birthday,' like if I had been wearing a slip, I would have thought it was showing or something. I thought, 'Oh, my gosh, what if no sound comes out!'”

“Why is it you always meet people when you look your worst?”

“With fame, you know, you can read about yourself, somebody else's ideas about you, but what's important is how you feel about yourself - for survival and living day to day with what comes up.”

“I'm looking forward to becoming a marvelous - excuse the word marvelous - character actress. like Marie Dressler, like Will Rogers.”

“I myself would like to become more disciplined within my work.”

“I restore myself when I'm alone.”

“Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world.”

“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”

“I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil. I am just a small girl in a big world trying to find someone to love.”

“I don't mind living in a man's world as long as I can be a woman in it.”

“Fear is stupid. So are regrets.”

“Beauty and femininity are ageless and can't be contrived, and glamour, although the manufacturers won't like this, cannot be manufactured. Not real glamour; it's based on femininity.”

“Fame doesn't fulfill you. It warms you a bit, but that warmth is temporary.”

“Sometimes I feel my whole life has been one big rejection.”

“A smart girl leaves before she is left.”

“It's better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone - so far.”

“I don't know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot.”

“I think that sexuality is only attractive when it's natural and spontaneous.”

“It's not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on.”

“The body is meant to be seen, not all covered up.”

“When it comes to gossip, I have to readily admit men are as guilty as women.”

“I have too many fantasies to be a housewife. I guess I am a fantasy.”

“No one ever told me I was pretty when I was a little girl. All little girls should be told they're pretty, even if they aren't.”

“If you spend your life competing with business men, what do you have? A bank account and ulcers!”

“Being a sex symbol is a heavy load to carry, especially when one is tired, hurt and bewildered.”

“The nicest thing for me is sleep, then at least I can dream.”

“Dogs never bite me - just humans.”

“I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.”

“Fame will go by and, so long, I've had you, fame. If it goes by, I've always known it was fickle. So at least it's something I experience, but that's not where I live.”

“I used to think as I looked out on the Hollywood night, 'There must be thousands of girls sitting alone like me dreaming of being a movie star.' But I'm not going to worry about them. I'm dreaming the hardest.”

“What do I wear in bed? Why, Chanel No. 5, of course.”

“Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.”

“I have always had a talent for irritating women since I was fourteen.”

“I defy gravity.”

“You know, most people really don't know me.”

“Someone said to me, 'If fifty percent of the experts in Hollywood said you had no talent and should give up, what would you do?' My answer was then and still is, 'If a hundred percent told me that, all one hundred percent would be wrong.'”

“I've been on a calendar, but I've never been on time.”

“Fame is like caviar, you know - it's good to have caviar but not when you have it at every meal.”

“I'm selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I'm out of control, and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.”

“We are all of us stars, and we deserve to twinkle.”

“Sex is a part of nature. I go along with nature.”

“Success makes so many people hate you. I wish it wasn't that way. It would be wonderful to enjoy success without seeing envy in the eyes of those around you.”

“A woman knows by intuition, or instinct, what is best for herself.”

“Beauty and femininity are ageless and can't be contrived, and glamour, although the manufacturers won't like this, cannot be manufactured. Not real glamour; it's based on femininity.”

“We should all start to live before we get too old.”

“Fear is stupid. So are regrets.”

“If I'd observed all the rules, I'd never have got anywhere.”

“If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything.”

“A smile is the best makeup a girl could wear”

“Respect is one of life's greatest treasures. I mean, what does it all add up to if you don't have that?”

“I want to be an artist, not... a celluloid aphrodisiac.”

“A strong man doesn't have to be dominant toward a woman. He doesn't match his strength against a woman weak with love for him. He matches it against the world.”

“Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.”

“I have feelings too. I am still human. All I want is to be loved, for myself and for my talent.”

“A career is born in public - talent in privacy.”

“I am trying to find myself. Sometimes that's not easy.”

“One of the best things that ever happened to me is that I'm a woman. That is the way all females should feel.”

“What I really want to say: That what the world really needs is a real feeling of kinship. Everybody: stars, laborers, Negroes, Jews, Arabs. We are all brothers.”

“I like to feel blonde all over.”

“I don't mind making jokes, but I don't want to look like one.”

“It's all make believe, isn't it?”

“I'm very definitely a woman and I enjoy it.”

“It's better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone - so far.”

“If I close my eyes and think of Hollywood, all I see is one big varicose vein.”

“To put it bluntly, I seem to have a whole superstructure with no foundation. But I'm working on the foundation.”

“Designers want me to dress like Spring, in billowing things. I don't feel like Spring. I feel like a warm red Autumn.”

“Men are so willing to respect anything that bores them.”

“I never wanted to be Marilyn - it just happened. Marilyn's like a veil I wear over Norma Jeane.”

“The truth is, I've never fooled anyone. I've let men sometimes fool themselves.”

“How do I know about a man's needs for a sex symbol? I'm a girl.”

“The real lover is the man who can thrill you just by touching your head or smiling into your eyes - or just by staring into space.”

“We human beings are strange creatures and still reserve the right to think for ourselves.”

“I don't want to make money, I just want to be wonderful.”

“I am involved in a freedom ride protesting the loss of the minority rights belonging to the few remaining earthbound stars. All we demanded was our right to twinkle.”

“I restore myself when I'm alone.”

“Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world.”

“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”

“I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil. I am just a small girl in a big world trying to find someone to love.”

“I don't mind living in a man's world as long as I can be a woman in it.”

“Fear is stupid. So are regrets.”

“Fame doesn't fulfill you. It warms you a bit, but that warmth is temporary.”

“Sometimes I feel my whole life has been one big rejection.”

“A smart girl leaves before she is left.”

“It's better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone - so far.”

“just because you fail once, it doesn't mean you're going to fail at everything. keep trying, hold on, and always, always, always believe in yourself because if you don't, then who will? so keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling because life's a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about.”

“I don't know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot.”

“It's often just enough to be with someone. I don't need to touch them. Not even talk. A feeling passes between you both. You're not alone.”

“I think that sexuality is only attractive when it's natural and spontaneous.”

“It's not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on.”

“The body is meant to be seen, not all covered up.”

“When it comes to gossip, I have to readily admit men are as guilty as women.”

“I have too many fantasies to be a housewife. I guess I am a fantasy.”

“No one ever told me I was pretty when I was a little girl. All little girls should be told they're pretty, even if they aren't.”