Marilyn Monroe Quotes
Enjoy the most famous Marilyn Monroe quotes. Quotes by Marilyn Monroe, Actress.
Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius, and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.
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.
We are all of us stars, and we deserve to twinkle.
If you can make a woman laugh, you can make her do anything.
Sex is a part of nature. I go along with nature.
It’s not true that I had nothing on. I had the radio on.
All little girls should be told they are pretty, even if they aren’t.
The trouble with censors is that they worry if a girl has cleavage. They ought to worry if she hasn’t any.
It’s better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone.
Hollywood is a place where they’ll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.
A wise girl kisses but doesn’t love, listens but doesn’t believe, and leaves before she is left.
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.
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.
If I’d observed all the rules, I’d never have got anywhere.
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.
In Hollywood a girl’s virtue is much less important than her hairdo.
Fear is stupid. So are regrets.
I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they’re right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.
I like to feel blonde all over.
It’s all make believe, isn’t it?
I don’t want to make money, I just want to be wonderful.
I want the world to see my body.
I restore myself when I’m alone.
Dogs never bite me – just humans.
I love a natural look in pictures.
marriage destroyed my relationship with two wonderful men.
Friends accept you the way you are.
I don’t digest things with my mind.
I wish I knew why I am so anguished.
I’ve never dropped anyone I believed in.
I think I have always had a little humor.
I’m very definitely a woman and I enjoy it.
An actress is not a machine, but they treat you like a machine. A money machine.
The ‘public’ scares me, but people I trust.
Fame may go by and – so long, I’ve had you.
You know, most people really don’t know me.
I enjoy acting when you really hit it right.
I am alone; I am always alone no matter what.
If I’m a star, then the people made me a star.
A career is born in public – talent in privacy.
Nothing’s ever easy as long as you go on living.
The body is meant to be seen, not all covered up.
An actor is supposed to be a sensitive instrument.
Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition.
We should all start to live before we get too old.
It’s not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on.
What do I wear in bed? Why, Chanel No. 5, of course.
I am not a victim of emotional conflicts. I am human.
I’ve been on a calendar, but I’ve never been on time.
I know I will never be happy, but I know I can be gay!
I am trying to find myself. Sometimes that’s not easy.
I want to be an artist, not… a celluloid aphrodisiac.
Men are so willing to respect anything that bores them.
A sex symbol becomes a thing. I just hate to be a thing.
It is wonderful to have someone praise you, to be desired.
Why is it you always meet people when you look your worst?
There isn’t anybody that looks like me without clothes on.
Sometimes I feel my whole life has been one big rejection.
Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world.
The nicest thing for me is sleep, then at least I can dream.
I don’t mind making jokes, but I don’t want to look like one.
I learned to walk as a baby, and I haven’t had a lesson since.
I’ve found men are less likely to let petty things annoy them.
I myself would like to become more disciplined within my work.
I think that when you are famous every weakness is exaggerated.
For a long time I was scared I’d find out I was like my mother.
How do I know about a man’s needs for a sex symbol? I’m a girl.
A man makes you feel important – makes you glad you are a woman.
Dreaming about being an actress, is more exciting then being one.
A woman knows by intuition, or instinct, what is best for herself.
I don’t know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot.
I have too many fantasies to be a housewife. I guess I am a fantasy.
I just got to feel that whoever I marry has some real regard for me.
In fact, my popularity seems almost entirely a masculine phenomenon.
A career is wonderful, but you can’t curl up with it on a cold night.
I have always had a talent for irritating women since I was fourteen.
I don’t mind living in a man’s world as long as I can be a woman in it.
Someday I want to have children and give them all the love I never had.
Husbands are chiefly good as lovers when they are betraying their wives.
When I was five I think, that’s when I started wanting to be an actress.
I don’t look at myself as a commodity, but I’m sure a lot of people have.
Girls shouldn’t worry about being the equal of men in the business world.
I often wake up in the night, and I like to have something to think about.
Fame doesn’t fulfill you. It warms you a bit, but that warmth is temporary.
I think that sexuality is only attractive when it’s natural and spontaneous.
When Clark Gable died, I cried for 2 days straight. I couldn’t eat or sleep.
What good is it being Marilyn Monroe? Why can’t I just be an ordinary woman?
When it comes to gossip, I have to readily admit men are as guilty as women.
I’m one of the world’s most self-conscious people. I really have to struggle.
I have been told my eating habits are absolutely bizarre. But I don’t think so.
Arthur Miller wouldn’t have married me if I had been nothing but a dumb blonde.
The truth is, I’ve never fooled anyone. I’ve let men sometimes fool themselves.
Black men don’t like to be called ‘boys,’ but women accept being called ‘girls.’
A woman can bring a new love to each man she loves, providing there are not too many.
Only the public can make a star. It’s the studios who try to make a system out of it.
Having a child, that’s always been my biggest fear. I want a child and I fear a child.
I want to be an artist, an actress with integrity, and that includes all kinds of parts.
We human beings are strange creatures and still reserve the right to think for ourselves.
I don’t want everybody to see exactly where I live, what my sofa or my fireplace looks like.
What’s the good of drawing in the next breath if all you do is let it out and draw in another?
Being a sex symbol is a heavy load to carry, especially when one is tired, hurt and bewildered.
Girdles and wire stays should have never been invented. No man wants to hug a padded bird cage.
I never wanted to be Marilyn – it just happened. Marilyn’s like a veil I wear over Norma Jeane.
When I was 11, the whole world was closed to me. I just felt I was on the outside of the world.
I have feelings too. I am still human. All I want is to be loved, for myself and for my talent.
If you spend your life competing with business men, what do you have? A bank account and ulcers!
Fame is like caviar, you know – it’s good to have caviar but not when you have it at every meal.
If there is only one thing in my life that I am proud of, it’s that I’ve never been a kept woman.
It’s nice to be included in people’s fantasies but you also like to be accepted for your own sake.
What good am I? I can’t have kids. I can’t cook. I’ve been divorced three times. Who would want me?
Men who think that a woman’s past love affairs lessen her love for them are usually stupid and weak.
I think one of the basic reasons men make good friends is that they can make up their minds quickly.
Millions of people live their entire lives without finding themselves. But it is something I must do.
The public doesn’t mind people living together without being married, providing they don’t overdo it.
I want to grow old without facelifts. I want to have the courage to be loyal to the face I have made.
Respect is one of life’s greatest treasures. I mean, what does it all add up to if you don’t have that?
I don’t consider myself an intellectual. And this is not one of my aims. But I admire intellectual people.
I’ve often stood silent at a party for hours listening to my movie idols turn into dull and little people.
First, I’m trying to prove to myself that I’m a person. Then maybe I’ll convince myself that I’m an actress.
One of the best things that ever happened to me is that I’m a woman. That is the way all females should feel.
To put it bluntly, I seem to have a whole superstructure with no foundation. But I’m working on the foundation.
I always have a full-length mirror next to the camera when I’m doing publicity stills. That way, I know how I look.
There is just no comparison between having a dinner date with a man and staying home playing canasta with the girls.
I like actors very much, but to marry one would be like marrying your brother. You look too much alike in the mirror.
Designers want me to dress like Spring, in billowing things. I don’t feel like Spring. I feel like a warm red Autumn.
Next to my husband, and along with Marlon Brando, I think that Yves Montand is the most attractive man I’ve ever met.
Fame is fickle, and I know it. It has its compensations but it also has its drawbacks, and I’ve experienced them both.
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 was brought up differently than the average American child because the average child is brought up expecting to be happy.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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’m looking forward to becoming a marvelous – excuse the word marvelous – character actress. like Marie Dressler, like Will Rogers.
An actor is supposed to be a sensitive instrument. Isaac Stern takes good care of his violin. What if everybody jumped on his violin?
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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 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 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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!’
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!’
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.
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.
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.’
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.
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 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.
I used to get the feeling, and sometimes I still get it, that I was fooling somebody – I don’t know who or what – maybe myself. I have feelings some days where there are scenes with a lot of responsibility, and I’ll wish, ‘Gee, if only I had been a cleaning woman.’
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.’
There is a need for aloneness, which I don’t think most people realize 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 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.
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.
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