- [on turning 53 years old] I think I'm finally growing up - and about time.
- I had a hollow leg. I could drink everyone under the table and not get drunk. My capacity was terrifying.
- My mother says I didn't open my eyes for eight days after I was born, but when I did, the first thing I saw was an engagement ring. I was hooked.
- I don't pretend to be an ordinary housewife.
- [Cannes, May 2001] If not to make the world better, what is money for?
- [on her weight fluctuations] When you're fat, the world is divided into two groups - people who bug you and people who leave you alone. The funny thing is, supporters and saboteurs exist in either camp.
- Success is a great deodorant. It takes away all your past smells.
- Some of my best leading men have been dogs and horses.
- I don't remember much about Cleopatra (1963). There were a lot of other things going on.
- One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues.
- [About Montgomery Clift] The most gorgeous thing in the world and easily one of the best actors.
- You find out who your real friends are when you're involved in a scandal.
- [on Eddie Fisher] I'm not taking anything away from Debbie [Debbie Reynolds] because she never really had it.
- [2005] Acting is, to me now, artificial. Seeing people suffer is real. It couldn't be more real. Some people don't like to look at it in the face because it's painful. But if nobody does, then nothing gets done.
- [2005] There's still so much more to do. I can't sit back and be complacent, and none of us should be. I get around now in a wheelchair, but I get around.
- [on Michael Jackson] What is a genius? What is a living legend? What is a mega star? Michael Jackson - that's all. And when you think you know him, he gives you more . . . I think he is one of the finest people to hit this planet, and, in my estimation, he is the true King of Pop, Rock and Soul.
- [on John Wayne] His image had as much impact in the world as many of our presidents have had, but Duke was a great actor, a great humanitarian, but always himself. To be a friend was a lifetime thing.
- Food is one of life's great pleasures - I hate dieting!
- I believe in mind over matter and doing anything you set your mind on.
- I, along with the critics, have never taken myself very seriously.
- [on Michael Jackson] He is part of my heart. We would do anything for each other.
- [on Michael Wilding] I'm afraid in those last few years I gave him a rather rough time. Sort of henpecked him and probably wasn't mature enough for him. It wasn't that we had anything to fight over. We just weren't happy.
- [on John Wayne] He is as tough as an old nut and as soft as a yellow ribbon.
- [on Clark Gable] He was the epitome of the movie star -- so romantic, such bearing, such friendliness.
- [on Montgomery Clift] Monty was the most emotional actor I have ever worked with. And it is contagious.
- [on Marilyn Monroe] She seemed to have a kind of unconscious glow about her physical self that was innocent, like a child. When she posed nude, it was 'Gee, I am kind of, you know, sort of dishy,' like she enjoyed it without being egotistical.
- I will love Michael Jackson forever. (On Michael Jackson's death)
- [on the death of Michael Jackson] I just don't believe that Michael would want me to share my grief with millions of others. How I feel is between us. Not a public event.
- Richard came on the set and sort of sidled over to me and said: "Has anybody ever told you that you're a very pretty girl?" 'I thought, Oy gevalt, the great lover, the great wit, the great Welsh intellectual, and he comes out with a corny line like that! But then I noticed his hands were shaking as if he had Saturday night palsy. He had the worst hangover I'd ever seen. And he was obviously terrified of me. I just took pity on him. I realized he really was human. That was the beginning of our affair.
- [on her conversion to Judaism] It had absolutely nothing to do with my past marriage to Mike [Todd] or my upcoming marriage to Eddie Fisher, both of whom were Jewish. It was something I had wanted to do for a long time.
- I don't entirely approve of some of the things I have done, or am, or have been. But I'm me. God knows, I'm me.
- I have the emotions of a child in the body of a woman. I was rushed into womanhood for the movies. It caused me long moments of unhappiness and doubt.
- The ups and downs, the problems and stress, along with all the happiness, have given me optimism and hope because I am living proof of survival.
- I've come through things that would have felled an ox. That fills me with optimism, not just for myself but for our particular species.
- [on Michael Jackson] He is one of the most normal people I know.
- I hate being called "Liz", because it can sound like such a hiss.
- [on Cleopatra (1963)] They had cut out the heart, the essence, the motivations, the very core, and tacked on all those battle scenes. It should have been about three large people, but it lacked reality and passion. I found it vulgar.
- [on BUtterfield 8 (1960), for which she won an Oscar] A piece of shit.
- Straight sex, gay sex, bisexual sex, use a condom whoever you are.
- If someone's dumb enough to offer me a million dollars to make a picture, I'm certainly not dumb enough to turn it down.
- [to Larry Fortensky in 1990, when she was in the hospital battling bacterial pneumonia] When this is over, I will marry you.
- If I love somebody, I love them always.
- [1972] I would give up everything I have. I would live in a shack--if I could give Richard a baby.
- [1992] Larry sees through the world of bullshit I live in. He's very protective.
- I have to be stronger and more appreciative of what I do have.
- Every breath you take today should be with someone else in mind.
- Never let yourself think beyond your means...mental, emotional or any otherwise.
- Humor is the only way to stay alive.
- [last Tweet, 2/9/11] My interview in Bazaar with Kim Kardashian came out!!!
- A woman will try and dominate a man. She will try and get away with it. But really, inside herself, she wants to be dominated. . . . She wants the man to take her. And she wants to lean on him--not have him lean on her. If he does lean on her, everything goes slightly off key, like a bad chord. She hopes it will pass, that the guy will come through. When it doesn't, she begins to needle him. If nothing happens, she goes on needling--until he stops listening. At that moment, she becomes bitter and he goes deaf. Finally, there is no more dialogue, they have no rapport.
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