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Very Few People Want To Hear The Truth. Bogie Was Like That, My Mother Was Like That, And I'm Like That. I Believe In The Truth, And I Believe In Saying What You Think. Why Not? Do You Have To Go Around Whispering All The Time Or Playing A Game With People? I Just Don't Believe In That. So I'm Not The Most Adored Person On The Face Of The Earth.

-Lauren Bacall

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Very Few People Want

Lauren Bacall

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Very Few People Want To Hear The Truth. Bogie Was Like That, My Mother Was Like That, And I'm Like That. I Believe In The Truth, And I Believe In Saying What You Think. Why Not? Do You Have To Go Around Whispering All The Time Or Playing A Game With People? I Just Don't Believe In That. So I'm Not The Most Adored Person On The Face Of The Earth.

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Life Is Amazing, Life Is Odd. Life Is Not What You Expected It To Be. Things Happen... Growing Up Takes Longer Than You Think.

No, I Don't Like Legend. I Mean, I Don't Like The Category. And To Begin With, To Me, A Legend Is Something That Is Not On The Earth, That Is Dead

Life Is Not What You Expected It To Be.

We Live In An Age Of Mediocrity. Stars Today Are Not The Same Stature As Bogie [humphrey Bogart], James Cagney, Spencer Tracy, Henry Fonda And Jimmy Stewart [james Stewart].

It's Not An Old Movie If You Haven't Seen It.

When You Are Playing A Part Like That Where You Have Traveled - You Begin To Think, God What A Great Life. Independent, Living Alone And How Dramatic.

If There Was A Pause In A Conversation With Anyone, You Could Always Light A Cigarette, Or If A Man Lit A Cigarette For You, You Could Look Up. It's The Most Dramatic Thing In The World Because It's Intimate, It's Suggestive, And That's One Of The Problems With Giving It Up, Is That It's A Very Useful Tool.

I Had A Lot Of Frustrations About My Career. A Lot Of, You Know, Times Where I Felt I Should've Been Considered For A Part That I Wasn't Considered For.

Legends Are All To Do With The Past And Nothing To Do With The Present.

You Learn To Cope With Whatever You Have To Cope With. I Spent My Childhood In New York, Riding On Subways And Buses. And You Know What You Learn If You're A New Yorker? The World Doesn't Owe You A Damn Thing.

No, I'm Afraid They Might Slip And Hit A Nerve And I'd End Up With One Side Of My Face Hanging Down Or Something. I'll Just Stick With This One For A While And Take My Chances. I'll Be Brave.

They Think Actors Are Freaks - That We're A Lot Of Drunks Who Party All The Time And Never Work. Well, I For One Work My Tail Off.

Very Few People Want To Hear The Truth. Bogie Was Like That, My Mother Was Like That, And I'm Like That. I Believe In The Truth, And I Believe In Saying What You Think. Why Not? Do You Have To Go Around Whispering All The Time Or Playing A Game With People? I Just Don't Believe In That. So I'm Not The Most Adored Person On The Face Of The Earth.

Remember What Bogie And My Mother Both Used To Say: 'character Is The Most Important Thing. All That Matters Is Character!'

There Are Guys Who Want To Screw Around All The Time, Which Interests Me Not At All. God Knows We've Done That, Been There, And We Don't Want To Do That Any More.

How Long An Actress Lives Professionally Depends On Her Stamina, The Extent Of Her Masochism, Her Imagination, And Her Yearning For Recognition Or Approval.

Men Need To Feel Important. They Feel Better When They're With Younger Girls Or Unknown Girls.

In The World Of Relationships, Possibly The Most Complicated, Uncommon, Hard To Find, Hard To Keep And Most Rewarding Has Got To Be Friendship.

About Working With Marilyn Monroe.we Got Along Very Well. My Only Complaint About Her Was That She Was Late All The Time, But She Was Late Out Of Fear As Much As Anything Else, But It Was Hard To Sit Around And Wait. She Was Usually An Hour Or Two Late Every Morning.

I'll Miss Hollywood. Of The Twenty Friends I Thought I Had, I'll Miss The Six I Really Had.

When You Talk About A Great Actor, You're Not Talking About Tom Cruise. His Whole Behavior Is So Shocking. It's Inappropriate And Vulgar And Absolutely Unacceptable To Use Your Private Life To Sell Anything Commercially, But I Think It's Kind Of A Sickness.

You Realize Yourself When You Start Reflecting - Because I Don't Live In The Past, Although Your Past Is So Much A Part Of What You Are - That You Can't Ignore It. But I Don't Look At Scrapbooks.

A Man's Illness Is His Private Territory And, No Matter How Much He Loves You And How Close You Are, You Stay An Outsider. You Are Healthy.

The Real Stakes In The Theater Are High - They Are Life Stakes. That's What I Love About It. You Gamble With Your Life, And That's A Gamble Worth Taking.

The Biggest Misconception People Have About Me Is That I'm In Control Of Every Situation. I'm Rarely In Control Of Any Situation.

How Many Women Do We Know Who Were Continually Kissed By Clark Gable, William Powell, Cary Grant, Spencer Tracy And Fredric March? Only One: Myrna Loy...

My Son Tells Me, 'do You Realize You Are The Last One? The Last Person Who Was An Eyewitness To The Golden Age?' Young People, Even In Hollywood, Ask Me, 'were You Really Married To Humphrey Bogart?' 'well, Yes, I Think I Was,' I Reply. You Realize Yourself When You Start Reflecting - Because I Don't Live In The Past, Although Your Past Is So Much A Part Of What You Are - That You Can't Ignore It. But I Don't Look At Scrapbooks. I Could Show You Some, But I'd Have To Climb Ladders, And I Can't Climb

If You Want Me Just Whistle. You Know How To Whistle Don't You? Just Put Your Lips Together And Blow.

One Thing I Am Convinced Of Is That The More You Do, The More You Can Do.

It's Inappropriate And Vulgar And Absolutely Unacceptable To Use Your Private Life To Sell Anything Commercially, But I Think It's Kind Of A Sickness.

His (frank Sinatra) Attention Span Was Not Long, Shall We Say.

If Goodness Is Its Own Reward, Shouldn't We Get A Little Something For Being Naughty?

I Find That Through The Sad Times, Work Is What Made My Continuing, Not Breaking Down, Possible. In Work, I Was Always Someone Else And I Subconsciously Reveled In That.

I'm A Total Democrat. I'm Anti-republican. And It's Only Fair That You Know It... I'm Liberal. The L Word!

A Planned Life Is A Dead Life.

I’m Not Ashamed Of What I Am - Of How I Pass Through This Life. What I Am Has Given Me The Strength To Do It. At My Lowest Ebb I Have Never Contemplated Suicide. I Value What Is Here Too Much. I Have A Contribution To Make. I Am Not Just Take Up Space In This Life. I Can Add Something To The Lives I Touch. I Don’t Like Everything I Know About Myself, And I’ll Never Be Satisfied, But Nobody’s Perfect. I’m Not Sure Where The Next Years Will Take Me - What They Will Hold - But I’m Open To Suggestions.

A Woman Isn't Complete Without A Man. But Where Do You Find A Man - A Real Man - These Days?

I Figure If I Have My Health, Can Pay The Rent And I Have My Friends, I Call It 'content.'

Well, The People I've Known I Must Say Are Extraordinary. When I Think About Some Of Them, I Can't Believe That I Knew Them All. And I Think The Reason I Knew Most Of Them At The Beginning Was Because They Were Of Bogie's Generation, 25 Years My Senior, Not Mine. But They Were The Most Talented People Of All.

The Early Romance Was The Most Romantic Experience I Have Ever Had In My Life - Far Surpassing Anything I Might've Dreamed Of Or Imagined, It Was Quite Amazing. When You Are Young And It's Your First Love And You Are Just Carried Away By It And That's All You Can Think About.

Acting Is A Life Of Rejection.

I Wish Frank Sinatra Would Just Shut Up And Sing.

I Never Believed Marriage Was A Lasting Institution . . . I Thought That To Be Married For Five Years Was To Be Married Forever.

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Actors Today Go Into Tv, Which I Don't Consider Has A Lot To Do With Acting. They Only Think Of Stardom

I Finally Felt That I Came Into My Own When I Went On The Stage.

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I Hope I'm Thought Of As Not Just A Showbiz Personality, But As Someone Who Has Lived A Life And Who Has Hopefully Made A Contribution To Something Along The Way - Someone Who Is A Human Being As Well As An Actress.

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I Called My Business Manager In California And Said, 'sell All Of My Stock' - What Little Of It I Had - And It's The Only Smart Financial Move I Ever Made.

The Madmen Seem To Live On Forever, Don't They?

Patience Was Not My Strong Point.

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I Am Essentially A Loner.

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I Always Brought Up My Children Not To Believe In Mothers Day Gifts, And Now I Regret It.

I Don't Consider Myself A Great Actress. I'm Just Trying To Stay Alive, Actually. I Think I'm Good, And I've Learned A Lot, Certainly, Mostly In The Theater. I've Been Sloughed Off Movies For Years. But What Can You Do? That's Life.

How In Hell Can You Handle Love Without Turning Your Life Upside Down? That's What Love Does, It Changes Everything.

In Hollywood, An Equitable Divorce Settlement Means Each Party Getting Fifty Percent Of Publicity.

Everything In This Country [the Us] Has Got To Be Good Looks And Unlined Faces And Thin Bodies And People Running Around In Skirts Slit Up To Their Ass. It Has Nothing To Do With Thinking Or With Being A Human Being. There Is Life In Mature People; It's Not All Over At 24½.

My Life Has Had Meaning, With The Friendships Full And Valuable And Essential To Me. My Children, Steve, Leslie, And Sam, Are All Different-all First-rate Human Beings With High Standards-whom I Completely And Unequivocally Adore-don't Always Agree With-but Always Admire And Respect. They All Have Wit And A Sense Of Humor And, Thank God, I Have Hung On To Mine.

I Remember My Oldest Son, Steve, Saying To Me Once, 'i Don't Ever Remember Seeing You With An Apron On.' And I Thought, That's Right, Honey, You Did Not. That Was His Concept Of What A Mother Should Be.

If There Was One Thing I Had Never Been, It Was Mysterious, And If There Was One Thing I Had Never Done, It Was Not Talk.

No One Has Ever Written A Romance Better Than We Lived It.

I Don't Sit Around Thinking That I'd Like To Have Another Husband; Only Another Man Would Make Me Think That Way.

Always I'm Feeling, 'you're Never Going To Work Again.' That's Going To Happen One Day, But I Hope I'm Not Alive.

Being A Liberal Is The Best Thing On Earth You Can Be. You Are Welcoming To Everyone When You're A Liberal. You Do Not Have A Small Mind... I'm Total, Total, Total Liberal And Proud Of It. And I Think It's Outrageous To Say "the L Word". I Mean, Excuse Me. They Should Be Damn Lucky That They Were Liberals Here. Liberals Gave More To The Population Of The United States Than Any Other Group.

You Spend A Good Part Of Your Adult Life Acquiring Things: Building A Home, Filling It With Objects That Please Your Eye And Make You Feel Comfortable. Then You Spend The Last Part Of Your Life Trying To Figure Out How To Get Rid Of It All.

As Long As I Can Walk And Talk, I'll Try Almost Anything. I Say "almost" Because The High Wire Is Definitely Out.

Most Women Use More Brains Picking A Horse In The Third At Belmont Than They Do Picking A Husband

Sophie, My Dog, Is The High In The Highlights Of My Life. Even Through Rain, Snow, Ice, And General Laziness, She Is The Reason I Smile When I Wake Up And A Comfort To Me Continually. I Could Never Have Imagined That A Now Five-pound, Six-ounce Dog Would Take Over My Life. But It Has Happened, And I Am Happy To Have Someone To Look After And Share My Moods With.

Naïveté, Thy Name Is Me.

All Actors Are Terrified - They Just Learn How To Control It.

I Am Not A Has-been. I Am A Will-be.

The Purity Of Jewish Upbringing - The Restrictions That One Carries Through Life Being A 'nice Jewish Girl' - What A Burden.

When You Talk About A Great Actor, You're Not Talking About Tom Cruise. His Whole Behavior Is So Shocking.

I Have Made Mistakes In The Past And Been In Movies That Really Weren't Good, And That I Needed The Money At The Time, Or Something -- And The Money Wasn't Even That Great. But I Needed It, And... They Come Back On Television, Those Movies... To Haunt You. And It's A Nightmare!

Imagination Is The Highest Kite One Can Fly.

Howard Hawks Said He'd Like To Put Me In A Film With Cary Grant Or Humphrey Bogart. I Thought, "cary Grant-terrific! Humphrey Bogart-yucch."

I Think Your Whole Life Shows In Your Face And You Should Be Proud Of That.

You Don't Always Win Your Battles, But It's Good To Know You Fought.

The Industry Is S**t, It's The Medium That's Great.

The First Time Anything Happens To You - Your First Love, Your First Success - The Second One Is Never The Same.

You Can't Start Worrying About What's Going To Happen. You Get Spastic Enough Worrying About What's Happening Now.

The Reason You Get Married Is To Be Together, Not To Be Separated.

Looking At Yourself In A Mirror Isn't Exactly A Study Of Life.

Young People, Even In Hollywood, Ask Me, 'were You Really Married To Humphrey Bogart?' 'well, Yes, I Think I Was,' I Reply.

I Fairly Often Have Thought How Lucky I Was. I Knew Everybody Because I Was Married To Bogie, And That 25-year Difference Was The Most Fantastic Thing For Me To Have In My Life.

The Best Things In Life Are Clean Living, Good Works, And Big Saphires. And Not In That Order.

Generally Women Are Better Than Men -- They Have More Character. I Prefer Men For Some Things, Obviously, But Women Have A Greater Sense Of Honor And Are More Willing To Take A Chance With Their Lives.

Stardom Isn't A Profession, It's An Accident.

I Am Not A Wealthy Woman. I Wish To Hell I Was, But I Never Had A Wealthy Man.

I Like To Work With Really Good Professional People - Anyone With Real Talent.

I'm Total, Total, Total Liberal And Proud Of It.

Growing Up Takes Longer Than You Think.

God If The Press Ever Quoted Anyone Correctly It Would Be Brilliant.

The Times In Which We're Currently Living Unfortunately, Our Great Leader [george W. Bush] Is Such A Disaster And The Entire Country Is In Disastrous Shape Because Of Him. It's Very Frightening, Actually, To Think That This Country Has Become What It's Become And That So Many People Voted For A Man Like That. It's Terrifying.

Isn't Hope An Incredible, A Wonderfully Demented Thing?

My Mother Was The Greatest Example To Me Of Anyone I've Ever Known. She Didn't Have An Easy Life. I Adored Her. She Worked Hard All Her Life, And She Was The One Who Set My Values. She Was Quite An Amazing Woman, Although She Wasn't Tough At All.

Hollywood Is The Only Place In The World Where An Amicable Divorce Means Each One Gets Fifty Percent Of The Publicity.

After The Age Of 30 In The Movie Profession, You're Pretty Well Over As Far As The Casting People Are Concerned.

I've Always Felt That Work - Learning From People Who Know More Than I Know - Is What Keeps You Going.

When A Woman Reaches Twenty-six In America, She's On The Slide. It's Downhill All The Way From Then On. It Doesn't Give You A Tremendous Feeling Of Confidence And Well-being.

Actors Today Go Into Tv, Which I Don't Consider Has A Lot To Do With Acting. They Only Think Of Stardom. If You Photograph Well, That's Enough. I Have A Terrible Time Distinguishing One From Another. Girls Wear Their Hair The Same, And Are Much Too Anorexic-looking.

I'm Crazy Enough To Believe In Taking Chances In Every Way, In Making Choices And Gambling With Your Life. That's The Kind Of Gambling I Believe In.

Losing Bogey Was Horrible, Obviously. Because He Was Young. And Because He Gave Me My Life. I Wouldn't Have Had A - I Don't Know What Would Have Happened To Me If I Hadn't Met Him. I Would Have Had A Completely Different Kind Of Life. He Changed Me, He Gave Me Everything. And He Was An Extraordinary Man.

He Named Me. He Liked The Sound Of It. And I Said, Well, All Right. I Felt A Little Odd About It. I Don't Understand All That Name Changing Business Anyway... No, He Felt That Lauren Bacall Was Better Sounding Than Betty Bacall. He Had A Vision Of His Own. He Was A Svengali. He Wanted To Mold Me. He Wanted To Control Me. And He Did Until Mr. Bogart Got Involved.

I Think I'm Damn Lucky. I'm Lucky That My Kids Are All Straight, That They Haven't Ended Up In Jail, That They're All Worthwhile Human Beings, Thank God. Their Lives Are Happy; They Have Happy Partners, Wives, Husbands.

Find Me A Man Who's Interesting Enough To Have Dinner With And I'll Be Happy.

I Always Thought I Had Crooked Eyebrows And Crooked Teeth. That's Why I Never Understood Why People Called Me A Beauty.

I Don't Think Being The Only Child Of A Single Parent Helped. I Was Always A Little Unsteady In My Self-belief. Then There Was The Jewish Thing. I Love Being Jewish, I Have No Problem With It At All. But It Did Become Like A Scar, With All These People Saying You Don't Look It.

I Used To Tremble From Nerves So Badly That The Only Way I Could Hold My Head Steady Was To Lower My Chin Practically To My Chest And Look Up At Bogie. That Was The Beginning Of The Look.

I Was This Flat-chested, Big-footed, Lanky Thing.

I Would Hate Now To Be Married. It Does Occur To Me On Occasion That, If I Fall And Hit My Head, There Will Be No One To Make The Phone Call. But Who Wants To Think About That Disaster, I'd Prefer Not To.

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