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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.

-Lauren Bacall

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When A Woman Reaches

Lauren Bacall

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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.

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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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

When Everything Happens To You When You're So Young, You're Very Lucky, But By The Same Token, You're Never Going To Have That Same Feeling Again. The First Time Anything Happens To You - Your First Love, Your First Success - The Second One Is Never The Same.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

People Should Tell Your Children What Life Is All About - It's About Work.

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.

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].

You Had To Stay Awake Married To Him [humphrey Bogart]. Every Time I Thought I Could Relax And Do Everything I Wanted, He'd Buck. There Was No Way To Predict His Reactions, No Matter How Well I Knew Him. As He'd Said Before Our Wedding, He Expected To Be Happily Married And Stay That Way, But He Never Expected To Settle Down. He Liked Keeping People Off Balance. He Was Good For Me -- I Could Never Be Quite Sure What He Would Do.

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.

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

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

You Can't Always Be A Leading Lady.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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.

He [bogie] Had Tremendous Character And A Great Sense Of Honor And Would Not Tolerate Lies, Even If They Asked Him What He Thought Of A Movie. We Were Once At A Screening At Somebody's House, I Forget Whose, And They Ran A Movie That He Was In, That He Never Thought Much Of. Afterward, The Producer Asked What He Thought Of It, And Bogie Said "i Think It's A Crock." And This Producer Was Horrified! He Was About To Release The Movie, And He Said To Bogie "why Would You Say That?!" Bogie Shrugged And Said "then Don't Ask Me." He Never Played The Schmoozing Game. He Was Not Into That At 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.

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

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

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.

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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. 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.

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

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

I've Still Not Gotten My Choice Of The Best Roles In The World.

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

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

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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.

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.

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

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I Am Essentially A Loner.

I Wish Frank Sinatra Would Just Shut Up And Sing.

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

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

"my Obit Is Going To Be Full Of Bogart, I'm Sure," She Says, Adding, "i'll Never Know If That's True. If That's The Way It Is, That's The Way It Is."

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.

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Growing Up Takes Longer Than You Think.

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

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

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.

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

Imagination Is The Highest Kite One Can Fly.

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.

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

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

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."

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

Yes, I Saw Twilight - My Granddaughter Made Me Watch It, She Said It Was The Greatest Vampire Film Ever. After The 'film' Was Over I Wanted To Smack Her Across Her Head With My Shoe, But I Do Not Want A (tell-all) Book Called Grannie Dearest Written On Me When I Die. So Instead I Gave Her A Dvd Of Murnau's 1922 Masterpiece Nosferatu And Told Her, 'now That's A Vampire Film!' And That Goes For All Of You! Watch Nosferatu Instead!

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

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

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.

Acting Is A Life Of Rejection.

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

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

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.

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...

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Life Is Not What You Expected It To Be.

[katharine Hepburn] Was Much Stronger, Much More Opinionated Than I Am Or Ever Was, And It Was Considered Attractive On Her. But Not On Me. I Don't Know. Maybe Her Bryn Mawr Accent Was More Appealing Than Mine.

I'm Not A Sedentary Person. I've Always Been Active.

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