Quotes

I get it now; I didn't get it then. That life is about losing and about doing it as gracefully as possible...and enjoying everything in between.

I wondered if, after all the things I'd been through, could I really act again?

I want a big career, a big man and a big life. You have to think big - that's the only way to get it ... I just couldn't stand being anonymous. - in 1965

As a young actress on her slender, waifish figure, "I'm kind of 20-20-20."

I don't like to talk about acting. I don't analyze it.

I love Lindt. Dark chocolate is such a delicious indulgence.

I don't think you can be a Catholic without an accompanying measure of guilt.

I think it was a difficult place for children. Beverly Hills was a one-business town, and the movie-making community was very clique-ish. You didn't really meet people outside that circle - except when they were employed by your parents: lawyers, or a gardener. Things that you might have wanted to do, you saw them as, in a way, in service. It was limiting in the way that role models were presented to children, and when people sort of became aware of how special our circumstances were, it also began to dawn on them that: how could they possibly sustain this themselves?

And I have the most wonderful children. I've been very, very blessed.

If I seem to be running, it's because I'm pursued.

I have no life. This is my life. So while it may be that I'm only an actress and it may be that I'm an idiot in many aspects - but no more so than half the population - I have earned some stripes, if hours of study count. Yes, I am a celebrity, so take it with a grain. But I'm also a messenger. I'm also a witness. - The Guardian 3/July/2008

Natasha is irreplaceable. I cannot think of anyone kinder, more generous, thoughtful, smarter or more fun. She is the godmother of two of my children. The Neesons and Vanessa Redgrave have always made me feel a part of their wonderful family. My thoughts and prayers are with them. (on Natasha Richardson's tragic death.)

I'm just an actress, ... I'm not presuming anybody will care whether I starve to death or whether I go on a long hunger strike or what. But it's a personal matter.

On her life as a "Rat Pack Wife" during her marriage to Frank Sinatra: "The women, who didn't seem to mind being referred to as 'broads', sat up straight with their legs crossed and little expectant smiles on their oh-so-carefully made-up faces They sipped white wine, smoked, and eyed the men, laughing at every joke...A long time would pass before any of the women dared to speak then, under the main male table conversation, they talked about their cats, or where they had bought their clothes; but more than half an ear was always with the men, just in case. As hours passed, the women, neglected in their chairs, drooped; no longer listening, no longer laughing".

[Note to Robert Evans during the casting of The Great Gatsby (1974)] Dear Bob, May I be your Daisy?

[on relationships] Psychiatrists say you "pick" somebody. I think that's rubbish. You don't pick somebody, you just gamble. Somebody likes you and you like them . . . and you just hope to God it's right. 'Cause you don't really know them. They unfold over years.

A person who has no allegiance to truth will do anything. A person who will do anything is somebody to be scared of.

[on her divorce from Frank Sinatra] He came back, over and over and over and over. I mean, we never really split up.