[On Hollywood:] I had gone there expecting to see parties that reflected the stock-in-trade of the movies - glamour. Instead, I found the same attitude toward parties that European peasants had for baths. It was something to be done methodically every Saturday night.
Elsa MaxwellAnatomize the character of a successful hostess and the knife will lay bare the fact that she owes her position to one of three things: either she is liked, or she is feared, or she is important.
Elsa MaxwellSeeing unhappiness in the marriage of friends, I was content to have chosen music and laughter as a substitute for a husband.
Elsa Maxwellthe wealthy ... live in marble mausoleums surrounded by the suspicions and neuroses that have replaced the medieval moats which once isolated so-called aristocrats from reality.
Elsa Maxwell