We were brought up in the school that teaches: You do what the script tells you. Deliver the goods without comment. Live it-do it-or shut up. After all, the writer is what's important. If the script is good and you don't get in its way, it will come off okay. I never discussed a script with Spence [Spencer Tracy]; we just did it. The same with Hank [Henry Fonda] in On Golden Pond. Naturally and unconsciously we joined into what I call a musical necessity-the chemistry that brings out the essence of the characters and the work.

When I’ve been unsuccessful, I’ve been controlled. When I’ve been successful, I’ve been in control.

The woman's position in the world today is so much harder than a man's that it makes me choke every time I hear a man complain about anything.

A sharp knife cuts the quickest and hurts the least.

The time to make up your mind about people is never.

Life is very hard, isn't it? It does kill you, after all.

Children need boundaries, so they can know how far they have to go to get beyond them.