Katharine Hepburn Quotes

As one goes through life, one learns that if you don't paddle your own canoe, you don't move.

If you have fame, you never feel that you have fame, if you have the brains of a flea. Because fame is something that's over back of you. It ain't ahead.... Not ahead at all. I mean, if you've done it that's great, but "what are you going to do now?" is the only thing that matters.

You can't just be talented: You have to be terribly smart and energetic and ruthless. You also have to become necessary to people, by working hard and well and bringing more than your bones and your skin to the project. Don't just show up. Transform the work, yourself, and everybody around you. Be needed. Be interesting. Be something no one else can be--and consistently.

I have not lived as a woman. I have lived as a man. I've just done what I damn well wanted to, and I've made enough money to support myself, and ain't afraid of being alone

I'm what is known as gradually disintegrating. I don't fear the next world, or anything. I don't fear hell, and I don't look forward to heaven.

Plain women know more about men than beautiful ones do. But beautiful women don't need to know about men. It's the men who have to know about beautiful women.

I don't feel the slightest interest in the next world; I think it's here. And I think anything good that you're going to do, you should do for other people here and not so you can try to have a happy time in the next world.

Enemies are so stimulating.

If you survive long enough, you're revered - rather like an old building.

Marriage is a series of desperate arguments people feel passionately about.

You sell yourself. The part that I sell is the creature. The adorable part.

With all the opportunities I had, I could have done more. And if I'd done more, I could have been quite remarkable.

I think all good actors are personalities. If they're not, they're not stars. What makes you a star is horsepower.

I was fearless...and lawless.

I could peel you like a pear and god himself would see the justice in it.

Why slap them on the wrist with feather when you can belt them over the head with a sledgehammer.

Bogart was like Henry Fonda - proud and happy to be an actor.

You can’t change the music of your soul.

I won't go to a restaurant to eat with friends, always join them afterwards for coffee. In company I always get over enthusiastic, and this leads to indigestion.

Once a crowd chased me for an autograph. "Beat it", I said, "go sit on a tack!" "We made you", they said. "Like hell you did", I told them.

The shakes stop if you drink enough, but then so does everything else.

I find a woman's point of view much grander and finer than a man's.

If you want to change attitudes, start with a change in behavior.

If you're given a choice between money and sex appeal, take the money. As you get older, the money will become your sex appeal.

It's not what you start in life, it's what you finish.

I realised long ago that skirts are hopeless. Anytime I hear a man say he prefers a woman in a skirt, I say, 'Try one. Try a skirt.'

Acting is the most minor of gifts. After all, Shirley Temple could do it when she was four.

I don't give a damn about marriage. But I do care about honor.

I don't fear death, it must be like a long sleep.

The only time I am ever miserable is when I do something just for the money.

All my life, I've stayed at parties too long because I didn't know when to go.

Listen to the song of life.

I remember as a child going around with "Votes For Women" balloons. I learnt early what it is to be snubbed for a good cause.

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

I was born lucky, and I have lived lucky. What I had was used. What I still have is being used. Lucky.

I have loved and been in love. There's a big difference.

I would have been a terrible mother because I'm basically a very selfish human being. Not that that has stopped most people going off and having children.

I like to move fast, and wearing high heels was tough, and low heels with a skirt is unattractive. So pants took over.

I don't believe in religion. I believe the example of Christ. I believe in the example of a perfect human being that if you can live for other people away from yourself you will be happy. If you live for yourself you will be unhappy and then you will not be able to sleep or do anything else... finally. I think insofar, and I really believe this, insofar as people do live with the other fellow [God] in mind, they have to be happy you know? Because it raises you up.

The calla lilies are in bloom again. Such a strange flower—suitable to any occasion. I carried them on my wedding day, and now I place them here in memory of something that has died.

Acting is the perfect idiot's profession.

I was brought up by two extremely intelligent people who gave me the greatest gift that man can give anyone, and that is freedom from fear.

I can remember walking as a child. It was not customary to say you were fatigued. It was customary to complete the goal of the expedition.

I've always thought men and women are not too well suited to each other. It's inevitable that they should come together, but, again, how well suited are they to live together in the same house?

The thing about life is that you must survive. Life is going to be difficult, and dreadful things will happen. What you do is move along, get on with it, and be tough. Not in the sense of being mean to others, but being tough with yourself and making a deadly effort not to be defeated.

Never complain. Never explain.

Few people know what they mean when they say, "I love you." ... Well, what does the word love mean? It means total interest. I think the reason very few people really fall in love with anyone is they're not willing to pay the price. The price is you have to adjust yourself to them.

I believe how I act today will affect how I am tomorrow.