I never wanted to be Marilyn - it just happened. Marilyn's like a veil I wear over Norma Jeane.

Beauty and femininity are ageless and can't be contrived, and glamour, although the manufacturers won't like this, cannot be manufactured. Not real glamour; it's based on femininity.

I used to say to myself, 'What the devil have you got to be proud about, Marilyn Monroe?' And I'd answer, 'Everything, everything,' and I'd walk slowly and turn my head slowly as if I were a queen.

I have evolved my own exercises, for the muscles I wish to keep firm, and I know they are right for me because I can feel them putting the proper muscles into play as I exercise.

Girdles and wire stays should have never been invented. No man wants to hug a padded bird cage.

Maybe I’ll never be able to do what I hope to, but at least I have hope.

I like actors very much, but to marry one would be like marrying your brother. You look too much alike in the mirror.