Maureen O'Hara Quotes

I knew that Jamaica Inn was going to make me a star.

As the 1960s began, a new breed of Hollywood leading lady was emerging. She was elegant, international, and wonderfully comedic.

It turns out that our notions of what a 'self' is and how it might feel fulfilled have no more objective status than most of the rest of reality. It seems we make ourselves up as we go along.

I don't remember having a crush on a boy when I was a girl. I don't even remember my first kiss.

I am like many of the women I have played onscreen.

There's a terrible truth for many women in the picture business: Aging typically takes its toll and means fewer and less desirable roles.

I didn't let anyone push me into things I didn't want to do where my career was concerned. So why did I crumble when it came to men?

Lost in a crowd of greats, not a single Oscar. That's showbiz.

Being an Irishwoman means many things to me. An Irishwoman is strong and feisty. She has guts and stands up for what she believes in. She believes she is the best at whatever she does and proceeds through life with that knowledge. She can face any hazard that life throws her way and stay with it until she wins. She is loyal to her kinsmen and accepting of others. She's not above a sock in the jaw if you have it coming.

My whole life was foretold to me. An old Romany gypsy read my fortune.

Speaking as an actress, I wish all actors would be more like Duke Wayne. And speaking as a person, it would be nice if all people could be honest and as genuine as he is. This is a real man.

Charles Laughton signed me to my first movie contract at 17. He later asked my parents if he could adopt me.

I had always been a tomboy - I still am, at heart.

I'm terrified about the day that I enter the gates of heaven and God says to me, just a minute.

Making movies is just like betting on horses at the racetrack.

Audiences in London called me the girl with the black cherry eyes.

John Wayne was one of the greatest ambassadors for the United States that ever lived.

My heritage has been my grounding, and it has brought me peace.

In the beginning it was all black and white.

Comedy is quite difficult, you have to be able to have fun and portray that sense of fun to the audience watching you.

Some time ago, I told Larry King that I planned to live to be 102. I still do.

Henry Fonda gave me a spanking during a scene in Spencer's Mountain.

The Parent Trap gave my career another boost, starring in family comedies.

Comedy is difficult, especially slapstick. The trick is to have fun while you are performing it.

John Candy knew he was going to die. He told me on his 40th birthday. He said, well, Maureen, I'm on borrowed time.

A sense of belonging is a sine qua non of healthy psychological functioning everywhere. Such a sense, beginning in infancy and continuing throughout life, comes about by experiencing mutual empathy; by sensing oneself as part of a whole, which recognizes and accepts that one is a member.

I grew up in the theater and danced ballet atrociously.

Above all else, deep in my soul, I'm a tough Irishwoman.

I dainty little lass I wasn't. I looked twice my age until I turned 10 or 11.

How could you have had such a wonderful life as me if there wasn't a God directing?

I really wanted to be an opera soprano.

When How Green Was My Valley finally wrapped, I thought John Ford was a walking god.

I have never lost my faith in God.

God has a most wicked sense of humor.

When I was young, I was told that I had a sulky, pouty face.

The Parent Trap wouldn't have been as special without the remarkable performances by Hayley Mills.

Working with Ty Power was exciting. In those days, he was the biggest romantic swashbuckler in the world. Murderously handsome! But what I loved most about Ty Power was his wicked sense of humor.

Every star has that certain something that stands out and compels us to notice them.

The Queen Mary was the most civilized and luxurious way one could travel to America in the late 1930s.

I watch and listen to movies today and am shocked by the way actors deliver their lines. Everybody mumbles now and I don't understand why.

When you try to battle with John Ford, you have to give in.

I saw myself as Joan of Arc.

Empathy provides more than just information about relationships. It is an expression of being in relationship. It is not just a means to better healing relationship, but because it recenters relationship as a central organizing feature of psychic life, empathy itself is healing. The experience of being known and accepted deeply by another, being aware of another being aware of you, what Jordan calls "mutual empathy".

I spent a great deal of time with Che Guevara while I was in Havana. I believe he was far less a mercenary than he was a freedom fighter.

How could you get angry with Jackie Gleason?

To be part of the creation, I must act humbly. I'll take that over a goddess any day!

I'm really honestly terrified about how much I should tell and how much I should still keep secret.

After I got to Hollywood, I resented that I didn't get a crack at more dramatic roles because I photographed so beautifully.