Bette Davis Quotes

I’d luv to kiss ya, but I just washed my hair.

I do not regret one professional enemy I have made. Any actor who doesn’t dare to make an enemy should get out of the business.

I was thought to be ‘stuck up.’ I wasn’t. I was just sure of myself. This is and always has been an unforgivable quality to the unsure.

I am doomed to an eternity of compulsive work. No set goal achieved satisfies. Success only breeds a new goal. The golden apple devoured has seeds. It is endless.

Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.

When a man gives his opinion, he’s a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she’s a bitch.

Without wonder and insight, acting is just a trade. With it, it becomes a creation.

I will not retire while I’ve still got my legs and my make-up box.

Old age is no place for sissies.

I’d marry again if I found a man who had fifteen million dollars, would sign over half to me, and guarantee that he’d be dead within a year.

I don’t forgive people because I’m weak. I forgive them because I am strong enough to know people make mistakes.

I survived because I was tougher than anybody else.

I have been uncompromising, peppery, intractable, monomaniacal, tactless, volatile, and oftentimes disagreeable.

Until you’re known in my profession as a monster, you are not a star.

Acting should be bigger than life. Scripts should be bigger than life.

Success only breeds a new goal.

I’d marry again if I found a man who had fifteen million dollars and would sign over half of it to me before the marriage and guarantee he’d be dead in a year.

To fulfill a dream, to be allowed to sweat over lonely labor, to be given a chance to create, is the meat and potatoes of life. The money is the gravy.

I will not retire while I’ve still got my legs and my make-up box.

If you’re as honest with yourself as most people are, you’ll know when there’s danger on the way.

I don’t take what I do too seriously.

In this rat race, there are two rats – the winner and the loser. But if you run fast enough, you can be the cat instead.

I’m not young and I’m not a silly fool.

Before marriage, a girl has to make love to a man to hold him. After marriage, she has to hold him to make love to him.

You should hammer your iron when it is glowing hot.

Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.

Do it big, do it right and do it with style.

I’m still fighting for what I’ve always believed in, and I haven’t suffered any fools along the way.

I’ve never known a man worth his salt who, in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn’t appreciate the grind, the discipline.

When a man gives his opinion, he’s a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she’s a bitch.

I am frank to admit that I have been a martyr to my own fierce temper.

I’d luv to kiss ya, but I just washed my hair.

To be a great actor, you want to live your life in the moment. So why the hell should you act your age?

If you’ve never been hated by your child, you’ve never been a parent.

What a fool, eh? What a stupid little fool I’ve been.

I want them to love and admire you as much as I do.

Without wonder and insight, acting is just a trade. With it, we become creators.

I don’t believe in old age. I believe in forever altering one’s aspect to the sun.

Acting should be bigger than life. Scripts should be bigger than life. It should all be bigger than life.

The only way you can be a mark is if you want something for nothing. If you’re greedy, you’re set.

What a dump!

There comes a time in every woman’s life when the only thing that helps is a glass of champagne.

If everyone likes you, you’re doing something wrong.

I’ve been famous for 45 years without ever being very famous. What can I teach these new people? Unless we are in awe of each other’s talents on the set, why bother?

I’m the nicest goddamn dame that ever lived.