Bette Davis Quotes

Getting old ain't for sissies.

Oh Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars. - Now, Voyager

Anything cruel I do is mental, not physical

I'd like ta kiss ya, but I just washed my hair.

When a man gives his opinion, he's a man; when a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch.

[joan crawford] slept with every male star at MGM, except lassie.

[joan crawford] ha dormito con ogni star maschile della MGM, eccetto lassie.

Discipline is a symbol of caring to a child. Discipline is guidance. If there is love, there is no such thing as being too tough with a child.

You will never be happier than you expect. To change your happiness, change your expectation.

"Funny business, a woman's career. The things you drop on your way up the ladder — so you can move faster — you forget you'll need them when you go back to being a woman. That's one career all females have in common whether we like it or not. Being a woman. Sooner or later, we've got to work at it, no matter what other careers we've had or wanted. And in the last analysis nothing is any good unless you can look up just before dinner — or turn around in bed — and there he is. Without that you're not a woman. You're someone with a French provincial office — or a book full of clippings. But you're not a woman. Slow curtain. The end. (from "All About Eve")"

Old Age Ain't For Sissies. Taken from a Bette Davis quote.

To look back is to relax one's vigil.

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

Miss Bankhead isn't well enough known nationally to warrant my imitating her. (In response to accusations she imitated Bankhead in the role of Margo Channing in All about Eve. Bankhead resented Davis for the perceived imitation, which she considered mocking, and for portraying her Broadway Roles on film [Dark Victory, Jezebel, The Little Foxes]. This comment is unusual in that Davis usually tried to deflate the myth [started by Tallulah for amusement and publicity] of any sort of conflict between them, instead expressing her admiration for Bankhead. Similarly, when Bankhead was asked to do an imitation of Davis, she said "Why should I dahling, she's been imitating me long enough". Before candidly remarking "But really, it's been sheer coincidence that Bette's been playing the leading roles in films like Dark Victory. I really admire her very much.")

Brought up to respect the conventions, love had to end in marriage. I'm afraid it did.

I think it was that picture, more than anything else, that gave me a horror of nobility. Ever since then I have fought against portraying saccharine characters. Give me the part of a vixen and I'm happy.