Helen Hayes Quotes

We relish news of our heroes, forgetting that we are extraordinary to somebody too.

If you rest, you rust.

The old-fashioned idea that the simple piling up of experiences, one on top of another, can make you an artist, is, of course, so much rubbish. If acting were just a matter of experience, then any busy harlot could make Garbo’s Camille pale.

Love is perhaps the only glimpse we are permitted of eternity.

From your parents you learn love & laughter & how to put one foot in front of the other. But when books are opened, you discover you have wings.

The truth [is] that there is only one terminal dignity — love. And the story of love is not important — what is important is that one is capable of love. It is perhaps the only glimpse we are permitted of eternity.

The theatre demanded of its members stamina, good digestion, the ability to adjust, and a strong sense of humor. There was no discomfort an actor didn’t learn to endure. To survive, we had to be horses and we were.

The faster we travel, the less there is to see.

The story of a love is not important. What is important is that one is capable of love. It is perhaps the only glimpse we are permitted of eternity.

We are indeed a strange lot! There are times we doubt that we have any emotions we can honestly call our own. I have approached every dynamic scene change in my life the same way. When I married Charlie MacArthur, I sat down and wondered how I could play the best wife that ever was.... My love for him was the truest thing in my life; but it was still important that I love him with proper effect, that I act loving him with great style, that I achieve the ultimate in wifedom.

I genitori ti insegnano ad amare, ridere e correre. Ma solo entrando in contatto con i libri, si scopre di avere le ali.

Stardom can be a gilded slavery.

One has to grow up with good talk in order to form the habit of it.

People who refuse to rest honorably on their laurels when they reach "retirement" age seem very admirable to me.

An actress always knows when she’s hit it and mostly you haven’t; but once or twice I think I hit it right, so maybe that’s good enough for one life.