Quotes by Marilyn Monroe
Welcome to our collection of quotes (with shareable picture quotes) by Marilyn Monroe. We hope you enjoy pondering them and that you will share them widely.
Wikipedia Summary for Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 – August 4, 1962) was an American actress, model, and singer. Famous for playing comedic "blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s and was emblematic of the era's sexual revolution. She was a top-billed actress for only a decade, but her films grossed $200 million (equivalent to $2 billion in 2019) by the time of her death in 1962. Long after her death, she continues to be a major icon of pop culture. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Monroe sixth on its list of the greatest female screen legends from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Monroe spent most of her childhood in foster homes and an orphanage and married at age 16. She was working in a factory during World War II when she met a photographer from the First Motion Picture Unit and began a successful pin-up modeling career, which led to short-lived film contracts with 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures. After a series of minor film roles, she signed a new contract with Fox in late 1950. Over the next two years, she became a popular actress with roles in several comedies, including As Young as You Feel and Monkey Business, and in the dramas Clash by Night and Don't Bother to Knock. She faced a scandal when it was revealed that she had posed for nude photos before she became a star, but the story did not damage her career and instead resulted in increased interest in her films.
By 1953, Monroe was one of the most marketable Hollywood stars; she had leading roles in the film noir Niagara, which focused on her sex appeal, and the comedies Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire, which established her star image as a "dumb blonde". The same year, her nude images were used as the centerfold and on the cover of the first issue of Playboy. She played a significant role in the creation and management of her public image throughout her career, but she was disappointed when she was typecast and underpaid by the studio. She was briefly suspended in early 1954 for refusing a film project but returned to star in The Seven Year Itch (1955), one of the biggest box office successes of her career.
When the studio was still reluctant to change Monroe's contract, she founded her own film production company in 1954. She dedicated 1955 to building the company and began studying method acting under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. Later that year, Fox awarded her a new contract, which gave her more control and a larger salary. Her subsequent roles included a critically acclaimed performance in Bus Stop (1956) and her first independent production in The Prince and the Showgirl (1957). She won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for her work in Some Like It Hot (1959), a critical and commercial success. Her last completed film was the drama The Misfits (1961).
Monroe's troubled private life received much attention. She struggled with addiction and mood disorders. Her marriages to retired baseball star Joe DiMaggio and to playwright Arthur Miller were highly publicized, and both ended in divorce. On August 4, 1962, she died at age 36 from an overdose of barbiturates at her home in Los Angeles. Her death was ruled a probable suicide, although several conspiracy theories have been proposed in the decades following her death.

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Sometimes good things fall apart, so better things can fall together.

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Imperfection is beauty. Madness is genius. It is better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.

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Your clothes should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to show you're a lady.

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To all the girls that think you're fat because you're not a size zero, you're the beautiful one, its society who's ugly.

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Sweetie, if you're going to be two faced, at least make one of them pretty.

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I don't understand why people aren't a little more generous with each other.

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She was a girl who knew how to be happy even when she was sad. And that's important--you know.

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Creativity starts with humanity when were being human we feel -- joys, sadness, when we're sick, when we're nervous.

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People respect you because they feel you've survived hard times and endured, and although you've become famous, you haven't become phony.

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I have never been able to wear pajamas or creepy nightgowns; they disturb my sleep.

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I've given pure sex appeal very little thought. If I had to think about it I'm sure it would frighten me.

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I'm a failure as a woman. My men expect so much of me, because of the image they've made of me- and that I've made of myself- as a sex symbol. They expect bells to ring and whistles to whistle, but my anatomy is the same as any other woman's and I can't live up to it.

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A sex symbol becomes a thing. I hate being a thing.
Longer Version:
A sex symbol becomes a thing, I just hate being a thing. But if I'm going to be a symbol of something I'd rather have it sex than some other things we've got symbols of.

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A sweater is like life, you get nothing out of it that you don't put into it!

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Some people have been unkind. If I say I want to grow as an actress, they look at my figure. If I say I want to develop, to learn my craft, they laugh. Somehow they don't expect me to be serious about my work.

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I have always felt comfortable in blue jeans. I have found it interesting, however, that people also whistle at blue jeans. I have to admit that I like mine to fit. There's nothing I hate worse than baggy blue jeans.

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Next to my husband and along with Marlon Brando, Yves Montand is the most attractive man I've ever met.

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I could have loved you once And said it But then you went away And when you came back Love was a forgotten word, Remember?

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Do people ever get over being shy? I think it's with you for life-like the color of your eyes.

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You can't sleep your way into being a star. It takes much, much more. But it helps a lot of actresses get their first chance that way.

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My marriage didn't make me sad, but it didn't make me happy either. My husband and I hardly spoke to each other. This wasn't because we were angry. We had nothing to say. I was dying of boredom.

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I want to be an artist, not an erotic freak. I don't want to be sold to the public as a celluloid aphrodisiac.

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When you're a failure in Hollywood, that's like starving to death outside a banquet hall, with smells of filet mignon driving you crazy.

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Don't let your fear of failing triumph over the joy of participating.

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I'm the type of person that tries to fall back asleep in the morning just to finish a dream.

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The more I think of it, the more I realize there are no answers. Life is to be lived.

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Promises are worse than lies. You don't just make them believe, you also make them hope.

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Love and work are the only two real things in our lives. They belong together, otherwise it is off. Work is in itself a form of love.

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It is better to be happy alone than to be miserable with someone else.

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

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If you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell shouldn't schedule a meeting with me before 10am.

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But chiefly, no lies! No lies about there being a Santa Claus or about the world being full of noble and honorable people all eager to help each other and do good to each other. I'll tell her there are honor and goodness in the world, the same as there are diamonds and radium.

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I think every human being knows how to hate. Because if they didn't know how to hate how to hate they wouldn't know how to love.

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I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil. I am pretty, but not beautiful. I have friends, but I am not the peacemaker.

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Let yourself go, the pleasure of physical movement is so important. If that's a problem, you say to yourself, what is there that I am afraid of, or hiding? Maybe your libido!

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I finally made up my mind I wanted to be an actress and I was not going to let my lack of confidence ruin my chances.

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As of today, I have absolutely no regrets. I think I am a mature person who can take things in stride. I'm grateful for people in my past. They helped me get to where I am, wherever that is. But now, I am thinking for myself and sitting in on all the business transactions.

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I think cheesecake helps call attention to you. Then you can follow through and prove yourself.

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Too often they don't realize what they have until it's gone. ...they're too stubborn to say, 'Sorry, I was wrong' they hurt the ones closest to their hearts, and we let the most foolish things tear us apart.

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As far as I can make out, women's friendships with each other are based on a gush of lies and pretty speeches that mean nothing. You'd think they were all wolves trying to seduce each other the way they flatter and flirt when they're together.

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

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An actor is supposed to be a sensitive instrument.
Longer Version:
An actor is supposed to be a sensitive instrument..

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That's the story of my life; I always get the fuzzy end of the lollipop.

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I was never used to being happy, so that wasn't something I ever took for granted.

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In life, we weep at the thought of death. In death, perhaps we weep at the thought of life.

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I had to use my wits or else I'd have been sunk -- and nothings going to sink me. Everyone was always pulling at me, tugging at me, as if they wanted a piece of me. It was always, 'do this, do that,' and not just on the job but off, too. God, I've tried to stay intact, whole.

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Just remember, some come, some go. The ones that stay with you through everything -- they're your true best friends. Don't let go of them.

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A friend tells you what you want to hear;a best friend tells you the truth.

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Wise girls kiss but never love,
Listen but never believe,
And leave before they are left.

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The studio people want me to do Good-bye Charlie for the movies, but I'm not going to do it. I don't like the idea of playing a man in a woman's body -- you know? It just doesn't seem feminine.

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I doubt if any doctor could recommend a more nourishing breakfast for a working girl in a hurry.

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If you don't love me at my worst, then you don't deserve me at my best.

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It's a terrible thing to be lonesome, especially in the middle of a crowd.

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A kiss on the hand might feel very good, but a diamond tiara is forever.

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I have never cared especially for outdoor sports and have no desire to excel at tennis, swimming, or golf. I'll leave those things to the men.

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The outside world wants me to have glamour; my fans want me glamorous. I won't let them down.

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The worst thing that happens to people when they dress up and go to a party is that they leave their real selves at home.

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I don't want you to feel depressed, honey. We've had a temporary setback.

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I would have told her then she was the only thing that I could love in this dying world but the simple word love itself already died and went away.

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Squeezing yourself to ooze out the last ounce of sex allure is terribly hard. I'd like to do roles like Julie in Bury the Dead, Gretchen in Faust and Teresa in Cradle Song.

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I said pour yourself a drink, put on some lipstick, and pull yourself together.

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Always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don't, then who will, Sweetie? So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life's a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about.

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I don't mind living in a man's world, as long as I can be a woman in it.

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We should all start to live before we get too old. Fear is stupid. So are regrets.

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I'm pretty, but I'm not beautiful. I sin but I'm not the devil. I'm good, but I'm not an angel.

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For those who are poor in happiness, each time is a first time; happiness never becomes a habit.

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That's the way you feel when you're beaten inside. You don't feel angry at those who've beaten you. You just feel ashamed.

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I usually eat four or five raw carrots with my meat, and that is all. I must be part rabbit; I never get bored with raw carrots.

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It's better for the whole world to know you, even as a sex star, than never to be known at all.

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When you don't have any money, the problem is food. When you have money, it's sex. When you have both, it's health.

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No girl should ever forget that she doesn't need anyone who doesn't need her.

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I've found out it's fun to go shopping. It's such a feminine thing to do.

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I think to love bravely is the best and accept--as much as one can bear.

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Looking back, I guess I used to play-act all the time. For one thing, it meant I could live in a more interesting world than the one around me.

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Boys think girls are like books, If the cover doesn't catch their eye they won't bother to read what's inside.

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Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul. I know, because I turned down the first offer often enough and held out for the fifty cents.

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I've fallen in love with Brooklyn. I'm going to buy a little house in Brooklyn and live there. I'll go to the coast only when I have to make a picture.

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You believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself.

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There are no women who do not like perfume, there are women who have not found their scent.

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The real lover is the man who can thrill you by kissing your forehead.
Longer Version:
The real lover is the man who can thrill you by kissing your forehead or smiling into your eyes or just staring into space.

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When you're young and healthy you can plan on Monday to commit suicide, and by Wednesday you're laughing again.

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This life is what you make it. Not matter what, you're going to mess up sometimes, it's a universal truth.

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I used to think as I looked out on the Hollywood night -- there must be thousands of girls sitting alone like me, dreaming of becoming a movie star. But I'm not going to worry about them. I'm dreaming the hardest.

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All a girl really wants is for one guy to prove to her that they are not all the same.

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Just because you fail once doesn't mean you're gonna fail at everything.
Longer Version:
Just because you fall once, doesn't mean you're fall at everything. Keep trying, hold on, and always trust yourself, because if you don't then who will?

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I don't mind being burdened with being glamorous and sexual. 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.

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We are all born sexual creatures,thank God, but it's a pity so many people despise and crush this natural gift.

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The ones that stay with you through everything -- they're your true best friends. Don't let go of them. Also remember, sisters make the best friends in the world.

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I need one of those long hugs where you kinda forget whatever else is happening around you for minute.

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I want to be an artist, an actress with integrity, and that includes all kinds of parts.

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It's nice to be included in people's fantasies but you also like to be accepted for your own sake.

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If you spend your life competing with business men, what do you have? A bank account and ulcers!

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I was brought up differently than the average American child because the average child is brought up expecting to be happy.

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First, I'm trying to prove to myself that I'm a person. Then maybe I'll convince myself that I'm an actress.

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The thing I want more than anything else? I want to have children. I used to feel for every child I had, I would adopt another.

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My public is growing up just as I am. After all, I'm not 19 anymore and if I stick with the sex bit, who will be paying to see me when I'm 50?

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When I was a youngster I lived with different families. I nearly always felt closer to the man of the house. Maybe because I always dreamed of having a father of my own.

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Fame is like caviar, you know -- it's good to have caviar but not when you have it at every meal.

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My work is the only ground I've ever had to stand on. To put it bluntly, I seem to have a whole superstructure with no foundation, but I'm working on the foundation.
Quotes by Marilyn Monroe are featured in:
Happiness Quotes
Change Quotes
Cute Quotes
Depression Quotes
Hope Quotes
Life Quotes
Money Quotes
Self-Discovery Quotes
Privacy Quotes