Quotes by Rita Moreno

I have stamina, and I have energy.

I should be a representative for AARP!

I think it's important to be reminded that that's what this country is comprised of -- people from other countries.

Any character who had dark skin, I got all those parts. I could play a Polynesian, East Indian princess, whatever.

You can wish to have an Oscar someday or some other award, but Life Achievement? You don't see yourself that way.

It's not easy having a partnership in this business.

Let's face it. How often do you see an Asian face in films and television? They are practically invisible. Now and then, you will get one, and, interestingly, he gets the role of a scientist. Isn't that interesting?

If you can find a way your character moves, you know more about your character than you'd ever dream.

Mellowing has never done much for me. You need to keep moving.

When I was a little girl, there was no Variety Latino. When I was a little girl, there was no nothing. There were very few roles for people like myself.

I was always typecast as a Latina.

I grew up as a child who felt she was very inferior to everyone else.

I've always believed that I had talent, even when I felt like a very inferior sort of person, which I spent a lot of time living my life feeling that I wasn't worthy.

I -- my experience was really no different from any other immigrant that came to this country. It was rough.

It's kind of heartbreaking when I talk about it now, I still get very moved by the lack of opportunities that were available to myself and to the very few others who were Hispanic young actresses.

My video has a lot to do with the inside of a woman. Usually, exercise videos refer to exteriors only. They never talk to a woman where she lives -- in her heart and soul. I do that at the beginning and end of mine.

I am the happiest Hispanic I've ever met. Truly.

I love Hallmark movies because they make movies that you don't see anymore... and at a time when there is so much evil in the world, it's kind of nice to be able to retreat to something like a Hallmark Movies and Mysteries.

I was dancing for my grandpa from the time I was 4 or 5 years old in Puerto Rico.

My grandkids are everything to me. For me, family is all!

There is something about sex that always brings out the funny in me. I think it's because we make such fools of ourselves over it.

My husband and I were very different: I'm spontaneous and emotional; I'm loud -- he was exactly the opposite. But you need to be flexible.

Doing 'Life Without Makeup' onstage is what inspired me to do a book in the first place.

I was the artsy one, and my husband took care of all our finances. It was the Latino way -- the man is in charge of the money.

You've got to make a decision when you write about your life, and I decided I was going to be honest, and some of those things will be embarrassing.

Doing 'The Electric Company' was the most fun ever.

'LIFE Magazine' decided to do a story about a young actress in Hollywood in 1954. And I made the cover. And I remember that the fellow who was doing the story on me said, 'Listen, kid, I just want you to know, if Eisenhower gets a cold, you're off the cover.'

My voice has many dynamics in it. Like my little body.

Is there a grandmother that isn't spunky on television? Is there such a creature?

Elvis was a sweet darling, shy fellow, but he was really boring.

I knew what my scripts would say before I opened them: 'Enter Conchita.' I played handmaidens, Indian squaws, and Mexican dancers.

No one's going to tell me how to make my own choices. For too many years, everybody told me what to say and what to do and how to be.

I sing Broadway stuff in the shower, mostly.

I think Mike Nichols is brilliant, but I think Jerry Robbins was a genius.

I figure if I keep my spirit in shape, the bones will take care of themselves.

My best work happened on the stage.

You can never fight for a part or can't beg them to do another audition. You can try, but that rarely works.

Being in service and being involved in something that is greater than you is what makes a person complete and whole. The very first thing I ever did in terms of activism was for an anti-atom bomb rally.

I'm trying as hard as I can to keep pushing the boundaries of what a woman is capable of doing. And it turns out there's a lot we can do. There's a lot we can speak about.

I've been neurotic in my life; I've had neurotic relationships with men. What else is new? But you really have to learn to be resilient -- able to bounce back, pick yourself up, and just keep moving.

I think lying is a bad idea. Sooner or later, someone's going to catch you.

I was born in Puerto Rico -- I used to sit in the sun until I looked like a piece of bacon. It's a wonder now that I don't look like an old wallet. I'm a very fortunate person.

Most people don't know that dancing auditions, you learn the steps right now.

I love being onstage, I love getting applause, and I love the love that comes across the footlights. It's so much a part of what I do and what I've done most of my life.

I'm a person who perseveres. You know, you fall down, you get up.

The thing I get the most that I really love is that people don't so much mention films I've been in or shows I've been in as they say, instead, 'I love you. I just love your perseverance.' That really pleases me.

I was determined that with perseverance and faith, at some point, someone would say, 'This girl has talent,' and would cast me in something meaningful.

Elvis was really sweet and kind of bashful, but he didn't have a whole lot to say.

When I was girl, you could still get certain jobs if you didn't have a diploma.

If you're in a business where Latinos only play Indian maidens and what I call 'Conchita Lolita' parts -- the little fiery spitfires -- you do what you have to do.

I don't want to miss out on my grandchildren and my daughter, and doing Broadway would do just that.

I was brought up on animal grease.

I love performing for kids, but you can't play down to them, of course. Then it would be 'Captain Kangaroo.'

I'm an actress, and I am Latina.

Being the house ethnic was destroying my life and my sense of myself, because I had been consigned to play every dusky maiden you have ever seen in your life in movies.

You can't, or you shouldn't, be nominated for an Oscar unless you've turned in a performance that's special.

I'm 81 and I'm in the prime of my life.

I had no role models from my own community -- there was no such thing. Earlier on, there were people like Dolores Del Rio, but I was too young for that -- that was before me. There was really nobody out there.

I'm 85, and I'm still a sexual being, or a sensual being.

Puerto Ricans are many colors -- we are Spanish, we're French, we're Thai, Indian, we're almost black, some of us.

Arrogance -- I have very little tolerance for that.

All my life, I faced sexism and racism and then, when I hit 40, ageism.

If you saw me in 'The King and I,' I had that angelic, virginal face.

I played a Siamese girl from Thailand. I played an Arabian girl. I did a lot of American Indians. I never, ever was able to do a part without assuming some kind of accent.

The wonderful thing about cabaret is, you can do a lot of things you can't do in a concert. You can't do smoky ballads for 50 minutes in a concert. It's a different animal.

The part of my personality that most irritated my husband, some of our big, big disagreements were when I got what he called 'showbiz.' He meant flamboyant or raucous.

I deliberately state my age because it keeps me honest. I think lying is a bad idea. Sooner or later, someone's going to catch you.

Women over 30 are usually somebody's mother in a 'Porky's' movie, being silly and being ridiculed. There's just not a whole lot for them to do. It's just coffee-pouring on a bigger scale.

I wore so much rubber when I was at MGM, I bumped into the wall once, and I ricocheted.

People say that when you get to a certain age that you start to mellow. I have no idea what these people are talking about.

My idol when I was a kid was Elizabeth Taylor.

Lupe Velez was way before me; Dolores Del Rio was way before me, so I had no one. So the only one I could think of that I identified with was this gorgeous creature named Elizabeth Taylor, so she became my role model.

When you engage your brain, it just keeps getting fatter and richer and wonderful.

Actors very often are people who think it's always about 'me,' and I can see why! No one else is going to support you or say, 'Gosh, I'm sorry about that,' or, 'Here, let me give you a job.' It doesn't happen that way.

I live in the moment. The moment is the most important thing. That's my entire philosophy: Make the best of the good moments.

Los Angles is not my favorite city. Well, I shouldn't say that... I love to visit it, on a temporary basis. It's just such a company town! You can't go anywhere and not run into someone who wants to be in the business.

Ultimately, a city is formed by its people and the women in Berkeley are just great. They are opinionated, they have ideas, they belong to boards, and they write letters to editors... really wonderful people.

You see a script, and you say, 'Oh, I can play the heck out of that,' talk to your agent, and he says they don't want to see you. That's heartbreaking.

I'm one of the happiest people I know. I truly am. And it's genuine.

I am able to get up and dust myself off and keep moving forward. I'm very stubborn.

I believe staying young at heart is all in one's personal attitude... you can't instill that in anyone.

I am not exactly Mrs. Good Housekeeping, although I love to cook, bake, even iron, but only because it's not mandatory.

I'm one of the most joyous people I've ever met.

Maybe Elvis was inhibited by inbred religious prohibitions or an Oedipal complex, or maybe he simply preferred the thrill of a denied release. Whatever put the brakes on the famous pelvis, it ground to a halt at a certain point, and that was it.

I'm one of those performers who has done just about everything except juggle, and I'm working on that.

I'm so damn lucky to still be here at 85. If I get a hangnail, I don't dare complain! Life is good. I wake up humming.

If I get a hangnail, I don't dare complain! Life is good. I wake up humming.

I think Jennifer Lopez is a phenom. And as far as I'm concerned, she's really a very smart businesswoman.

I can't dwell on past mistakes.

I am a very positive and optimistic person.

C'mon, we're actors. We love the attention. We love the applause. We sure don't like to be rejected.

There are some fabulous treasures of photos of me during the early days of my career; there are these pin-up photos that make me laugh: I look like the poor man's Maria Montez. But there are some I look at, and I didn't realize how sexy I looked back then.

I was not treated like a serious young actress, and that was very hard. It sent me into psychotherapy, which is one of the smartest things I ever did. It taught me that I had to find value in myself.