Marilyn Monroe quotes:

Experts on romance say for a happy marriage there has to be more than a passionate love. For a lasting union, they insist, there must be a genuine liking for each other. Which, in my book, is a good definition for friendship.

Success makes so many people hate you. I wish it wasn't that way. It would be wonderful to enjoy success without seeing envy in the eyes of those around you.

The real lover is the man who can thrill you just by touching your head or smiling into your eyes - or just by staring into space.

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.

Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.

Marriage destroyed my relationship with two wonderful men.

A strong man doesn't have to be dominant toward a woman. He doesn't match his strength against a woman weak with love for him. He matches it against the world.

I don't know if high society is different in other cities, but in Hollywood, important people can't stand to be invited someplace that isn't full of other important people. They don't mind a few unfamous people being present because they make good listeners.

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.

I was honoured when they asked me to appear at the president's birthday rally in Madison Square Garden. There was like a hush over the whole place when I came on to sing 'Happy Birthday,' like if I had been wearing a slip, I would have thought it was showing or something. I thought, 'Oh, my gosh, what if no sound comes out!'

Some of my foster families used to send me to the movies to get me out of the house and there I'd sit all day and way into the night. Up in front, there with the screen so big, a little kid all alone, and I loved it. I loved anything that moved up there and I didn't miss anything that happened and there was no popcorn either.

Dreaming about being an actress, is more exciting then being one.

At twelve I looked like a girl of seventeen. My body was developed and shapely. I still wore the blue dress and the blouse the orphanage provided. They made me look like an overgrown lummox.

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

There is a need for aloneness, which I don't think most people realise for an actor. It's almost having certain kinds of secrets for yourself that you'll let the whole world in on only for a moment, when you're acting. But everybody is always tugging at you. They'd all like sort of a chunk of you.

I am involved in a freedom ride protesting the loss of the minority rights belonging to the few remaining earthbound stars. All we demanded was our right to twinkle.

The public doesn't mind people living together without being married, providing they don't overdo it.

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.

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.

I want to grow old without facelifts. I want to have the courage to be loyal to the face I have made.

If there is only one thing in my life that I am proud of, it's that I've never been a kept woman.

The nicest thing for me is sleep, then at least I can dream.

A woman can't be alone. She needs a man. A man and a woman support and strengthen each other. She just can't do it by herself.

I have noticed... that men usually leave married women alone and are inclined to treat all wives with respect. This is no great credit to married women.

The 'public' scares me, but people I trust.

A man is more frank and sincere with his emotions than a woman. We girls, I'm afraid, have a tendency to hide our feelings.

There was my name up in lights. I said, 'God, somebody's made a mistake.' But there it was, in lights. And I sat there and said, 'Remember, you're not a star.' Yet there it was up in lights.

Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition.

My dinners at home are startlingly simple. Every night, I stop at the market near my hotel and pick up a steak, lamb chops or some liver, which I broil in the electric oven in my room. 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.

Why is it you always meet people when you look your worst?

All my stepchildren carried the burden of my fame. Sometimes they would read terrible things about me, and I'd worry about whether it would hurt them. I would tell them: 'Don't hide these things from me. I'd rather you ask me these things straight out, and I'll answer all your questions.'

I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil. I am just a small girl in a big world trying to find someone to love.

Depending upon my activities, I sleep between five and ten hours every night. I sleep in an extra-wide single bed, and I use only one heavy down comforter over me, summer or winter. I have never been able to wear pajamas or creepy nightgowns; they disturb my sleep.

A woman knows by intuition, or instinct, what is best for herself.

A career is wonderful, but you can't curl up with it on a cold night.

Girdles and wire stays should have never been invented. No man wants to hug a padded bird cage.

When it comes to gossip, I have to readily admit men are as guilty as women.

I am alone; I am always alone no matter what.

Men who think that a woman's past love affairs lessen her love for them are usually stupid and weak.

I think I have always had a little humor.

I love a natural look in pictures.

Having a child, that's always been my biggest fear. I want a child and I fear a child.

No one ever told me I was pretty when I was a little girl. All little girls should be told they're pretty, even if they aren't.

It's often just enough to be with someone. I don't need to touch them. Not even talk. A feeling passes between you both. You're not alone.

I have always had a talent for irritating women since I was fourteen.

I've often stood silent at a party for hours listening to my movie idols turn into dull and little people.

It's better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone - so far.

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

If I close my eyes and think of Hollywood, all I see is one big varicose vein.

Dogs never bite me - just humans.

Consider the fellow. He never spends his time telling you about his previous night's date. You get the idea he has eyes only for you and wouldn't think of looking at another woman.

I used to get the feeling, and sometimes I still get it, that sometimes I was fooling somebody; I don't know who or what, maybe myself.

I'll think I have a few wonderful friends and all of a sudden, ooh, here it comes. They do a lot of things. They talk about you to the press, to their friends, tell stories, and you know, it's disappointing.

I'm selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I'm out of control, and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.

I don't digest things with my mind.

There is just no comparison between having a dinner date with a man and staying home playing canasta with the girls.

When I was five, I think, that's when I started wanting to be an actress. I loved to play. I didn't like the world around me because it was kind of grim, but I loved to play house. It was like you could make your own boundaries.

Friends accept you the way you are.

A man makes you feel important - makes you glad you are a woman.

If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything.

We human beings are strange creatures and still reserve the right to think for ourselves.

Only the public can make a star. It's the studios who try to make a system out of it.

The body is meant to be seen, not all covered up.

Nothing's ever easy as long as you go on living.

If your man is a sports enthusiast, you may have to resign yourself to his spouting off in a monotone on a prize fight, football game or pennant race.

A career is wonderful, but you can't curl up with it on a cold night

An actress is not a machine, but they treat you like a machine. A money machine.

Always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don't, then who will, sweetie?

Just because you fail once, doesn't mean you're gonna fail at everything. Keep trying, hold on, and 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.

You're always running into people's unconscious.

I want to be an artist, not... a celluloid aphrodisiac.

I don't mind making jokes, but I don't want to look like one.

I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.

Things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right.

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

Designers want me to dress like Spring, in billowing things. I don't feel like Spring. I feel like a warm red Autumn.

What do I wear in bed? Why, Chanel No. 5, of course.

Beneath the makeup and behind the smile I am just a girl who wishes for the world.

Don't you know that a man being rich is like a girl being pretty? You wouldn't marry a girl just because she's pretty, but my goodness, doesn't it help?

Speaking of Oscars, I would win overwhelmingly if the Academy gave an Oscar for faking orgasms. I have done some of my best acting convincing my partners I was in the throes of ecstasy.

One of the best things that ever happened to me is that I'm a woman. That is the way all females should feel.

There's only one sort of natural blonde on earth - albinos.

I've never fooled anyone. I've let people fool themselves. They didn't bother to find out who and what I was. Instead they would invent a character for me. I wouldn't argue with them. They were obviously loving somebody I wasn't.

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

It takes a smart brunette to play a dumb blonde.

I've been on a calendar, but I've never been on time.

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

Fame to me certainly is only a temporary and a partial happiness ... fame is not really for a daily diet, that's not what fulfills you. It warms you a bit but the warming is temporary. It's like caviar, you know - it's good to have caviar but not when you have to have it every meal and every day.

Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.

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.

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

The trouble with censors is that they worry if a girl has cleavage. They ought to worry if she hasn't any.

Sometimes I think it would be easier to avoid old age, to die young, but then you'd never complete your life, would you? You'd never wholly know you.

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.

Fame is fickle, and I know it. It has its compensations but it also has its drawbacks, and I've experienced them both.

Arthur Miller wouldn't have married me if I had been nothing but a dumb blonde.

Yes, there was something special about me, and I knew what it was. I was the kind of girl they found dead in a hall bedroom with an empty bottle of sleeping pills in her hand.

I believe that everything happens for a reason.

If you're gonna be two-faced at least make one of them pretty.

Sometimes good things fall apart so better things could fall together.

I don't know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot.

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

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

Fame will go by and, so long, I've had you, fame. If it goes by, I've always known it was fickle. So at least it's something I experience, but that's not where I live.

I don't want everybody to see exactly where I live, what my sofa or my fireplace looks like.

Naturally, there are times when every woman likes to be flattered... to feel she is the most important thing in someone's world. Only a man can paint this picture.

The truth is, I've never fooled anyone. I've let men sometimes fool themselves.

The real lover is the man who can thrill you by kissing your forehead.

There are many times when a woman will ask another girl friend how she likes her new hat. She will reply, 'Fine,' but slap her hand to her forehead the minute the girl leaves to yipe, 'What a horror!'

I'm so many people. They shock me sometimes. I wish I was just me! I used to think I was going crazy, until I discovered that some people I admired were like that to.

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.

In Hollywood a girl's virtue is much less important than her hairdo.

In Hollywood a girl's virtue is much less important than her hairdo. You're judged by how you look, not by what you are. Hollywood's a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for kiss, and fifty cents for your soul. I know, because I turned down the first offer often enough and held out for the fifty.

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

it is better to be happy alone than to be miserable with someone else

Being a sex symbol is a heavy load to carry, especially when one is tired, hurt and bewildered.

I have too many fantasies to be a housewife. I guess I am a fantasy.

(about her teen years) My admirers all said the same thing in different ways. It was my fault, their wanting to kiss and hug me.

Dogs have never hurt me. Only men have.

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.