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Bette Davis Quotes
1908–1989 United States
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was a two-time Academy Award-winning American actress of film, television and theatre. Known for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres; from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional comedies, though her best remembered films are romantic dramas.
United States Actresses Authors Episcopalians Memoirists Also known as: Davis, Bette
Random Bette Davis quote
18 quotes
Attempt the impossible in order to improve your work.
To fulfill a dream, to be allowed to sweat over lonely labor, to be given a chance to create, is the meat and potatoes of life. The money is the gravy.
The Lonely Life : An Autobiography (1962)
Love is not enough. It must be the foundation, the cornerstone-but not the complete structure. It is much too pliable, too yielding.
Basically, I believe the world is a jungle, and if it's not a bit of a jungle in the home, a child cannot possibly be fit to enter the outside world.
May each of my grandsons know, at an early age, what his life's ambition is -- and may he be successful in his pursuit of that goal.
I love my profession. I would never stop. Relax? I relax when I work. It's my life.
To look back is to relax one's vigil.
I'm the nicest goddamn dame that ever lived.
There are new words now that excuse everybody. Give me the good old days of heroes and villains, the people you can bravo or hiss. There was a truth to them that all the slick credulity of today cannot touch.
'In the beginning was the Word,' and you must not be tempted with a script just because you have a great part. You want a great role to play, but the whole - the whole - must be good. It'll never succeed if it's just the role you like.
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.
On Bad Sister (1931)
Miss Bankhead isn't well enough known nationally to warrant my imitating her.
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You will never be happier than you expect. To change your happiness, change your expectation.
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When a man gives his opinion, he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch.
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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.
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Brought up to respect the conventions, love had to end in marriage. I'm afraid it did.
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My passions were all gathered together like fingers that made a fist. Drive is considered aggression today; I knew it then as purpose.
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Old age ain't no place for sissies.
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