21 quotes
My father warned me about men and booze, but he never mentioned a word about women and cocaine.
Tallulah, Darling: A Biography of Tallulah Bankhead (1980)
The cynic says "blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for he shall not be disappointed." I say "blessed is he who expecteth everything, for he can't always be disappointed."
But these are the people who never get it.
If you want to help the American theater, don't be an actress, be an audience.
The only thing I regret about my past is the length of it. If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner.
Tallulah: My Autobiography (1952)
Only good girls keep diaries. Bad girls don't have the time.
The Pleasures of Diaries: Four Centuries of Private Writing (1989)
Nobody can be exactly like me. Sometimes even I have trouble doing it.
Tallulah: My Autobiography (1952)
Here's a rule I recommend. Never practice two vices at once.
Tallulah: My Autobiography (1952)
I don’t know what I want.
Nobody knows — or if they do, they don’t know for long.
It's one of the tragic ironies of the theatre that only one man in it can count on steady work — the night watchman.
Tallulah: My Autobiography (1952)
There's less in this than meets the eye.
Tallulah: My Autobiography (1952)
Going down on a woman gives me a stiff neck, going down on a man gives me lockjaw, and conventional sex gives me claustrophobia.
Tallulah, Darling: A Biography of Tallulah Bankhead (1980)
If you really want to help the American theater, don't be an actress, dahling. Be an audience.
Tallulah: My Autobiography (1952)
I'll come and make love to you at five o'clock. If I'm late, start without me.
Tallulah, Darling: A Biography of Tallulah Bankhead (1980)
I read Shakespeare and the Bible, and I can shoot dice. That's what I call a liberal education.
Tallulah: My Autobiography (1952)
Cocaine isn't habit forming. I should know — I've been using it for years.
Tallulah: My Autobiography (1952)
I'm as pure as the driven slush.
Tallulah: My Autobiography (1952)
I was raped in a driveway when I was eleven. … It was a terrible experience because we had all that gravel.
The Girls : Sappho Goes to Hollywood (2001)
I have three phobias which, could I mute them, would make my life as slick as a sonnet, but as dull as ditch water — I hate to go to bed, I hate to get up, and I hate to be alone.
Tallulah: My Autobiography (1952)
Let's not quibble! I'm the foe of moderation, the champion of excess. If I may lift a line from a die-hard whose identity is lost in the shuffle, "I'd rather be strongly wrong than weakly right."
Tallulah: My Autobiography (1952)