Marlene Dietrich Quotes

I dress for the image. Not for myself, not for the public, not for fashion, not for men.

The British have an umbilical cord which has never been cut and through which tea flows constantly. It is curious to watch them in times of sudden horror, tragedy or disaster. The pulse stops apparently, and nothing can be done, and not one move made, until a “nice cup of tea” is quickly made. There is no question that it brings solace and does steady the mind. What a pity all countries are not.

Careful grooming may take twenty years off a woman's age, but you can't fool a flight of stairs.

Being in the depths of sadness is just as important an experience as being exuberantly happy.

It's the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter.

To be completely woman you need a master, and in him a compass for your life. You need a man you can look up to and respect. If you dethrone him it's no wonder that you are discontented, and discontented women are not loved for long.

Champagne makes you feel like it's Sunday and better days are just around the corner.

Glamour is assurance. It is a kind of knowing that you are all right in every way, mentally and physically and in appearance, and that, whatever the occasion or the situation, you are equal to it.

You can't live without illusions, even if you must fight for them.

Most women set out to try to change a man, and when they have changed him they do not like him.

To lose your prejudices you must travel.

In Europe, it doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman - we make love with anyone we find attractive.

In language gender is particularly confusing. Why, please, should a table be male in German, female in French, and castrated in English?

Darling, the legs aren't so beautiful, I just know what to do with them.

Words can bruise and break hearts, and minds as well. There are no black and blue marks, no broken bones to put in plaster casts, and therefore no prison bars for the offender.

Love for the joy of loving, and not for the offerings of someone else's heart.

Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast.

Tenderness is greater proof of love than the most passionate of vows.

I do not think that we have a “right” to happiness. If happiness happens, say thanks.

I was raised almost entirely on turnips and potatoes, but I think that the turnips had more to do with the effect than the potatoes.

H is for Hardware store: I'd rather go to the hardware store than the opera. And I like the opera.

When you prostitute yourself, you have to get paid for it.

I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized wiser than oneself.

A man would prefer to come home to an unmade bed and a happy woman than to a neatly made bed and an angry woman.

I am at heart a gentleman.

Do let him read the papers. But not while you accusingly tiptoe around the room, or perch much like a silent bird of prey on the edge of your most uncomfortable chair. (He will read them anyway, and he should read them, so let him choose his own good time.) Don't make a big exit. Just go. But kiss him quickly, before you go, otherwise he might think you are angry; he is used to suspecting he is doing something wrong.

Don't follow it blindly into every dark alley. Always remember that you are not a model or a mannequin for which the fashion is created.

Most people who make movies are in real life a bitter disappointment. I, on the other hand, am so much better in real life.

Grumbling is the death of love

How do you know love is gone? If you said that you would be there at seven and you get there by nine, and he or she has not called the police yet - it's gone.

Glamour is what I sell, it's my stock in trade.

Chanel was a workaholic. She must have had a lot to forget.

What a man notices first about a woman is whether she notices him.

Latins are tenderly enthusiastic. In Brazil they throw flowers at you. In Argentina they throw themselves.

For women, beauty is more important than the mind, because the man is easier to watch than to think.

The average man is more interested in a woman who is interested in him than he is in a woman with beautiful legs.

Without tenderness, a man is uninteresting.

Love affairs are the real only education in life.

There is a gigantic difference between earning a great deal of money and being rich.

In America, sex is an obsession, in other parts of the world it's a fact.

I have a child and I've made a few people happy. That is all.

Writers, Composers, Painters, - also artists like directors and actors fall into the same category. They have to be handled with kid gloves, mentally and physically

Sex is much better with a woman, but then one can't live with a woman.

Friendship is a precious gift that can't be bought or sold. It's value is greater than mountains made of gold. If you shall ask God for a gift be thankful if he sends not diamonds pearls or riches but the love and trust of friends. It is the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter.

Lover's words: “How beautiful you are, now that you love me.”

[On Las Vegas:] I love that town. No clocks. No locks. No restrictions.

The weak are more likely to make the strong weak than the strong are likely to make the weak strong.

one should be afraid of life, not of death.

There comes a time when suddenly you realize that laughter is something you remember and that you were the one laughing.

The Germans and I no longer speak the same language.