Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American entertainer known for her fierce independence and vivacious character, who was a leading woman in Hollywood for over 60 years. She showed up in a range of genres, from screwball comedy to literary drama, and she received a record (for any gender) four Academy Awards for Lead Acting Performances, plus eight further nominations. In 1999, Hepburn was named by the American Film Institute the best female star of Classic Hollywood Cinema. I hope these Katharine Hepburn quotes will inspire you to achieve success.
27 Katharine Hepburn Quotes
- “We are taught you must blame your father, your sisters, your brothers, the school, the teachers – but never blame yourself. It’s never your fault. But it’s always your fault because if you wanted to change you’re the one who has got to change.”
- “Life is hard. After all, it kills you.”
- “Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get — only with what you are expecting to give, which is everything.”
- “As for me, prizes are nothing. My prize is my work.”
- “If you want to sacrifice the admiration of many men for the criticism of one, go ahead, get married.”
- “Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then.”
- “My greatest strength is common sense. I’m really a standard brand – like Campbell’s tomato soup or Baker’s chocolate.”
- “Life is to be lived. If you have to support yourself, you had bloody well better find some way that is going to be interesting. And you don’t do that by sitting around.”
- “If you want to give up the admiration of thousands of men for the distain of one, go ahead, get married.”
- “Dressing up is a bore. At a certain age, you decorate yourself to attract the opposite sex, and at a certain age, I did that. But I’m past that age.”
- “Acting is the most minor of gifts. After all, Shirley Temple could do it when she was four.”
- “Plain women know more about men than beautiful women do.”
- “Never complain. Never explain.”
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“If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased.”
- “Enemies are so stimulating.”
- “You can’t change the music of your soul.”
- “Death will be a great relief. No more interviews.”
- “Without discipline, there’s no life at all.”
- “Marriage is a series of desperate arguments people feel passionately about.”
- “It’s life, isn’t it? You plow ahead and make a hit. And you plow on and someone passes you. Then someone passes them. Time levels.”
- “Trying to be fascinating is an asinine position to be in.”
- “To be loved is very demoralizing.”
- “When I started out, I didn’t have any desire to be an actress or to learn how to act. I just wanted to be famous.”
- “Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere.”
- “Only the really plain people know about love — the very fascinating ones try so hard to create an impression that they soon exhaust their talents.”
- “I never realized until lately that women were supposed to be the inferior sex.”
- “I never lose sight of the fact that just being is fun.”
