From her challenging childhood to becoming the most celebrated actress in America during her time, Marilyn Monroe was able to inspire people in a whole lot of ways regarding love, life, career, and success. Although she’s late, her words are still inspiring to date and form a good part of the most popular quotes ever.
From the top Marilyn Monroe quotes to over 100th, we have compiled her best words of wisdom and sayings that will inspire you to take a different look at life, improve the way you feel about yourself (SELF LOVE), and the way you handle things generally.
Best inspirational quotes by Marilyn Monroe
- “If you can make a woman laugh, you can make her do anything”
- “A career is wonderful, but you can’t curl up to it on a cold night.”
- “A friend tells you what you want to hear; a best friend tells you the truth.”
- “A girl doesn’t need anyone that doesn’t need her.”
- “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.”
- “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.”
- “A wise girl kisses but doesn’t love, listens but doesn’t believe, and leaves before she is left.”
- “A wise girl knows her limits, a smart girl knows that she has none.”
- “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.”
- “Acting isn’t something you do. Instead of doing it, it occurs. If you’re going to start with logic, you might as well give up. You can have conscious preparation, but you have unconscious results.”
- “All a girl really wants is for one guy to prove to her that they are not all the same.”
- “All we demanded was our right to twinkle.”
- “Always be yourself. Retain individuality; listen to the truest part of yourself.”
- “Always remember to smile and look up at what you got in life.”
- “Always, always, always believe in yourself. Because if you don’t then who will, sweetie?”
- “Anything’s possible, almost.”
- “Be real, be yourself, be unique, be true, be honest, be humble, be happy…”
- “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.”
- “Beneath the makeup and behind the smile I am just a girl who wishes for the world.”
- “Boys think girls are like books, If the cover doesn’t catch their eye they won’t bother to read what’s inside.”
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- “Creativity has got to start with humanity and when you’re a human being, you feel, you suffer.”
- “Dogs never bite me. Just humans.”
- “Dreaming about being an actress, is more exciting than being one.”
- “Ever notice how ‘What the hell’ is always the right answer?”
- “Everyone’s a star and deserves the right to twinkle.”
- “Fame doesn’t fulfill you. It warms you a bit, but that warmth is temporary.”
- “Fame is fickle, and I know it. It has its compensations but it also has its drawbacks, and I’ve experienced them both.”
- “Fame will go by and, so long, I’ve had you, Fame. If it goes by, I’ve always known it was fickle.”
- “First, I’m trying to prove to myself that I’m a person. Then maybe I’ll convince myself that I’m an actress.”
- “For life: it is rather a determination not to be overwhelmed. For work: the truth can only be recalled, never invented.”
- “For those who are poor in happiness, each time is a first time; happiness never becomes a habit.”
- “How wrong it is for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself.”
- “I always felt insecure and in the way, but most of all I felt scared. I guess I wanted love more than anything else in the world.”
- “I am not a victim of emotional conflicts. I am human.”
- “I am trying to find myself. Sometimes that’s not easy.”
- “I don’t consider myself an intellectual. And this is not one of my aims. But I admire intellectual people.”
- “I don’t forgive people because I’m weak, I forgive them because I am strong enough to know people make mistakes.”
- “I don’t know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot!”
- “I don’t look at myself as a commodity, but I’m sure a lot of people have.”
- “I don’t mind being burdened with being glamorous and sexual. 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 don’t mind living in a man’s world, as long as I can be a woman in it.”
- “I don’t mind making jokes, but I don’t want to look like one.”
- “I don’t stop when I’m tired. I only stop when I’m done.”
- “I don’t understand why people aren’t a little more generous with each other.”
- “I don’t want to make money. I just want to be wonderful.”
- “I have always been deeply terrified to really be someone’s wife since I know from life one cannot love another, ever, really.”
- “I have feelings too. I am still human. All I want is to be loved, for myself and for my talent.”
- “I knew I belonged to the public and to the world, not because I was talented or even beautiful, but because I had never belonged to anything or anyone else.”
- “I learned to walk as a baby and I haven’t had a lesson since.”
- “I live to succeed, not to please you or anyone else.”
- “I love a natural look in pictures. I like people with a feeling one way or another — it shows an inner life. I like to see that there’s something going on inside them.”
- “I love to do the things the censors won’t pass.”
- “I only know I want to be wonderful.”
- “I read poetry to save time.”
- “I restore myself when I’m alone.”
- “I think that love and work are the only things that really happen to us.”
- “I think that sexuality is only attractive when it’s natural and spontaneous.”
- “I think that when you are famous every weakness is exaggerated.”
- “I want to grow old without facelifts. I want to have the courage to be loyal to the face I have made.”
- “I want to grow old without facelifts… I want to have the courage to be loyal to the face I’ve made. 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.”
- “I won’t be satisfied until people want to hear me sing without looking at me. Of course, that doesn’t mean I want them to stop looking.”
- “I’d like to show that I can get publicity without using my *ss or getting fired from a picture.”
- “I’m one of the world’s most self-conscious people. I really have to struggle.”
- “I’m pretty but not beautiful. I sin but I’m not the devil. I’m good but I’m not an angel.”
- “I’m trying to find the nailhead, not just strike the blow.”
- “I’m very definitely a woman and I enjoy it.”
- “I’ve been on a calendar, but never on time.”
- “I’ve often stood silent at a party for hours listening to my movie idols turn into dull and little people.”
- “If I am a star, the people made me a star.”
- “If I’m a star, then the people made me a star.”
- “If you can make a woman laugh, you can make her do anything.”
- “If you can’t handle me at my worst you don’t deserve me at my best.”
- “Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”
- “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.”
- “In spite of everything life is not without hope.”
- “It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”
- “It’s all make-believe, isn’t it?”
- “It’s far better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone – so far.”
- “It’s nice to be included in people’s fantasies but you also like to be accepted for your own sake.”
- “It’s not true that I had nothing on. I had the radio on.”
- “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.”
- “Its not too much fun to know yourself too well or think you do — everyone needs a little conceit to carry them through and past the falls.”
- “Just because you fail once doesn’t mean you’re gonna fail at everything.”
- “Keep smiling because life is a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.”
- “Looking back, I guess I used to play-act all the time. For one thing, it meant I could live in a more interesting world than the one around me.”
- “Maybe I’ll never be able to do what I hope to, but at least I have hope.”
- “Men are always ready to respect anything that bores them.”
- “Men are climbing to the moon, but they don’t seem interested in the beating human heart.”
- “Men who think that a woman’s past love affairs lessen her love for them are usually stupid and weak.”
- “Millions of people live their entire lives without finding themselves. But it is something I must do.”
- “Most men judge your importance in their lives by how much you can hurt them.”
- “My work is the only ground I’ve ever had to stand on. I seem to have a whole superstructure with no foundation but I’m working on the foundation.”
- “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.”
- “One of the best things that ever happened to me is that I’m a woman. That is the way all females should feel.”
- “People had a habit of looking at me as if I were some kind of mirror instead of a person. They didn’t see me, they saw their own lewd thoughts, then they white-masked themselves by calling me the lewd one.”
- “Please quote me right!”
- “Respect is one of life’s greatest treasures. I mean, what does it all add up to if you don’t have that?”
- “She was a girl who knew how to be happy even when she was sad. And that’s important—you know.”
- “Sometimes I feel my whole life has been one big rejection.”
- “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.”
- “Sweetie, if you’re going to be two-faced, at least make one of them pretty.”
- “That’s the way you feel when you’re beaten inside. You don’t feel angry at those who’ve beaten you. You just feel ashamed.”
- “The body is meant to be seen, not all covered up.”
- “The nicest thing for me is sleep, then at least I can dream.”
- “There isn’t anybody that looks like me without clothes on.”
- “This is a free and democratic country and no one has a monopoly on anything.”
- “This life is what you make it. No matter what, you’re going to mess up sometimes, it’s a universal truth. But the good part is you get to decide how you’re going to mess it up.”
- “To all the girls that think you’re fat – because you’re not a size zero you’re the beautiful one. It’s society who’s ugly.”
- “We are all of us stars, and we deserve to twinkle.”
- “We are all stars but we must learn how to shine.”
- “We should all start to live before we get too old. Fear is stupid. So are regrets.”
- “What do I wear in bed? Why, Chanel No. 5, of course.”
- “When it comes down to it, I let them think what they want. If they care enough to bother with what I do, then I’m already better than them.”
- “When you’re young and healthy you can plan on Monday to commit suicide, and by Wednesday you’re laughing again.”
- “Who said nights were for sleep?”
- “With fame, you know, you can read about yourself, somebody else’s ideas about you, but what’s important is how you feel about yourself – for survival and living day to day with what comes up.”
- “You believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself.”
- “You might as well make yourself fly as to make yourself love.”
- “You never know what life is like, until you have lived it.”
- “Your clothes should be tight enough to show you’re a woman but loose enough to show you’re a lady.”
