Katharine Hepburn Quotes

If you obey all of the rules, you miss all of the fun.

Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get - only with what you are expecting to give - which is everything

Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then.

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.

I have not lived as a woman. I have lived as a man. I've just done what I damn well wanted to, and I've made enough money to support myself, and ain't afraid of being alone.

If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased.

What in the world would we do without our libraries?

What you see before you, my friend, is the result of a lifetime of chocolate.

The thing about life is that you must survive. Life is going to be difficult, and dreadful things will happen. What you do is move along, get on with it, and be tough. Not in the sense of being mean to others, but being tough with yourself and making a deadly effort not to be defeated.

Never complain. Never explain.

Life can be wildly tragic at times, and I've had my share. But whatever happens to you, you have to keep a slightly comic attitude. In the final analysis, you have got not to forget to laugh.

You can’t change the music of your soul. —In Esquire, 1967

She runs the gamut of emotions from A to B.

If you want to sacrifice the admiration of many men for the criticism of one, go ahead, get married.

I have many regrets, and I'm sure everyone does. The stupid things you do, you regret if you have any sense, and if you don't regret them, maybe you're stupid.

I have loved and been in love. There's a big difference.

I'm an atheist, and that's it. I believe there's nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for people.

Everyone thought I was bold and fearless and even arrogant, but inside I was always quaking.

Wouldn't it be great if people could get to live suddenly as often as they die suddenly?

Enemies are so stimulating.

I could peel you like a pear and god himself would see the justice in it.

Children need boundaries, so they can know how far they have to go to get beyond them.

If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun

Nothing could be taken for granted. Women who loved you tried to cut your throat, while women who didn't even know your name scrubbed your back. Witches could sound like Katharine Hepburn and your best friend could try to strangle you. Smack in the middle of an orchid there might be a blob of jello and inside a Mickey Mouse doll, a fixed and radiant star.

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.

Acting is the most minor of gifts and not a very high-class way to earn a living. After all, Shirley Temple could do it at the age of four.

I don't care what is written about me as long as it isn't true.

You politicians remain professional because the voters remain amateur.

I was fearless...and lawless.

Fuck the roots.

And I became fixated, too, upon Katharine Hepburn’s famous Fred and Ginger theory: He gives her class, she gives him sex. Was this a general rule? Did all friendships—all relations—involve this discreet and mysterious exchange of qualities, this exchange of power?

Live dangerously. There's a lot to be said for sinning.

I don't feel the slightest interest in the next world; I think it's here. And I think anything good that you're going to do, you should do for other people here and not so you can try to have a happy time in the next world.

Now how can anybody look at that and not believe in God? I mean, how can anybody look at this and not believe there is some higher power, some divine force at work in the universe greater than Man, some god that created it, that created all this, that created us?

Heaven to be the first one up and to eat breakfast all alone.

Listen to the Song of Life

If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.

A new beginning done right," she said out loud, because everyone knew that saying it out loud made it true. "You hear that, karma?" She glanced upward through her slightly leaky sunroof into a dark sky, where storm clouds tumbled together like a dryer full of gray wool blankets. "This time, I'm gong to be strong." Like Katharine Hepburn. Like Ingrid Bergman ."So go torture someone else and leave me alone." A bolt of lightning blinded her, followed by a boom of thunder that nearly had her jerking out of her skin. "Okay, so I meant pretty please leave me alone." -Maddie

No part of marriage is the exclusive province of any one sex.

How wonderful are the women and men in the world who feed us. Especially those who feed us with no salary. The mothers—I thought. The wives.

I am an atheist and that's it. I believe there's nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for other people.

Death will be a great relief. No more interviews.

He's worked his entire life and he's never lived a single moment, I mean not a moment, in the real world.

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.” – Judy Garland

I have no romantic feelings about age. Either you are interesting at any age or you are not. There is nothing particularly interesting about being old-or being young for that matter.

She was, in fact, Katharine Hepburn, playing a store clerk in the first reel of a smart comedy

Worrying about clothes, though, is easy to understand. When it comes to clothes, people are very competitive, especially if they're movie stars. I think every smart woman devises a look for herself. Margaret Sullivan had a look: romantic, young, pretty, smart. Katharine Hepburn made a look for herself as this wonderful old salty character. Marilyn Monroe had a look; it was like, "Fuck me with sadness"...

My father had been disgusted and heartsick over the fact that I wanted to act. Thought it a silly profession closely allied to street-walking.

To put it simply: There was no bunk about Bogie. He was a man.

When you know better, it's easier to do better" George Chryst

If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased.

[Lauren Bacall] and Bogie seemed to have the most enormous opinion of each other's charms, and when they fought it was with the utter confidence of two cats locked deliciously in the same cage.

You suddenly realize what a tremendous opportunity it is just to be alive. The potential. If you can keep a-goin'--you actually can do it. So just keep a-goin'--you can win. It's when you stop that you're done.

If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased

Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then.” ~Katharine Hepburn

Katharine Hepburn’s voice: “If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.

Love Katharine Hepburn. Her selfless love to Spencer, with little or no regard for her own needs, wants or care, bothers me. The book while interesting, was not what i expected, yet, the last chapter was the most disturbing, love knows no bounds, she had unconditional love for Spencer, it is a shame it was not reciprocated. she deserved so much more. but she did it out of love. how can you argue with that? i hope her free spirit is still surrounding all of us.

The single most important thing anyone needs to know about me," Kate hepburn said, "is that I am totally, completely the product of two damn fascinating individuals who happened to be my parents. I've had a pretty remarkable life, but compared to my mother and father, I'm dull.

@mink: Guess what I got in the mail today? A brand-new copy of The Philadelphia Story. @alex: Nice! Love that movie. We should watch that together sometime if I can find a copy. @mink: Definitely. It’s one of my favorite Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn films! @alex: Well, in other good news, since I know you LOVE gangster movies so much [insert sarcasm here], I just sent you a ton of Godfather screens with Alex-ified captions, changing things up for you. @mink: I’m looking at them right now. You think you’re pretty funny, don’t you? @alex: Only if you do. @mink: You made orange juice go up my nose. @alex: That’s all I ever wanted, Mink.

The country is like a great sponge—it finally absorbs you. Eventually you will get malaria or you will get dysentery and whatever you do, if you don't keep doing it, the jungle will grow over you. Black or white, you've got to fight it every minute of the day.

Cold sober, I find myself absolutely fascinating.

If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun.

Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get - only with what you are expecting to give - which is everything.

If you're given a choice between money and sex appeal, take the money. As you get older, the money will become your sex appeal.

If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased".

I would have been a terrible mother because I'm basically a very selfish human being. Not that that has stopped most people going off and having children.

Katharine Hepburn said it best. ‘Nature’, she says majestically to Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen, ‘is what we are put in this world to rise above.’ The

Life is hard. After all, it kills you.” ~Katharine Hepburn

If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun. –Katharine Hepburn

Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get — only what you are expecting to give — which is everything.  —Katharine Hepburn

Eager, perhaps, to repay the favor of listening, Sylvia nodded with encouragement. But suddenly she reminded Enid of Katharine Hepburn. In Hepburn's eyes there had been a blank unconsciousness of privilege that made a once-poor woman like Enid want to kick her patrician shins with the hardest-toed pumps at her disposal. It would be a mistake, she felt, to confess anything to this woman.

If motherhood doesn't interest you, don't do it. It didn't interest me, so I didn't do it. Anyway, I would have made a terrible parent. The first time my child didn't do what I wanted, I'd kill him.

Through the early 1930s, Barbara Stanwyck established her reputation in a field overflowing with other young Broadway starlets: Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins, Katharine Hepburn, Claudette Colbert, Joan Blondell. Barbara was lower-keyed and less mannered than Davis and Hepburn; less glamorous than Colbert. She was “real,” and she also proved to be the personification of no-nonsense professionalism, making her popular with directors and coworkers alike.

George Williams, the revered evolutionary biologist, describes the natural world as “grossly immoral.” Having no foresight or compassion, natural selection “can honestly be described as a process for maximizing short-sighted selfishness.” On top of all the miseries inflicted by predators and parasites, the members of a species show no pity to their own kind. Infanticide, siblicide, and rape can be observed in many kinds of animals; infidelity is common even in so-called pair-bonded species; cannibalism can be expected in all species that are not strict vegetarians; death from fighting is more common in most animal species than it is in the most violent American cities. Commenting on how biologists used to describe the killing of starving deer by mountain lions as an act of mercy, Williams wrote: “The simple facts are that both predation and starvation are painful prospects for deer, and that the lion's lot is no more enviable. Perhaps biology would have been able to mature more rapidly in a culture not dominated by Judeo-Christian theology and the Romantic tradition. It might have been well served by the First Holy Truth from [Buddha's] Sermon at Benares: “Birth is painful, old age is painful, sickness is painful, death is painful...”” As soon as we recognize that there is nothing morally commendable about the products of evolution, we can describe human psychology honestly, without the fear that identifying a “natural” trait is the same as condoning it. As Katharine Hepburn says to Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen, “Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above.

Nook people know the words to a movie by heart but never say them out loud because anticipation is an asset. Because there’s no interrupting Katharine Hepburn when she’s interrupting herself: “Aren’t the geraniums pretty, Professor?

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.  - Katharine Hepburn

Funny the things which civilization has to offer when one misses. Flooring is a lovely thing. Gives one confidence. During my five weeks' occupancy the mud floor stayed wet in spite of great care on my part not to slop the water again. It never did properly dry, because the hut was necessarily dark. No direct sun came in, and the humidity was so terrific that even in direct sunlight nothing ever dried out. Curious to live on a slippery surface. A floor is a very important item.

Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get – only with what you are expecting to give – which is everything.

He summed me up very accurately for what I was: a lady, so called-a sort of a snob-and totally insecure.

Because you suddenly realize what a tremendous opportunity it is just to be alive.

It seems to me I discovered what "I love you" really means. It means I put you and your interests and your comfort ahead of my own interests and my own comfort because I love you,

To learn responsibility - each of us has to learn responsibility.

I'd always wanted to be a boy. Jimmy was my name, if you want to know.

two people who are used to having their own way should stay separate

Personal charm is a great help. You can sit there and be an awful ass, but if you have personal charm, you can really put it over on the general public

If you are a member of a big family, you always have someone at hand for golf, tennis, walks, movies. You never have to “find company,” so to speak.

Dad always said if you want to get something, don’t write. Don’t telephone. Be there yourself. In person. Harder to turn down a living presence.

He was Irish to the fingertips. He could laugh and he could create laughter. He had a funny way of looking at things—at some things, I should say.

It terrifies anyone intelligent to do anything.

...prizes are nothing. My prize is my work.

So just keep a-goin'-you can win. It's when you stop that you're done.

Plain women know more about men than beautiful women do.

As one goes through in life, one learns that if you don't paddle your own canoe, you don't move.

So what do you think it's all about? Life, I mean." [...] "To work hard", she said, "and to love someone". Then she paused. "And to have some fun", she added. "And if you're lucky, you keep your health...and somebody loves you back".

LOVE Katharine Hepburn said: “Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get — only what you are expecting to give — which is everything.” Love is heart-power and it can’t be defined by the brain. It showers us with magic, as Thomas Moore put it, “and even in the midst of pain it can offer moments of rapture.” Love at the end of life is a force that cannot be denied. Nor can it be rationed, for love overflows and cannot be contained. True love is unconditional. We need do nothing. Love just is!

Connecticut. Aren’t we lucky? We have wonderful wildflowers—parks—hills—lovely old houses. We have a pace that we like—sometimes slow—sometimes fast. Rivers—reservoirs—Long Island Sound. A wonderful climate—trees—gardens—snow—rain. And it’s a good size—not huge—not small.

Also, I was not in the business of capturing anyone into a marriage. I just did not want to marry anyone. I liked the idea of being my own self. Even when I was living with Spencer Tracy and he and I were together for twenty-seven years, we never really thought about or discussed marriage. He was married and I wasn't interested.

It seems to me I discovered what “I love you” really means. It means I put you and your interests and your comfort ahead of my own interests and my own comfort because I love you. What does this mean? I love you. What does this mean? Think. We use this expression very carelessly. LOVE has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get—only with what you are expecting to give—which is everything.

One can take the ape out of the jungle, but not the jungle out of the ape. This also applies to us, bipedal apes. Ever since our ancestors swung from tree to tree, life in small groups has been an obsession of ours. We can’t get enough of politicians thumping their chests on television, soap opera stars who swing from tryst to tryst, and reality shows about who’s in and who’s out. It would be easy to make fun of all this primate behavior if not for the fact that our fellow simians take the pursuit of power and sex just as seriously as we do. We share more with them than power and sex, though. Fellow-feeling and empathy are equally important, but they’re rarely mentioned as part of our biological heritage. We would much rather blame nature for what we don’t like in ourselves than credit it for what we do like. As Katharine Hepburn famously put it in The African Queen, ”Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above.” This opinion is still very much with us. Of the millions of pages written over the centuries about human nature, none are as bleak as those of the last three decades, and none as wrong. We hear that we have selfish genes, that human goodness is a sham, and that we act morally only to impress others. But if all that people care about is their own good, why does a day-old baby cry when it hears another baby cry? This is how empathy starts. Not very sophisticated perhaps, but we can be sure that a newborn doesn’t try to impress. We are born with impulses that draw us to others and that later in life make us care about them. The possibility that empathy is part of our primate heritage ought to make us happy, but we’re not in the habit of embracing our nature. When people commit genocide, we call them ”animals”. But when they give to the poor, we praise them for being ”humane”. We like to claim the latter behavior for ourselves. It wasn’t until an ape saved a member of our own species that there was a public awakening to the possibility of nonhuman humaneness. This happened on August 16, 1996, when an eight-year-old female gorilla named Binti Jua helped a three-year-old boy who had fallen eighteen feet into the primate exhibit at Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo. Reacting immediately, Binti scooped up the boy and carried him to safety. She sat down on a log in a stream, cradling the boy in her lap, giving him a few gentle back pats before taking him to the waiting zoo staff. This simple act of sympathy, captured on video and shown around the world, touched many hearts, and Binti was hailed as a heroine. It was the first time in U.S. history that an ape figured in the speeches of leading politicians, who held her up as a model of compassion. That Binti’s behavior caused such surprise among humans says a lot about the way animals are depicted in the media. She really did nothing unusual, or at least nothing an ape wouldn’t do for any juvenile of her own species. While recent nature documentaries focus on ferocious beasts (or the macho men who wrestle them to the ground), I think it’s vital to convey the true breadth and depth of our connection with nature. This book explores the fascinating and frightening parallels between primate behavior and our own, with equal regard for the good, the bad, and the ugly.