Quotes by Bette Davis

“In this business, until you're known as a monster you're not a star.”

“A sure way to lose happiness I found is to want it at the expense of everything else.”

“To fulfill a dream to be allowed to sweat over lonely labor to be given the chance to create is the meat and potatoes of life. The money is the gravy.”

“I think it was that picture, more than anything else, that gave me a horror of nobility. Ever since then I have fought against portraying saccharine characters. Give me the part of a vixen and I'm ...”

“That picture clinched my future as far as Universal was concerned. They felt that as I had not emerged as a glamour girl after being worked over by John Stahl, I had no possibilities. When I arrive...”

“What a dump.”

“The act of sex, gratifying though it may be, is God's joke on humanity. It is man's last desperate stand at superintendency. The whole ritual is a grotesque anachronism, an outdated testament to ma...”

“I love my profession. I would never stop. Relax? I relax when I work. It's my life.”

“'In the beginning was the Word,' and you must not be tempted with a script just because you have a great part. You want a great role to play, but the whole - the whole - must be good. It'll never s...”

“I think Mr. Reagan has done very well under very difficult circumstances. He's had terrific problems physically and he's managed them very well. But my God, the witch hunt today! Is there any human...”

“I'm the nicest goddamn dame that ever lived.”

“May each of my grandsons know, at an early age, what his life's ambition is -- and may he be successful in his pursuit of that goal.”

“Miss Bankhead isn't well enough known nationally to warrant my imitating her. (In response to accusations she imitated Bankhead in the role of Margo Channing in All about Eve. Bankhead resented Dav...”

“Discipline is a symbol of caring to a child. Discipline is guidance. If there is love, there is no such thing as being too tough with a child.”

“You will never be happier than you expect. To change your happiness, change your expectation.”

“She is a pro from start to finish. She always gives her best, and her best is really something. It's got power and force and meaning. Her contribution to any film is meaningful. It's probably her N...”

“Then I did Three on a Match—at the end director Mervyn Leroy boldly predicted Ann Dvorak would be a big hit, I'd have a solid career and Bette Davis would go nowhere. Bette hasn't spoken to him since.”

“You know, Bette Davis was the person who said, Aging ain’t for sissies.”

“Davis has nice eyes.”

“She has about as much sex appeal as Slim Summerville.”