Marilyn Monroe is one of American pop culture’s most iconic and widely recognized figures. Her blonde bombshell persona has made her a household name, even decades after her death. An emblem of the sexual revolution and self-love, she was a woman who knew herself. She knew what she wanted and who she was, and that confidence carried her through life. She’s been referenced in countless songs, TV shows, and movies since her passing, and her image has been re-appropriated by everyone, from Madonna to The Simpsons.
But let’s get one thing straight: Marilyn Monroe might have been the world’s most emblematic sex symbol, but she wasn’t just a pretty body. She was intelligent, funny, and witty! Despite all of this, plenty of people still don’t know about her life or career. If you’re one of them, or if you’re interested in learning more about this legendary star, you should read through her most famous sayings. Marilyn Monroe’s quotes on happiness and womanhood are no joke and hold a special place in popular culture that will stand the test of time.
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“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.”
"I don’t forgive people because I’m weak, I forgive them because I am strong enough to know people make mistakes."
"It’s far better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone — so far."
As she well knew, because she was married to Joe DiMaggio, who beat her, and Arthur Miller, who wrote in his diary that she was a disappointment and an embarrassment to him. She deserved better.
"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."
"Dogs never bite me. Just humans."
“She was a girl who knew how to be happy even when she was sad. And that’s important—you know.”
"I’m a failure as a woman. My men expect so much of me, because of the image they’ve made of me– and that I’ve made of myself– as a sex symbol. They expect bells to ring and whistles to whistle, but my anatomy is the same as any other woman’s and I can’t live up to it."
"Ever notice how ‘What the hell’ is always the right answer?"
"How wrong it is for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself."
"I’ve often stood silent at a party for hours listening to my movie idols turn into dull and little people."
"Men are climbing to the moon, but they don’t seem interested in the beating human heart."
Seems like she is not so subtly alluding to the fact that JFK used her up and tossed her to the side and didn’t even bat an eye.
"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."
"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."
"Respect is one of life’s greatest treasures. I mean, what does it all add up to if you don’t have that?"
"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."
"Boys think girls are like books, if the cover doesn’t catch their eye they won’t bother to read what’s inside."
“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they’re right, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.”
“The real lover is the man who can thrill you by kissing your forehead or smiling into your eyes or just staring into space.”
“Girls will be your friends—they’ll act like it anyway. But just remember, some come, some go. The ones that stay with you through everything, they’re your true best friends. Don’t let go of them.”
"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 a kiss, and fifty cents for your soul. I know, because I turned down the first offer often enough and held out for the fifty."
“One of the best things that ever happened to me is that I’m a woman. That is the way all females should feel.”
"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."
"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."
"Millions of people live their entire lives without finding themselves. But it is something I must do."
"For those who are poor in happiness, each time is a first time; happiness never becomes a habit."
“I’m selfish, impatient, and insecure. I make mistakes. I am out of control and at times, hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you don’t deserve me at my best.”
“The way you carry yourself is influenced by the way you feel inside. You must feel attractive to be attractive.”
“I’m pretty but not beautiful. I sin but I’m not the devil. I’m good but I’m not an angel.”
“Your clothes should be tight enough to show you’re a woman but loose enough to show you’re a lady.”
"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring."
"Most importantly, keep smiling. Because life is a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"This is supposed to be an art form, not just a manufacturing establishment. The sensitivity that helps me to act, you see, also makes me react. An actor is supposed to be a sensitive instrument."
"For life: it is rather a determination not to be overwhelmed. For work: the truth can only be recalled, never invented."
"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."
“I think one of the basic reasons men make good friends is that they can make up their minds quickly.”
“Fame is like caviar, you know—it’s good to have caviar but not when you have it at every meal.”
“I have feelings too. I am still human. All I want is to be loved, for myself and for my talent.”
"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."
"Creativity has got to start with humanity and when you’re a human being, you feel, you suffer."
"First, I’m trying to prove to myself that I’m a person. Then maybe I’ll convince myself that I’m an actress."
"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."
"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."
"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."
This makes me happy that she was so beautiful but not vain. It also makes me sad that her life was cut short, and she never got the happy ending that she deserved.
"Fame is fickle, and I know it. It has its compensations but it also has its drawbacks, and I’ve experienced them both."
"I don’t consider myself an intellectual. And this is not one of my aims. But I admire intellectual people."
"A wise girl kisses but doesn’t love, listens but doesn’t believe, and leaves before she is left."
"If I play a stupid girl and ask a stupid question, I’ve got to follow it through, what am I supposed to do, look intelligent?"
"I’ve never fooled anyone. I’ve let people fool themselves. They didn’t bother to find out who and what I was. Instead, they would invent a character for me. I wouldn’t argue with them. They were obviously loving somebody I wasn’t."
"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."
"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."
"I have always been deeply terrified to really be someone’s wife since I know from life one cannot love another, ever, really."
"I never wanted to be Marilyn — it just happened. Marilyn’s like a veil I wear over Norma Jeane."
"It's 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."
“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.”
“If there is only one thing in my life that I am proud of, it’s that I’ve never been a kept woman.”
"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."
"Fame will go by and, so long, I’ve had you, Fame. If it goes by, I’ve always known it was fickle."
"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."
"Everybody is always tugging at you. They’d all like a sort of chunk out of you. I don’t think they realize it, but it’s like ‘grrr do this, grr do that…’ But you do want to stay intact and on two feet."
"The most unsatisfactory men are those who pride themselves on their virility and regard sex as if it were some form of athletics at which you can win cups. It is a woman’s spirit and mood a man has to stimulate in order to make sex interesting. The real lover is the man who can thrill you just by touching your head or smiling into your eyes or by just staring into space."
"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."
