Top 123 Quotes & Sayings by Elaine Stritch
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American actress Elaine Stritch.
Last updated on December 22, 2024.
I have not had any of that surgical stuff. I am too curious to find out exactly how I progress every day of my life naturally. That is what fascinates me.
When I want to do something badly enough, I do it, but there is a practical side of me that thinks I should be paid fairly.
My idea of serenity - that wonderful word that everybody's trying to get into their life - is call-waiting.
For me, going to London is like coming home. In fact, I've often entertained the idea of ending my days there.
There's something that really frightens me - and that's fear.
I think being boring is just the worst sin of all time.
The closer a part is to you, the harder it is to play. Anything else is just imitation. If I'm playing a Russian countess, I get the hat, the accent, the outrageousness. Easy. Playing a murderess? Perfect.
My biggest dream was to get out of Michigan - to discover life beyond the Sacred Heart Convent.
I always say, 'If you can't give a reason for the banana peel being in the alley, then don't have the comic slide over it.' Do you understand what I mean? First explain how the banana peel got there quickly. And then there's a reason for all the comedy.
All of the writing on '30 Rock' is a joy to go into. It's pretty hot stuff.
My movie career - if such a thing even exists - is laughable.
I care about money, very much. I want it. I don't ever want to be without it. My mother once said about me, 'Elaine has to have money.'
When I'm playing comedy, it is such a crap shoot of what will work and what won't.
I'm a good acting partner for me... when I don't have anyone else, I do really well!
I don't have a great talent for explaining myself in acting because I can't explain it.
I am not influenced by other human beings. But I am inspired.
You cannot tell an audience a lie. They know it before you do; before it's out of your mouth, they know it's a lie.
I can't explain chemistry. I really can't. I haven't got a clue what it's all about. It just happens. It's like falling in love. You can't explain why you fall in love or explain why it's this particular person.
I find it easier to abstain than do a little bit of anything. I'm not a 'little bit' kind of dame. I want it all, whatever I do.
There were a lot of lyrics that I sang but didn't understand. But I had this facade in performance of looking like I wrote the book.
This age thing is all up to you. It's like happiness is up to you. You just have to understand what it is before you get it.
Talent is seductive.
I don't think I'm gonna die tomorrow or even two weeks from now, or even ever. I just don't know - who the hell knows what's gonna happen to them? Nobody! Isn't that comforting? Nobody has a clue. I like that we don't know. And I like that it's somebody else's decision, not mine.
There's something about it that makes sense, Lent. You give something up, and everything's more joyful.
I like being talked about. I think some people really don't... because they're secure enough and they don't need that.
Diabetes is a lousy, lousy disease.
I tell the truth, and it has gotten me into a lot of trouble. My dad used to say to me, 'If you tell the truth all day long, you will end up in jail.'
I don't wear a wig. I'd feel terrible onstage with a wig. I hate to be so 'Actors Studio'-ish, but I like to feel it's me out there.
Let me tell you about those convents. All that crap about extending the pinkie finger while sipping tea is a myth. Convent schools are breeding grounds for great broads and occasionally one-of-the-boys. Convent schools teach you to play against everything, which is what I'm still doing.
New Yorkers stop me on the street all the time to say, 'You're terrific! You're the nuts!'
If I see a great performance on television, onstage, in the movies, I go to work the next day with a renewed energy and less fear. These great artists take me out of my life and make me want to go there.
What I want to understand is what I am talking about on the stage. What I don't want to understand is what the government is talking about when the government tells me about taxes.
I don't want to see a movie twice. I don't want to do anything twice.
I do believe in the infallibility of the Pope, because I think we have to believe in something.
I never found anyone who could look after me as well as I could look after myself.
Talent is very dangerous. It alienates people.
Fear is the base of what everybody does wrong in their lives.
Why haven't I made more movies? Nobody asked me.
You have to be very, very good looking to get ahead in motion pictures.
I don't think there's any thrill in the world like doing work you're good at.
I love holidays in New York. I love 'em. I want to celebrate something all the time, and New York has holidays for every day of the week, practically. I like holidays in New York City.
These performers that go on about their technique and craft - oh, puleeze! How boring! I don't know what 'technique' means. But I do know what experience is.
You never know what is happening to yourself when it is happening.
I'm a hotel baby, absolutely: it's hard to think of a hotel I haven't stayed in.
Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.
I could have made a lot of money doing 'Golden Girls,' and I would have been good. But the image of it! And for me to work with Betty White every day would be like taking cyanide.
I love reviews. Anybody who tells you they don't read reviews is a liar.
Audiences are not strangers to me. They're the best friends I've got in my life.
I love Birmingham, Michigan. It's lovely - you know, it's very similar to the Hamptons.
I have no intention of retiring. Even my blood sugar is better when I'm working.
The people in New York - their humor is on a level that goes, uh, very deep, you know?
Certain type of actresses get younger instead of older. I always say, 'Only ingenues age.'
As a diabetic, I'm a walking picnic. I have to eat measured amounts of food at certain times.
I think the most interesting New Yorkers are the people who were not born here.
I'm funny when I want to be. And I'm even funny when I don't want to be.
There will always be ladies who lunch. Always. And apparently they live a long time.
Betty White is probably a very nice woman.
I don't have to go to a doctor and have my face changed. It terrifies me that women do that.
I think it's the wrong way around to say, 'When you get older move to the country.' I think when you get older you move to New York.
Making clever speeches takes a lot of work and a lot of time.
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