Top 154 Quotes & Sayings by Rita Moreno

My first American experience was in the harbor of New York City when I saw that amazing big, tall lady. I remember thinking, 'Oh my goodness, a lady runs this country.'

I am not exactly Mrs. Good Housekeeping, although I love to cook, bake, even iron, but only because it's not mandatory.

They made me use an accent, which I wasn't thrilled about because a lot of us, obviously, don't have them.

The part of my personality that most irritated my husband, some of our big, big disagreements were when I got what he called 'showbiz.' He meant flamboyant or raucous.

My grandkids are everything to me. For me, family is all!

I am able to get up and dust myself off and keep moving forward. I'm very stubborn.

I'm so damn lucky to still be here at 85. If I get a hangnail, I don't dare complain! Life is good. I wake up humming.

I figure if I keep my spirit in shape, the bones will take care of themselves.

I am a woman of the moment.

I'm a raucous Puerto Rican!

I have played Polynesian. I have played an Arabian girl. I played an East Indian girl. And what was so confusing about that, which I mention in my book, is that I assumed I had to have an accent. Nobody said anything, so I made up what I call the universal ethnic accent, and they all sounded alike. It didn't matter who I was playing.

People say that when you get to a certain age that you start to mellow. I have no idea what these people are talking about.

This is my idea of heaven, coming home and watching the news.

Then there's the story of ill-fated love. It's universal.

When I was girl, you could still get certain jobs if you didn't have a diploma.

When you engage your brain, it just keeps getting fatter and richer and wonderful.

I am the happiest Hispanic I've ever met. Truly.

My video has a lot to do with the inside of a woman. Usually, exercise videos refer to exteriors only. They never talk to a woman where she lives - in her heart and soul. I do that at the beginning and end of mine.

If you can find a way your character moves, you know more about your character than you'd ever dream.

I had no role models from my own community - there was no such thing. Earlier on, there were people like Dolores Del Rio, but I was too young for that - that was before me. There was really nobody out there.

I get embarrassed when I go to an actor or actress's home and it's filled with pictures of them.

I knew what my scripts would say before I opened them: 'Enter Conchita.' I played handmaidens, Indian squaws, and Mexican dancers.

When I was nominated for the Oscar, I was absolutely positive that Judy Garland would win for 'Judgment at Nuremberg,' and then they call my name, and I was absolutely paralyzed. And I remember walking down to the stage and saying to myself, 'Don't run. It's not dignified.'

I'm a person who perseveres. You know, you fall down, you get up.

I call myself the hardware shelf. There's a lot of awards and honors there. And I have earned that. I didn't ask for it, I didn't beg for it, I didn't pay for it. I earned that. People see the accomplishments - but it's good to remind people that so much strife and labor and tears and heartbreak came before that, that it really is earned.

I'm trying as hard as I can to keep pushing the boundaries of what a woman is capable of doing. And it turns out there's a lot we can do. There's a lot we can speak about.

I have stamina, and I have energy.

Being in service and being involved in something that is greater than you is what makes a person complete and whole. The very first thing I ever did in terms of activism was for an anti-atom bomb rally.

No one's going to tell me how to make my own choices. For too many years, everybody told me what to say and what to do and how to be.

Beyonce moves a lot. She's astonishing, dances and sings at the same time. She is buff.

I - my experience was really no different from any other immigrant that came to this country. It was rough.

It's kind of heartbreaking when I talk about it now, I still get very moved by the lack of opportunities that were available to myself and to the very few others who were Hispanic young actresses.

I was born in Puerto Rico - I used to sit in the sun until I looked like a piece of bacon. It's a wonder now that I don't look like an old wallet. I'm a very fortunate person.

Actually, my true name is Rosa Dolores Alverio. And then I became Rosita Moreno when a stepfather stepped in. And when I got to MGM studios, which was my first film contract, they just thought that Rosita wasn't a good name, and they changed it to Rita. And yes, it was their idea.

I'm proud of me.

My voice has many dynamics in it. Like my little body.

Actors very often are people who think it's always about 'me,' and I can see why! No one else is going to support you or say, 'Gosh, I'm sorry about that,' or, 'Here, let me give you a job.' It doesn't happen that way. You can see why performers get very self-absorbed.

Lupe Velez was way before me; Dolores Del Rio was way before me, so I had no one. So the only one I could think of that I identified with was this gorgeous creature named Elizabeth Taylor, so she became my role model.

'LIFE Magazine' decided to do a story about a young actress in Hollywood in 1954. And I made the cover. And I remember that the fellow who was doing the story on me said, 'Listen, kid, I just want you to know, if Eisenhower gets a cold, you're off the cover.'

If you're going to make black movies only about black people, that's as bad as white movies only about white people.

I was dancing for my grandpa from the time I was 4 or 5 years old in Puerto Rico.

I'm an afternoon tea maven. I can tell you who has the best tea in every country.

What musical performers bring to straight characterizations is that physical flexibility that comes with knowing your body so well. A lot of actors are terribly awkward. Terribly. And I think it's so important for them, when they're young, to work on their physical selves.

I live in the moment. The moment is the most important thing. That's my entire philosophy: Make the best of the good moments.

I'm one of the happiest people I know. I truly am. And it's genuine.

Bigger than life is not difficult for me. I am bigger than life.

Arrogance - I have very little tolerance for that.

I write with my left hand even though I'm right-handed, I walk backwards in a very safe place - anything that engages your brain.

I love Hallmark movies because they make movies that you don't see anymore... and at a time when there is so much evil in the world, it's kind of nice to be able to retreat to something like a Hallmark Movies and Mysteries.

All my life, I faced sexism and racism and then, when I hit 40, ageism.

Doing 'The Electric Company' was the most fun ever.

When I was in my teens and into my early 20s, I had acne. I used to get those big purple jobs, but not a lot of them, thank goodness, because you really couldn't see them in the films that I did.

I loved being in the film called 'Carnal Knowledge' - the one with Jack Nicholson, which was very dark but a really brilliant movie. I loved being in 'The Ritz.' 'The Ritz' I think is just hilarious. I just saw it again recently and by God, it's still funny!

I'm one of those performers who has done just about everything except juggle, and I'm working on that.

The reason there weren't any, I am surmising, is that a lot of Latin kids, Latino kids, in those days didn't have the money to take those kind of classes.

Smell the roses. Smell the coffee. Whatever it is that makes you happy.

I was determined that with perseverance and faith, at some point, someone would say, 'This girl has talent,' and would cast me in something meaningful.

When was the last time you saw a musical about people at war with each other?

I can't dwell on past mistakes.

The thing I get the most that I really love is that people don't so much mention films I've been in or shows I've been in as they say, instead, 'I love you. I just love your perseverance.' That really pleases me.