Top 42 Quotes & Sayings by Ruth Gordon

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American actress Ruth Gordon.

Last updated on November 5, 2024.

Ruth Gordon Jones was an American actress, screenwriter, and playwright. She began her career performing on Broadway at age 19. Known for her nasal voice and distinctive personality, Gordon gained international recognition and critical acclaim for film roles that continued into her 70s and 80s. Her later work included performances in Rosemary's Baby (1968), What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice (1969), Where's Poppa? (1970), Harold and Maude (1971), Every Which Way but Loose (1978), and Any Which Way You Can (1980).

American - Actress | October 30, 1896 - August 28, 1985

Source: Wikipedia

The very best impromptu speeches are the ones written well in advance.

Ruth Gordon

Never give up. And never, under any circumstances, face the facts.

Ruth Gordon

Discussing how old you are is the temple of boredom.

Ruth Gordon

So easy to fall into a rut, isn't it? Why should ruts be so comfortable and so unpopular?

Ruth Gordon

If I don't make it today, I'll come in tomorrow.

Ruth Gordon

Pan me, don't give me the part, publish everybody's book but this one and I will still make it!

Ruth Gordon

Nothing dates one so dreadfully as to think someplace is uptown. At our age one must be watchful of these conversational gray hairs.

Ruth Gordon

Courage is very important. Like a muscle, it is strengthened by use.

Ruth Gordon

To be somebody you must last.

Ruth Gordon

My body is on the earth, but my head is in the stars.

Ruth Gordon

Live long enough and you'll come into pensions, a lovely thing. Presents every month from people you didn't know cared.

Ruth Gordon

Don't face the facts.

Ruth Gordon

To be somebody, you must last.

Ruth Gordon

Aim above morality. If you apply that to life, then youre bound to live life fully.

Ruth Gordon

Vice, virtue - it's best not to be too moral. You'll cheat yourself out of too much life.

Ruth Gordon

Get up early in the morning before everybody has breathed up all the good air.

Ruth Gordon

Sometimes what you want you don't get until you don't want it anymore.

Ruth Gordon

Your first big trouble can be a bonanza if you live through it. Get through the first trouble, and you'll probably make it through the next one.

Ruth Gordon

The kiss. There are all sorts of kisses, lad, from the sticky confection to the kiss of death. Of them all, the kiss of an actress is the most unnerving. How can we tell if she means it or if she's just practicing?

Ruth Gordon

I'm sure the way to be happy is to live well beyond your means!

Ruth Gordon

Get the knack of getting people to help you and also pitch in yourself.

Ruth Gordon

I never got a job I didn't create for myself.

Ruth Gordon

Do people get moral when they don't get ahead?

Ruth Gordon

I feel that much of the world's sorrow comes from people who are this, yet allow themselves to be treated as that.

Ruth Gordon

Anything that begins 'I don't know how to tell you this' is never good news.

Ruth Gordon

At seventy-four I'm getting minor raves on my looks, but I'm caught in the middle. Who knows what seventy-four looks like? Who cares? But if I'd listened to my friends, I could now lie and say I'm eighty-four. For eighty-four, the way I look is spectacular.

Ruth Gordon

Acting is the use of human experience with talent added.

Ruth Gordon

Life is getting through the moment. The philosopher William James says to cultivate the cheerful attitude. Now nobody had more trouble than he did -- except me. I had more trouble in my life than anybody. But your first big trouble can be a bonanza if you live through it. Get through the first trouble, you'll probably make it through the next one.

Ruth Gordon

When you finally learn how to do it, you're too old for the good parts.

Ruth Gordon

A lot of people enjoy being dead. But they are not dead, really. They're just backing away from life.

Ruth Gordon

Try something new each day. After all, we're given life to find it out. It doesn't last forever.

Ruth Gordon

Courage is like a muscle. We strengthen it by use.

Ruth Gordon

Despair is your friend in show business. I don't believe you can act if happiness is your lot. It's the ups that keep you living and the downs that mete out talent.

Ruth Gordon

To get it right, be born with luck or else make it. Never give up. A little money helps, but what really gets it right is to never face the facts.

Ruth Gordon

In the old days, ptomaine poisoning was a cover-all. If you missed a show and you were young, it meant you were having an abortion. If you were old, it meant you were having a face lift.

Ruth Gordon

The good that men do lives after them.

Ruth Gordon

If you believe, then you hang on. If you believe, it means you've got imagination, you don't need stuff thrown out on a blueprint, and don't face facts-what can stop you? If I don't make it today, I'll come in tomorrow.

Ruth Gordon

Courage is like a strain of yoghurt culture, if you have some you can have some more.

Ruth Gordon