Marlene Dietrich Quotes

A king, realizing his incompetence, can either delegate or abdicate his duties. A father can do neither. If only sons could see the paradox, they would understand the dilemma.

Superstitions are habits rather than beliefs.

It's the friend you call up at four o'clock in the morning that really matters.

Duties are what make life most worth living. Lacking them, you are not necessary to anyone.

A country without bordellos is like a house without bathrooms.

Soup not only warms you and is easy to swallow and to digest, it also creates the illusion in the back of your mind that Mother is there.

I'm not an actress, I'm a personality.

It is my private life which no one knows anything about, nor ever will. It needs more than half my time if it is to be a success.

Think twice before burdening a friend with a secret.

America took me into her bosom when there was no longer a country worthy of the name, but in my heart I am German - German in my soul.

Logic is the key to an all-inclusive spiritual well-being.

I, personally, liked the legend.

[On Orson Welles:] When I talk to him, I feel like a plant that's been watered.

I'm worth more dead than alive. Don't cry for me after I'm gone; cry for me now.

When you're dead, you're dead. That's it.

Judging by the vast amount of cookbooks printed and sold in the United States one would think the American woman a fanatical cook. She isn't.

Until they come to see us from their planet, I wait patiently. I hear them saying: Don't call us, we'll call you.

Courage and grace is a formidable mixture. The only place to see it is the bullring.

Habit: Often mistaken for love.

Where have all the flowers gone

I never ever took my career seriously.

Gentleman. A man who buys two of the same morning paper from the doorman of his favorite nightclub when he leaves with his girl.

Timing: The alpha and omega of aerialists, jugglers, actors, diplomats, publicists, generals, prizefighters, revolutionists, financiers, dictators, lovers.

Dietrich would never do that

The tears I have cried over Germany have dried. I have washed my face.

Soft drinks: The gooey, bubbly sea drowning our American children.

Your daughter is your child for life.

The relationship between the make-up man and the film actor is that of accomplices in crime

I had no desire to be an film actress, to always play somebody else, to be always beautiful with somebody constantly straightening out your every eyelash. It was always a big bother to me.

I never enjoyed working in a film.

...it gives you the impression that every day is Sunday.

I have been photographed to death.

The air and the sky seem to have been freshly washed and polished, and the people too.

On Teasing : Teach your teen-age daughters not to tease boys into physical desire. You might save their lives.

Seeing twilight fall should be prescribed by doctors.

On Becoming a 'Lady': What every mother wants her daughter to be.

It's the friends you can call up at 4:00 a.m. that matter.

Duties are what make life most worth living. Lacking them you are not necessary to anyone.

How do you know love is gone? If you said that you would be there at seven and you get there by nine and he or she has not called the police - it's gone.

"Glamour" is assurance. It is a kind of knowing that you are all right in every way mentally and physically and in appearance and that whatever the occasion or the situation you are equal to it.

Once a woman has forgiven a man she must not reheat his sins for breakfast.

Grumbling is the death of love.

I do not think we have a "right" to happiness. If happiness happens, say thanks.

Courage and grace are a formidable mixture. The only place to see it is in the bullring.