LAUREN BACALL QUOTES

American actress (1924-2014)

Lauren Bacall quote

If you want me just whistle. You know how to whistle don't you? Just put your lips together and blow.

LAUREN BACALL

To Have and Have Not


When everything happens to you when you're so young, you're very lucky, but by the same token, you're never going to have that same feeling again. The first time anything happens to you--your first love, your first success--the second one is never the same.

LAUREN BACALL

Time Magazine, Jul. 31, 2005

Tags: youth


Don't say "freaking", Russ. If you have to use the "F" word, go for the gold.

LAUREN BACALL

My Fellow Americans


Being a liberal is the best thing on earth you can be. You are welcoming to everyone when you're a liberal. You do not have a small mind... I'm total, total, total liberal and proud of it. And I think it's outrageous to say "The L word". I mean, excuse me. They should be damn lucky that they were liberals here. Liberals gave more to the population of the United States than any other group.

LAUREN BACALL

Larry King Live, May 6, 2005

Tags: liberals


I used to tremble from nerves so badly that the only way I could hold my head steady was to lower my chin practically to my chest and look up at Bogie. That was the beginning of The Look.

LAUREN BACALL

attributed, The Guardian, August 13, 2014


I wish Frank Sinatra would just shut up and sing.

LAUREN BACALL

attributed, The Guardian, August 13, 2014

Tags: Frank Sinatra


Stardom isn't a profession; it's an accident.

LAUREN BACALL

attributed, The Wordsworth Dictionary of Quotations

Tags: fame


We never argue anymore. And when we do, it never lasts more than a week or two.

LAUREN BACALL

Designing Woman


A planned life is a dead life.

LAUREN BACALL

interview, Aug. 2005

Tags: spontaneity


Most women use more brains picking a horse in the third at Belmont than they do picking a husband.

LAUREN BACALL

How to Marry a Millionaire

Tags: men


The times in which we're currently living unfortunately, our great leader [George W. Bush] is such a disaster and the entire country is in disastrous shape because of him. It's very frightening, actually, to think that this country has become what it's become and that so many people voted for a man like that. It's terrifying.

LAUREN BACALL

interview, Dec. 19, 2007


My son tells me, "Do you realize you are the last one? The last person who was an eyewitness to the golden age?" Young people, even in Hollywood, ask me, "Were you really married to Humphrey Bogart?" "Well, yes, I think I was," I reply. You realize yourself when you start reflecting -- because I don't live in the past, although your past is so much a part of what you are -- that you can't ignore it. But I don't look at scrapbooks. I could show you some, but I'd have to climb ladders, and I can't climb.

LAUREN BACALL

Vanity Fair, Mar. 2011

Tags: past


The British never seem to do anything until they've had a cup of tea, By which time it's too late.

LAUREN BACALL

North West Frontier

Tags: tea


He [Bogie] had tremendous character and a great sense of honor and would not tolerate lies, even if they asked him what he thought of a movie. We were once at a screening at somebody's house, I forget whose, and they ran a movie that he was in, that he never thought much of. Afterward, the producer asked what he thought of it, and Bogie said "I think it's a crock." And this producer was horrified! He was about to release the movie, and he said to Bogie "Why would you say that?!" Bogie shrugged and said "Then don’t ask me." He never played the schmoozing game. He was not into that at all.

LAUREN BACALL

interview, Dec. 19, 2007

Tags: honesty


Very few people want to hear the truth. Bogie was like that, my mother was like that, and I'm like that. I believe in the truth, and I believe in saying what you think. Why not? Do you have to go around whispering all the time or playing a game with people? I just don't believe in that. So I'm not the most adored person on the face of the earth.

LAUREN BACALL

Vanity Fair, Mar. 2011

Tags: truth


You had to stay awake married to him [Humphrey Bogart]. Every time I thought I could relax and do everything I wanted, he'd buck. There was no way to predict his reactions, no matter how well I knew him. As he'd said before our wedding, he expected to be happily married and stay that way, but he never expected to settle down. He liked keeping people off balance. He was good for me -- I could never be quite sure what he would do.

--LAUREN BACALL

By Myself and Then Some


I've buried a husband, I've raised two daughters. I've made my coffee.

LAUREN BACALL

The Mirror Has Two Faces

Tags: coffee


Losing Bogey was horrible, obviously. Because he was young. And because he gave me my life. I wouldn't have had a -- I don't know what would have happened to me if I hadn't met him -- I would have had a completely different kind of life. He changed me, he gave me everything. And he was an extraordinary man.

LAUREN BACALL

Larry King Live, May 6, 2005


Imagination is the highest kite that one can fly.

LAUREN BACALL

Lauren Bacall By Myself

Tags: imagination


A Man's illness is his private territory and, no matter how much he love you and how close you are, you stay an outsider. You are healthy.

LAUREN BACALL

Lauren Bacall By Myself