Marilyn Monroe is one of the most quoted actors in the world. In this collection of Marilyn Monroe quotes, we’ve listed the best of the best.
Marilyn Monroe – Actress
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, model and singer. Famous for her blonde hair, curves and vulnerability, Monroe was one of the most popular Hollywood stars in the 1950s.
Due to her untimely death at the age of 36, Monroe has become an iconic figure and her life has been the subject of numerous books, films and TV shows.
Despite her short life, Monroe left a lasting impression on the world through her films, quotes and persona. Here are some of her most memorable quotes:
Best Marilyn Monroe Quotes
In spite of everything life is not without hope.
– Marilyn Monroe
First, I’m trying to prove to myself that I’m a person. Then maybe I’ll convince myself that I’m an actress.
– Marilyn Monroe
A woman can’t be alone. She needs a man. A man and a woman support and strengthen each other. She just can’t do it by herself.
– Marilyn Monroe
I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil. I am just a small girl in a big world trying to find someone to love.
– Marilyn Monroe
Hollywood’s a place where they’ll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss, and fifty cents for your soul…First, I’m trying to prove to myself that I’m a person. Then maybe I’ll convince myself that I’m an actress.
– Marilyn Monroe
Sometimes you just have to throw on a crown and remind them who they’re dealing with.
– Marilyn Monroe
If I play a stupid girl and ask a stupid question, I’ve got to follow it through, what am I supposed to do, look intelligent?
– Marilyn Monroe
When it comes down to it, I let them think what they want. If they care enough to bother with what I do, then I’m already better than them.
– Marilyn Monroe
That’s the way you feel when you’re beaten inside. You don’t feel angry at those who’ve beaten you. You just feel ashamed.
– Marilyn Monroe
Experts on romance say for a happy marriage there has to be more than a passionate love. For a lasting union, they insist, there must be a genuine liking for each other. Which, in my book, is a good definition for friendship.
– Marilyn Monroe
A girl doesn’t need anyone that doesn’t need her.
– Marilyn Monroe
Sometimes things fall apart so that better things can fall together.
– Marilyn Monroe
I’ve often stood silent at a party for hours listening to my movie idols turn into dull and little people.
– Marilyn Monroe
I don’t mind making jokes, but I don’t want to look like one.
– Marilyn Monroe
The body is meant to be seen, not all covered up.
– Marilyn Monroe
We should all start to live before we get old. Fear is stupid. So are regrets.
– Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe Short Quotes
Men are always ready to respect anything that bores them.
– Marilyn Monroe
No one ever told me I was pretty when I was a little girl. All little girls should be told they’re pretty, even if they aren’t.
– Marilyn Monroe
It’s not true that I had nothing on. I had the radio on.
– Marilyn Monroe
Always remember to smile and look up at what you got in life.
– Marilyn Monroe
Related: Life’s too short quotes
Keep smiling, because life is a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.
– Marilyn Monroe
Dogs never bite me. Just humans.
– Marilyn Monroe
Promises are worse than lies. You don’t just make them believe, you also make them hope.
– Marilyn Monroe
I don’t stop when I’m tired. I only stop when I’m done.
– Marilyn Monroe
Maybe I’ll never be able to do what I hope to, but at least I have hope.
– Marilyn Monroe
We are all of us stars, and we deserve to twinkle.
– Marilyn Monroe
It’s better for the whole world to know you, even as a sex star, than never to be known at all.
– Marilyn Monroe
A friend tells you what you want to hear, a best friend tells you the truth.
– Marilyn Monroe
A girl should be like a butterfly. Pretty to see, hard to catch.
– Marilyn Monroe
Fear is stupid. So are regrets.
– Marilyn Monroe
This life is what you make it. No matter what, you’re going to mess up sometimes, it’s a universal truth. But the good part is you get to decide how you’re going to mess it up.
– Marilyn Monroe
I think that sexuality is only attractive when it’s natural and spontaneous.
– Marilyn Monroe
Best Marilyn Monroe Quotes
If a man doesn’t want you at your worst, then he sure as hell doesn’t deserve you at your best.
– Marilyn Monroe
It’s far better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone — so far.
– Marilyn Monroe
The real lover is the man who can thrill you just by touching your head or smiling into your eyes – or just by staring into space.
– Marilyn Monroe
I am not a victim of emotional conflicts. I am human.
– Marilyn Monroe
It’s all make believe, isn’t it?
– Marilyn Monroe
The sky is not the limit. Your mind is.
– Marilyn Monroe
Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world.
– Marilyn Monroe
Things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they’re right.
– Marilyn Monroe
If you’re gonna be two-faced at least make one of them pretty.
– Marilyn Monroe
Arthur Miller wouldn’t have married me if I had been nothing but a dumb blonde.
– Marilyn Monroe
A man is more frank and sincere with his emotions than a woman. We girls, I’m afraid, have a tendency to hide our feelings.
– Marilyn Monroe
To all the girls who think you’re fat because you’re not a size zero. You’re the beautiful one. It’s society who’s ugly.
– Marilyn Monroe
Don’t stop when you’re tired; stop when you’re done.
– Marilyn Monroe
Always, always, always believe in yourself. Because if you don’t, then who will, sweetie?
– Marilyn Monroe
A wise girl kisses but doesn’t love, listens but doesn’t believe, and leaves before she is left.
– Marilyn Monroe
I love to do the things the censors won’t pass.
– Marilyn Monroe
Inspirational Marilyn Monroe Quotes
Fame is fickle, and I know it. It has its compensations but it also has its drawbacks, and I’ve experienced them both.
– Marilyn Monroe
The more I think of it, the more I realize there are no answers. Life is to be lived.
– Marilyn Monroe
When you have only a single dream it is more than likely to come true – because you keep working toward it without getting mixed up.
– Marilyn Monroe
I don’t mind being burdened with being glamorous and sexual. Beauty and femininity are ageless and can’t be contrived, and glamour, although the manufacturers won’t like this, cannot be manufactured. Not real glamour; it’s based on femininity.
– Marilyn Monroe
I’m a failure as a woman. My men expect so much of me, because of the image they’ve made of me– and that I’ve made of myself– as a sex symbol. They expect bells to ring and whistles to whistle, but my anatomy is the same as any other woman’s and I can’t live up to it.
– Marilyn Monroe
I don’t know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot!
– Marilyn Monroe
I don’t need a king I’m already the queen.
– Marilyn Monroe
I wanted to be treated as a human being who had earned a few rights since her orphanage days.
– Marilyn Monroe
I used to think as I looked out on the Hollywood night, ‘There must be thousands of girls sitting alone like me dreaming of being a movie star.’ But I’m not going to worry about them. I’m dreaming the hardest.
– Marilyn Monroe
While the world knows her for tremendous acting skills, only some people are aware of in-depth knowledge and intelligence which has made an iconic personality for generations. She possessed a charismatic personality who has never paid attention to controversies and her wisdom is shown in our beautiful collection of Marilyn Monroe Quotes on Life and Success.
– Marilyn Monroe
You better believe when the conversation is getting shorter with you… it’s getting longer with someone else.
– Marilyn Monroe
No girl should ever forget that she doesn’t need anyone who doesn’t need her.
– Marilyn Monroe
A smart girl leaves before she is left.
– Marilyn Monroe
The most unsatisfactory men are those who pride themselves on their virility and regard sex as if it were some form of athletics at which you can win cups. It is a woman’s spirit and mood a man has to stimulate in order to make sex interesting. The real lover is the man who can thrill you just by touching your head or smiling into your eyes or by just staring into space.
– Marilyn Monroe
Beneath the makeup and behind the smile I am just a girl who wishes for the world.
– Marilyn Monroe
Against all odds and despite all the obstacles, we are going to make it.
– Marilyn Monroe
Related: Quotes by Roy T Bennett
Marilyn Monroe Quotes on Life
Ever notice how ‘What the hell’ is always the right answer?
– Marilyn Monroe
I won’t be satisfied until people want to hear me sing without looking at me. Of course, that doesn’t mean I want them to stop looking.
– Marilyn Monroe
If I’d observed all the rules, I’d never have got anywhere.
– Marilyn Monroe
Dreaming about being an actress, is more exciting than being one.
– Marilyn Monroe
If you don’t love me at my worst, then you don’t deserve me at my best.
– Marilyn Monroe
It’s often just enough to be with someone. I don’t need to touch them. Not even talk. A feeling passes between you both. You’re not alone.
– Marilyn Monroe
I read poetry to save time.
– Marilyn Monroe
I think that love and work are the only things that really happen to us.
– Marilyn Monroe
It’s a terrible thing to be lonesome, especially in the middle of a crowd.
– Marilyn Monroe
I am trying to find myself. Sometimes that’s not easy.
– Marilyn Monroe
Sex is part of nature. I go along with nature.
– Marilyn Monroe
I’ve never fooled anyone. I’ve let people fool themselves. They didn’t bother to find out who and what I was. Instead they would invent a character for me. I wouldn’t argue with them. They were obviously loving somebody I wasn’t.
– Marilyn Monroe
Respect is one of life’s greatest treasures. I mean, what does it all add up to if you don’t have that?
– Marilyn Monroe
Just because you fail once, doesn’t mean you’re fail at everything. Keep trying, hold on, and always trust yourself, because if you don’t then who will??
– Marilyn Monroe
What do I wear in bed? Why, Chanel No. 5, of course.
– Marilyn Monroe
It takes a smart brunette to play a dumb blonde.
– Marilyn Monroe
Quotes by Marilyn Monroe
I live to succeed, not to please you or anyone else.
– Marilyn Monroe
I always felt insecure and in the way, but most of all I felt scared. I guess I wanted love more than anything else in the world.
– Marilyn Monroe
Unfortunately, I am involved in a freedom ride protesting the loss of the minority rights belonging to the few remaining earthbound stars. All we demanded was our right to twinkle.
– Marilyn Monroe
I don’t forgive people because I’m weak, I forgive them because I am strong enough to know people make mistakes.
– Marilyn Monroe
One of the best things that ever happened to me is that I’m a woman. That is the way all females should feel.
– Marilyn Monroe
The worst thing that happens to people when they dress up and go to a party is that they leave their real selves at home.
– Marilyn Monroe
Before marriage, a girl has to make love to a man to hold him. After marriage, she has to hold him to make love to him.
– Marilyn Monroe
I knew I belonged to the public and to the world, not because I was talented or even beautiful, but because I had never belonged to anything or anyone else.
– Marilyn Monroe
In Hollywood a girl’s virtue is much less important than her hairdo. You’re judged by how you look, not by what you are. Hollywood’s a place where they’ll pay you a thousand dollars for kiss, and fifty cents for your soul. I know, because I turned down the first offer often enough and held out for the fifty.
– Marilyn Monroe
Just remember, some come, some go. The ones that stay with you through everything – they’re your true best friends. Don’t let go of them.
– Marilyn Monroe
Creativity has got to start with humanity and when you’re a human being, you feel, you suffer.
– Marilyn Monroe
Related:100 Creativity Quotes To help Your Ideas Flow Smoothly
I don’t consider myself an intellectual. And this is not one of my aims. But I admire intellectual people.
– Marilyn Monroe
Success makes so many people hate you. I wish it wasn’t that way. It would be wonderful to enjoy success without seeing envy in the eyes of those around you.
– Marilyn Monroe
I want to grow old without facelifts… I want to have the courage to be loyal to the face I’ve made. Sometimes I think it would be easier to avoid old age, to die young, but then you’d never complete your life, would you? You’d never wholly know you.
– Marilyn Monroe
Related: 300+ Courage Quotes To Help You Face Fears And Overcome Adversity
How wrong it is for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself.
– Marilyn Monroe
With fame, you know, you can read about yourself, somebody else’s ideas about you, but what’s important is how you feel about yourself – for survival and living day to day with what comes up.
– Marilyn Monroe
Famous Marilyn Monroe Quotes
I want to grow old without facelifts. I want to have the courage to be loyal to the face I have made.
– Marilyn Monroe
You never know what life is like, until you have lived it.
– Marilyn Monroe
Being a sex symbol is a heavy load to carry, especially when one is tired, hurt and bewildered.
– Marilyn Monroe
If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything.
– Marilyn Monroe
Your clothes should be tight enough to show you’re a woman, but loose enough to show you’re a lady.
– Marilyn Monroe
I don’t mind living in a man’s world as long as I can be a woman in it.
– Marilyn Monroe
Beauty and femininity are ageless and can’t be contrived, and glamour, although the manufacturers won’t like this, cannot be manufactured.
– Marilyn Monroe
I restore myself when I’m alone.
– Marilyn Monroe
Never get too attached to someone, because attachments lead to expectations and expectations lead to disappointments.
– Marilyn Monroe
I’m one of the world’s most self-conscious people. I really have to struggle.
– Marilyn Monroe
I want to be an artist, not an erotic freak. I don’t want to be sold to the public as a celluloid aphrodisiac.
– Marilyn Monroe
They will only care when you’re gone.
– Marilyn Monroe
All a girl really wants is for one guy to prove to her that they are not all the same.
– Marilyn Monroe
Men love you more if they can be made a little uncertain about owning you.
– Marilyn Monroe
My work is the only ground I’ve ever had to stand on. I seem to have a whole superstructure with no foundation but I’m working on the foundation.
– Marilyn Monroe
I think that when you are famous every weakness is exaggerated.
– Marilyn Monroe
Famous Quotes by Marilyn Monroe Quotes
Boys think girls are like books, If the cover doesn’t catch their eye they won’t bother to read what’s inside.
– Marilyn Monroe
Everybody is always tugging at you. They’d all like a sort of chunk out of you. I don’t think they realize it, but it’s like ‘grrr do this, grr do that…’But you do want to stay intact and on two feet.
– Marilyn Monroe
Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.
– Marilyn Monroe
All we demanded was our right to twinkle.
– Marilyn Monroe
Looking back, I guess I used to play-act all the time. For one thing, it meant I could live in a more interesting world than the one around me.
– Marilyn Monroe
I’m selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I’m out of control, and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.
– Marilyn Monroe
For those who are poor in happiness, each time is a first time; happiness never becomes a habit.
– Marilyn Monroe
A strong man doesn’t have to be dominant toward a woman. He doesn’t match his strength against a woman weak with love for him. He matches it against the world.
– Marilyn Monroe
Who said nights were for sleep?
– Marilyn Monroe
I’m very definitely a woman and I enjoy it.
– Marilyn Monroe
Cutting negative people from my life does not mean I hate them, it simply means I respect me.
– Marilyn Monroe
You might as well make yourself fly as to make yourself love.
– Marilyn Monroe
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