Searching for the best Marilyn Monroe quotes? You are at the right place.
Norma Jeane was more than just an actress with a perfect hourglass shape and signature red lips.
There are a number of well-known quotations attributed to the cultural icon that is sure to make any woman – back then and now – feel strong, confident, and downright hot.
We’ve compiled a list of Marilyn Monroe quotes that perfectly capture the sexy and intelligent silver screen star.
“A career is wonderful, but you can’t curl up with it on a cold night.”
Marilyn Monroe
“A career is wonderful, but you can’t curl up with it on a cold night”
Marilyn Monroe
“A friend tells you what you want to hear; a best friend tells you the truth.”
Marilyn Monroe
“A girl doesn’t need anyone who doesn’t need her”
Marilyn Monroe
“A girl should be like a butterfly. Pretty to see, hard to catch.”
Marilyn Monroe
“A sex symbol becomes a thing. I hate being a thing.”
Marilyn Monroe
“A smile is the best makeup a girl can wear.”
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
“A wise girl kisses but doesn’t love, listens but doesn’t believe, and leaves before she is left.”
Marilyn Monroe
“A wise girl knows her limits, a smart girl knows that she has none.”
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
“A woman knows by intuition, or instinct, what is best for herself.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Above all, I want to be treated as a human being.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Against all odds and despite all the obstacles, we are going to make it.”
Marilyn Monroe
“All a girl really wants from a guy is for him to prove to her that they are not all the same.”
Marilyn Monroe
“all girls are beautiful in their own way”
Marilyn Monroe
“All little girls should be told they are pretty, even if they aren’t.”
Marilyn Monroe
“All men are the same. They just have different faces so that women differentiate them.”
Marilyn Monroe
“All we demanded was our right to twinkle.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Always remember to smile and look up at what you got in life.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don’t, then who will, Sweetie? So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life’s a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Anything’s possible, almost.”
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
“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
“Being normal is boring!”
Marilyn Monroe
“Beneath the makeup and behind the smile I am just a girl who wishes for the world.”
Marilyn Monroe
“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
“But as long as one is alive, one can be vital. But you don’t give up until you stop breathing.”
Marilyn Monroe
“But chiefly, no lies! No lies about there being a Santa Claus or about the world being full of noble and honorable people all eager to help each other and do good to each other. I’ll tell her there are honor and goodness in the world, the same as there are diamonds and radium.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Change is actually what you need to avoid.
Marilyn Monroe
“Dogs never bite me. Just humans.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Dreaming about being an actress, is more exciting than being one.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Ever notice how ‘What the hell’ is always the right answer?”
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
“Everything happens for a reason.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Fame is like caviar, you know—it’s good to have caviar but not when you have it at every meal.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Fear is stupid, so are regrets.”
Marilyn Monroe
“feel what I feel within myself—that is trying to become aware of it also what I feel in others not being ashamed of my feeling, thoughts—or ideas realize the thing that they are—”
Marilyn Monroe
“For those who are poor in happiness, each time is a first time; happiness never becomes a habit.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Friendship is the bestiest thing that comes to life . Friends will always be there for you don’t worry about the fakes worry about the people who had your back from the start and never treated you wrong always remember they are your real friends don’t never take them as granted because one day your going to lose a good friend by the way your action’s are when you see a good friend stick to that person.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Happy birthday, Mr. President.”
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
“How wrong is it for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Husbands are chiefly good as lovers when they are betraying their wives.”
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
“I am invariably late for appointments – sometimes as much as two hours. I’ve tried to change my ways but the things that make me late are too strong, and too pleasing.”
Marilyn Monroe
“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 am not a victim of emotional conflicts. I am human.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I am very definitely a woman and I enjoy it.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I believe things happen for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you can appreciate them when they’re right, you believe lies so you eventually start to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart, so that better things can fall together.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they’re right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I could never pretend something I didn’t feel. I could never make love if I didn’t love, and if I loved I could no more hide the fact than change the color of my eyes.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I didn’t mind being a goof if only he loved me. I felt when we were together that I walked in the gutter and he on the sidewalk. All I did was keep looking up to see if there was love in his eyes”
Marilyn Monroe
“I do what I like, I like what I do.”
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
“I don’t mind living in a man’s world as long as I can be a woman in it.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I don’t mind making jokes, but I don’t want to look like one.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I don’t need a king I’m already the queen.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I don’t stop when I’m tired. I only stop when I’m done …”
Marilyn Monroe
“I don’t want to make money. I just want to be wonderful.”
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
“I don’t know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot!”
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 don’t want you to feel depressed, honey. We’ve had a temporary setback.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I dress for men. A woman looks at your clothes critically. A man appreciates them.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I had to use my wits or else I’d have been sunk – and nothings going to sink me. Everyone was always pulling at me, tugging at me, as if they wanted a piece of me. It was always, ‘do this, do that,’ and not just on the job but off, too. God, I’ve tried to stay intact, whole.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I have feelings too. I am still human. All I want is to be loved, for myself and for my talent. ”
Marilyn Monroe
“I have too many fantasies to be a housewife…. I guess I am a fantasy.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I just want to be wonderful.”
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
“I know I will never be happy, but I know I can be gay!”
Marilyn Monroe
“I know I’m not a perfect person but I can make a good relationship last forever…..”
Marilyn Monroe
“I lay in bed at night crying to myself. The only one who loved me and watched over me was someone I couldn’t see or hear or touch.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I learned to walk as a baby and I haven’t had a lesson since.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I live to succeed, not to please you or anyone else.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I love to do the things the censors won’t pass.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I never wanted to be Marilyn–it just happened. Marilyn’s like a veil I wear over Norma Jeane.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I read poetry to save time.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I restore myself when I’m alone.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I think I hate it here because there is no love here anymore. I regret the effort I desperately made here.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I think I’m a mixture of simplicity and complexes, but I’m beginning to understand myself now.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I think that love and work are the only things that really happen to us.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I think that sexuality is only attractive when it’s natural and spontaneous.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I think there’s two things in human beings…that they want to be alone, but they also want to be together.”
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
“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
“I wanted to ask a thousand questions, but there was no one to ask. Besides I knew that people only told lies to children-lies about everything from soup to Santa Claus.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I would have told her then she was the only thing that I could
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
“If I am a star, the people made me a star.”
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
“If I’d observed all the rules, I’d never got anywhere.”
Marilyn Monroe
“If there is only one thing in my life that I am proud of, it’s that I’ve never been a kept woman.”
Marilyn Monroe
“If you can make a woman laugh, you can make her do anything.”
Marilyn Monroe
“if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.”
Marilyn Monroe
“If you’re gonna be two-faced at least make one of them pretty.”
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’m for the individual as opposed to the corporation. The way it is the individual is the underdog, and with all the things a corporation has going for them the individual comes out banged on her head. The artist is nothing. It’s really tragic.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I’m not interested in money, I just want to be wonderful.”
Marilyn Monroe
“I’m selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am 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
“I’m very definitely a woman and I enjoy it. ”
Marilyn Monroe
“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”
Marilyn Monroe
“In Hollywood a girl’s virtue is much less important than her hair-do. 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 a kiss, and fifty cents for your soul. I know, because I turned down the first offer often enough and held out for the fifty cents.”
Marilyn Monroe
“In Rockford I decided that I had seen enough of the world.”
Marilyn Monroe
“In spite of everything life is not without hope.”
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
“It’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”
Marilyn Monroe
“It’s far better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone – so far.”
Marilyn Monroe
“It’s nice to be included in people’s fantasies but you also like to be accepted for your own sake.”
Marilyn Monroe
“It’s all make believe, isn’t it?”
Marilyn Monroe
“It’s far better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone — so far.”
Marilyn Monroe
“It’s not true that I had nothing on. I had the radio on.”
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’ve been on a calendar, but never on time.”
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
“I’ve often stood silent at a party for hours listening to my movie idols turn into dull and little people. ”
Marilyn Monroe
“Jack Kennedy could have been a movie star himself. He had the charisma, the charm, that come-hither quality that can never be duplicated. Is it any wonder he got elected president?”
Marilyn Monroe
“Just because you fail once doesn’t mean you’re gonna fail at everything.”
Marilyn Monroe
“just because you fail once, it doesn’t mean you’re going to fail at everything. keep trying, hold on, and always, always, always believe in yourself because if you don’t, then who will? so keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling because life’s a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Keep it classy, never trashy, just a lil nasty.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Keep smiling, because life is a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.”
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
“Love and work are the only two real things in our lives. They belong together, otherwise it is off. Work is in itself a form of love.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Love is rare, love is strange, nothing lasts and people change.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Maybe I’ll never be able to do what I hope to, but at least I have hope.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Men are always ready to respect anything that bores them.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Men who think that a woman’s past love affairs lessen her love for them are usually stupid and weak.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Most men judge your importance in their lives by how much you can hurt them, not by how happy you can make them.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Most people in the world are Christ lovers. And then there are Christ haters. But all of them are fixated on Christ, and he perpetuates for ever.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Never get too attached to someone, because attachments lead to expectations and expectations lead to disappointments.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Never let anyone dull your sparkle”
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
“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
“Only parts of us will ever touch only parts of others.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Open your eyes and look within. Are you satisfied with the life you are living?”
Marilyn Monroe
“People had a habit of looking at me as if I were some kind of mirror instead of a person. They didn’t see me, they saw their own lewd thoughts, then they white-masked themselves by calling me the lewd one.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Sex is part of nature. I go along with nature.”
Marilyn Monroe
“She was a girl who knew how to be happy even when she was sad. And that’s important—you know”
Marilyn Monroe
“So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life’s a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Some people have been unkind. If I say I want to grow as an actress, they look at my figure. If I say I want to develop, to learn my craft, they laugh. Somehow they don’t expect me to be serious about my work.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Sometimes I feel my life has been one big rejection”
Marilyn Monroe
“Sometimes things fall apart so that better things can fall together”
Marilyn Monroe
“Sometimes you just have to throw on a crown and remind them who they’re dealing with.”
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
“Suicide, is a persons privilege. I don’t believe it’s a sin or a crime it’s your right if you do. Though it doesn’t get you anywhere.”
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
“The body is meant to be seen, not all covered up.”
Marilyn Monroe
“The chief drawback with men is that they are too talkative.”
Marilyn Monroe
“The nicest thing for me is sleep, then at least I can dream.”
Marilyn Monroe
“The one thing a person wants most in life is usually something basic that money can’t buy.”
Marilyn Monroe
“The real lover is the man who can thrill you by kissing your forehead or smiling into your eyes or just staring into space.”
Marilyn Monroe
“The thing I want more than anything else? I want to have children. I used to feel for every child I had, I would adopt another.”
Marilyn Monroe
“The trouble with censors is that they worry if a girl has cleavage. They ought to worry if she hasn’t any.”
Marilyn Monroe
“The true things rarely get into circulation. It’s usually the false things.”
Marilyn Monroe
“The truth is, I’ve never fooled anyone. I’ve let men sometimes fool themselves.”
Marilyn Monroe
“There are always two sides to every story.”
Marilyn Monroe
“There is just no comparison between having a dinner date with a man and staying home playing canasta with the girls.”
Marilyn Monroe
“There isn’t anybody that looks like me without clothes on.”
Marilyn Monroe
“There was my name up in lights. I said, ‘God, somebody’s made a mistake.’ But there it was, in lights. And I sat there and said, ‘Remember, you’re not a star.’ Yet there it was up in lights.”
Marilyn Monroe
“There’s only one sort of natural blonde on earth – albinos.”
Marilyn Monroe
“They will only care when you’re gone.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they’re right.”
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. Girls will be your friends – they’ll act like it anyway. But 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. Also remember, sisters make the best friends in the world. As for lovers, well, they’ll come and go too. And baby, I hate to say it, most of them – actually pretty much all of them are going to break your heart, but you can’t give up because if you give up, you’ll never find your soulmate. You’ll never find that half who makes you whole and that goes for everything. Just because you fail once, doesn’t mean you’re gonna fail at everything. Keep trying, hold on, and always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don’t, then who will, sweetie? So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life’s a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.”
Marilyn Monroe
“To all the girls that think you’re fat because you’re not a size zero, you’re the beautiful one, its society who’s ugly.”
Marilyn Monroe
“to know reality (or things as they are than to have not to know and to have few illusions as possible— train my will now”
Marilyn Monroe
“try to enjoy myself when I can – I’ll be miserable enough as it is.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Trying to build myself up with the fact that I have done things right that were even good and have had moments that were excellent but the bad is heavier to carry around and feel have no confidence.”
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
“Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.”
Marilyn Monroe
“We are all born sexual creatures, thank God, but it’s a pity so many people despise and crush this natural gift.”
Marilyn Monroe
“We are all of us stars, and we deserve to twinkle.”
Marilyn Monroe
“We are all stars but we must learn how to shine.”
Marilyn Monroe
“We should all start to live before we get old. Fear is stupid. So are regrets.”
Marilyn Monroe
“What do I wear in bed? Why, Chanel No. 5, of course”
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
“When you have a good friend that really cares for you and tries to stick in there with you, you treat them like nothing. Learn to be a good friend because one day you’re gonna look up and say I lost a good friend. Learn how to be respectful to your friends, don’t just start arguments with them and don’t tell them the reason, always remember your friends will be there quicker than your family. Learn to remember you got great friends, don’t forget that and they will always care for you no matter what. Always remember to smile and look up at what you got in life.”
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
“When you’re young and healthy you can plan on Monday to commit suicide, and by Wednesday you’re laughing again.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Who said nights were for sleep?”
Marilyn Monroe
“Yes, there was something special about me, and I knew what it was. I was the kind of girl they found dead in a hall bedroom with an empty bottle of sleeping pills in her hand.”
Marilyn Monroe
“You believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself.”
Marilyn Monroe
“You better believe when the conversation is getting shorter with you… it’s getting longer with someone else.”
Marilyn Monroe
“You just do it. You force yourself to get up. You force yourself to put one foot before the other, and goddamn it, you refuse to let it get to you. You fight. You cry. You curse. Then you go about your business of living. That’s how I’ve done it. There’s no other way”
Marilyn Monroe
“You might as well make yourself fly as to make yourself love.”
Marilyn Monroe
“You miss so much when you’re young. It’s fine to be old. So exciting. And I’m not going to retire.”
Marilyn Monroe
“You never know what life is like, until you have lived it.”
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
“love in this dying world but the simple word “love” itself already died and went away.”
Marilyn Monroe
“Too often they don’t realize what they have until it’s gone.
…they’re too stubborn to say, ‘Sorry, I was wrong’
they hurt the ones closest to their hearts,
and we let the most foolish things tear us apart”
Marilyn Monroe
That concludes our list of Marilyn Monroe quotes. If you have more to share, do that through the comments segment.