I suppose there are times when I can’t believe that I’ve lived the way that I have and done the things that I’ve done. Life’s a joke anyway. It’s all ridiculous. It’s all so short. – Lauren Bacall
That was my original dream, anyway, to be on stage. I think the stage is an actor’s place because actors, it belongs to you. – Lauren Bacall
I don’t consider myself a great actress. I’m just trying to stay alive, actually. I think I’m good, and I’ve learned a lot, certainly, mostly in the theater. I’ve been sloughed off movies for years. But what can you do? That’s life. – Lauren Bacall
When a woman reaches twenty-six in America, she’s on the slide. It’s downhill all the way from then on. It doesn’t give you a tremendous feeling of confidence and well-being. – Lauren Bacall
I don’t look in the mirror; don’t like what I see; never have. I am not my idea of a beauty. Never was. This is not false modesty. I’ve just never been enamoured of my face, which of course is magnified umpteen times on screen. – Lauren Bacall
I never believed marriage was a lasting institution. I thought that to be married for five years was to be married forever. – Lauren Bacall
All the Warner actors were real actors. They started in theater and led very straightforward lives – you never saw entourages around. The MGM girls were the glamour girls, and they always had the makeup and hair people with them and all that. – Lauren Bacall
A woman isn’t complete without a man. But where do you find a man – a real man – these days? – Lauren Bacall
I figure if I have my health, can pay the rent and I have my friends, I call it ‘content.’ – Lauren Bacall
A man’s illness is his private territory and, no matter how much he loves you and how close you are, you stay an outsider. You are healthy. – Lauren Bacall
Men need to feel important. They feel better when they’re with younger girls or unknown girls. – Lauren Bacall
I always wanted to work with Spencer Tracy, which never happened, although I knew him well. And I never worked with Cary Grant. – Lauren Bacall
The biggest misconception people have about me is that I’m in control of every situation. I’m rarely in control of any situation. – Lauren Bacall
I adored ‘Breaking The Waves,’ so when Lars von Trier wanted me in ‘Dogville,’ I was beside myself with joy. He works in a way that nobody I’ve ever worked with works. – Lauren Bacall
There were times, sure, I wanted my career to go better. But once it starts to go downhill, you can never get back, or only to some degree. – Lauren Bacall
I don’t sit around thinking that I’d like to have another husband; only another man would make me think that way. – Lauren Bacall
I studied dancing for 13 years. And loved to dance. Always wanted to dance with Fred Astaire. – Lauren Bacall
I’m a total Democrat. I’m anti-Republican. And it’s only fair that you know it… I’m liberal. The L word! – Lauren Bacall
I put my career in second place throughout both my marriages and it suffered. I don’t regret it. You make choices. If you want a good marriage, you must pay attention to that. If you want to be independent, go ahead. You can’t have it all. – Lauren Bacall
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. – Lauren Bacall
When you talk about a great actor, you’re not talking about Tom Cruise. His whole behavior is so shocking. It’s inappropriate and vulgar and absolutely unacceptable to use your private life to sell anything commercially, but I think it’s kind of a sickness. – Lauren Bacall
Movies are great fun and wonderful when they’re good. But you never get to see them till six months after they’re finished. So you never get a sense of whether they’re really well liked or how good they are. And you don’t really know what the finished product is going to be like, because it’s a director’s medium. – Lauren Bacall
It’s inappropriate and vulgar and absolutely unacceptable to use your private life to sell anything commercially. – Lauren Bacall
