Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get –
only what you are expecting to give – which is everything.
What you will receive in return varies, but it really has
no connection with what you give. You give because you love
and cannot help giving. If you are very lucky, you may be
loved back. That is delicious but it does not necessarily happen.
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Success, Kindness, Love
Only the really plain people know about love—the very fascinating ones try so hard to create an impression that they very soon exhaust their talents.
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Love
Why slap them on the wrist with feather when you can belt them over the head with a sledgehammer.
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Power
It’s a business you go into because you’re an egocentric. It’s a very embarrassing profession.
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Actors, Acting
I can remember walking as a child. It was not customary to say you were fatigued. It was customary to complete the goal of the expedition.
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Resolve, Endurance, Perseverance
Life is hard. After all, it kills you.
—Katharine Hepburn
Acting is the perfect idiot’s profession.
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Acting, Actors
My greatest strength is… common sense. I’m really a standard brand—like Campbell’s tomato soup or Baker’s chocolate.
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Common Sense
If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased.
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Enjoyment, Time Management, Happiness, Value of Time
Enemies are so stimulating.
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Enemy, Enemies
What you see before you is the result of a lifetime of chocolate.
—Katharine Hepburn
I was born lucky, and I have lived lucky. What I had was used. What I still have is being used. Lucky.
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Fortune, Luck
Acting is a nice childish profession – pretending you’re someone else and, at the same time, selling yourself.
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Acting
If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun.
—Katharine Hepburn
If you want to sacrifice the admiration of many men for the criticism of one, go ahead, get married.
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Marriage, Sacrifice, Admiration
As for me, prizes are nothing. My prize is my work.
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Work
I don’t care what is written about me so long as it isn’t true.
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Gossip
If you survive long enough, you are revered, rather like an old building.
—Katharine Hepburn
If you give an audience a chance they will do half your acting for you.
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Acting, Actors, Audiences
Without discipline, there’s no life at all.
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Self-Control, Discipline
I have many regrets, and I’m sure everyone does. The stupid things you do, you regret … if you have any sense; and, if you don’t regret them, maybe you’re stupid.
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Remorse, Regret, Disappointment
Plain women know more about men than beautiful ones do.
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Men, Opportunities, Reality
Marriage is a series of desperate arguments people feel passionately about.
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Marriage
Acting is the most minor of gifts and not a very high-class way to earn a living. After all, Shirley Temple could do it at the age of four.
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Actors, Acting
I have many regrets, and I’m sure everyone does. The stupid things you do, you regret if you have any sense, and if you don’t regret them, maybe you’re stupid.
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Regret
Genius is an infinite capacity for taking life by the scruff of the neck.
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Courage, Character, Ability
Vitality! That’s the pursuit of life, isn’t it?
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Passion, Enthusiasm
We are taught you must blame your father, your sisters, your brothers, the school, the teachers—you can blame anyone, but never blame yourself. It’s never your fault. But it’s always your fault, because if you want to change, you’re the one who has got to change. It’s as simple as that, isn’t it?
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Self-reliance, Confidence
Life is to be lived. If you have to support yourself, you had bloody well better find some way that is going to be interesting. And you don’t do that by sitting around wondering about yourself.
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Life and Living, Abilities, Work, Talents
Being a housewife and a mother is the biggest job in the world, but if it doesn’t interest you, don’t do it – I would have made a terrible mother.
—Katharine Hepburn
Topics: Jobs
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Elizabeth Taylor American Actress
Meryl Streep American Actor
Fred Astaire American Dancer, Singer
Shirley MacLaine American Actor
Helen Hayes American Actor
Tallulah Bankhead American Actress
Lucille Ball American Actor
Danny Kaye American Actor
Dustin Hoffman American Actor
Sandra Bullock American Film Actress