Helen Hayes Quotes - Page 2

Stardom can be a gilded slavery.

Actors cannot choose the manner in which they are born. Consequently, it is the one gesture in their lives completely devoid of self-consciousness.

Yes, I have doubted. I have wandererd off the path. I have been lost. But I always returned. It is beyond the logic I seek. It is intuitive - an intrinsic, built-in sense of direction. I seem to find my way home. My faith has wavered but has saved me.

Perhaps we have been misguided into taking too much responsibility from our children, leaving them too little room for discovery

One has to grow up with good talk in order to form the habit of it.

The good die young but not always. The wicked prevail but not consistently. I am confused by life, and I feel safe within the confines of the theatre.

Actors work and slave and it is the color of your hair that can determine your fate in the end.

The worst constructed play is a Bach fugue when compared to life.

All my dogs have been scamps and thieves and troublemakers and I've adored them all.

We may be living in the twentieth century, in resplendent sophistication. But deep down, most of us find ourselves still in the Stone Age of superstition.

People who refuse to rest honorably on their laurels when they reach retirement age seem very admirable to me.

At 50, you need to laugh about your age. If you don't, everybody else will do it for you. Happy birthday, old chum!

The theatre demanded of its members stamina, good digestion, the ability to adjust, and a strong sense of humor. There was no discomfort an actor didn't learn to endure. To survive, we had to be horses and we were.

Our house was always filled with dogs... They helped make our house a kennel, it is true, but the constant patter of their filthy paws and the dreadful results of their brainless activities have warmed me throughout the years.

There is no racial or religious prejudice among people in the theater. The only prejudice is against bad actors, especially successful ones.

The old-fashioned idea that the simple piling up of experiences, one on top of another, can make you an artist, is, of course, so much rubbish. If acting were just a matter of experience, then any busy harlot could make Garbo's Camille pale.

When it comes to staying tuned: if you rest, you rust.

Mere longevity is a good thing for those who watch Life from the side lines. For those who play the game, an hour may be a year, a single day's work an achievement for eternity.

An actress always knows when she's hit it and mostly you haven't; but once or twice I think I hit it right, so maybe that's good enough for one life.

When Charles first saw our child Mary, he said all the proper things for a new father. He looked upon the poor little red thing and blurted, "She's more beautiful than the Brooklyn Bridge."

I'm leaving the screen because I don't think I am very good in the pictures and I have this beautiful dream that I'm elegant on the stage.

Victoria had the discipline of being a queen to help her through the biggest trial of her life - when she lost Albert and faltered. I've had the discipline of the theatre to help me over the ups and downs. A wonderful life . . Go it old girl. You've done it well.

There's a little vanity chair that Charlie gave me the first Christmas we knew each other. I'll not be parting with that, nor our bed - the four-poster - I'll be needing that to die in.

There is only one terminal dignity - love.

I cry out for order and find it only in art.