Mary Tyler Moore Quotes

The only leading man I ever had a crush on was James Garner. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

What happens is that the system builds many inferior blood vessels in the eye to take the place of the vessels that are dying. And those blood vessels are not up to the task. And they bleed. They hemorrhage and they cover the eye inside with blood. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

Interestingly that some of the characters did not turn out the way Jim and Allen had envisioned them. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

I think I can take responsibility for that in that I was the audience. I was the voice of sanity around whom all these crazies did their dance. And I reacted in the same way that a member of the audience would have reacted. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

I love watching old sitcoms. It's very inspiring to watch 'Mary Tyler Moore' and 'Golden Girls.' I have watched them over and over again for years. ~ Valerie Azlynn

There is a dark side. I tend not to be as optimistic as Mary Richards. I have an anger in me that I carry from my childhood experiences - I expect a lot of myself and I'm not too kind to myself. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

I feel about my dogs now, and all the dogs I had prior to this, the way I feel about children - they are that important to me. When I have lost a dog I have gone into a mourning period that lasted for months. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

'Mary Tyler Moore' was - it was my first big hit. ~ Betty White

I know the food groups that I like to have and are good for me and those that I have to stay away from. And so, I don't need to know exactly what I'm going to eat, but I take my insulin probably 20 minutes before I'm going to sit down. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

If you have one good series, you know, it's a blessing. Two good series is unusual. Three is a phenomenon, but right now, I'm working with these wonderful women on 'Hot in Cleveland,' and Valerie Bertinelli, and Wendy Malick and Jane Leeves are like, it's like the buddy-ship we had on 'Golden Girls' and 'Mary Tyler Moore.' ~ Betty White

I live in a kind of controlled awareness. I wouldn't call it fear, but it's an awareness. I know I have a responsibility to behave in a certain way. I'm able to do that. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

Three things have helped me successfully go through the ordeals of life
an understanding husband, a good analyst and millions of dollars. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

I watched a lot of old television growing up - a lot of Nick at Nite. I watched 'Rhoda', 'Mary Tyler Moore', and 'I Love Lucy.' Growing up, I loved 'My So Called Life' and was devastated when that went off the air. ~ Mamie Gummer

I'd been raised to be confident and see no limits, to believe I could go after and get absolutely anything I wanted. And I wanted everything. Because, as Suzanne would say, why not? I wanted to live with the hat-tossing, independent-career-woman zest of Mary Tyler Moore, and at the same time I gravitated toward the stabilizing, self-sacrificing, seemingly bland normalcy of being a wife and mother. I wanted to have a work life and a home life, but with some promise that one would never fully squelch the other. I hoped to be exactly like my own mother and at the same time nothing like her at all. It was an odd and confounding thing to ponder. Could I have everything? Would I have everything? I had no idea. ~ Michelle Obama

No, I tell you what I like is having the play close after a decent run and looking back on it and saying, yes, I did that, and wasn't it wonderful? Because while you're doing it, it is really tough. It is so hard. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

My admiration for 'Mary Tyler Moore' is very, very big because they went out on top. ~ Kevin Spacey

And the sculptor woman was so clever in the way she did it. She had the beret just about to leave my hand. So it's attached to this finger and that's what will keep it there. And I'm looking up at it, so there's no question but that that beret is going to fly. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

I'm not an actress who can create a character. I play me. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

I am the luckiest old broad on two feet if the truth were known. It's - but it all goes back to 'Mary Tyler Moore,' 'Golden Girls,' all those - actors love to take the credit. We couldn't do it without the writers. ~ Betty White

Well, there are certain foods that I prefer not to eat because they're just such a jolt to the system. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

I'm an experienced woman; I've been around ... Well, all right, I might not've been around, but I've been ... nearby. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

Take chances, make mistakes. That's how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

Chronic disease like a troublesome relative is something you can learn to manage but never quite escape. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

I've always been independent. I've always had courage. But I didn't always own my diabetes. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

No candy bars unless I've had a low blood sugar where I'm shaky. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

When the doctor said I had diabetes, I conjured images of languishing on a chaise longue nibbling chocolates. I have no idea why I thought this. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

One day the English language is going to perish. The easy spokenness of it will perish and go black and crumbly - maybe - and it will become a language like Latin that learned people learn. And scholars will write studies of Larry Sanders and Friends and Will & Grace and Ellen and Designing Women and Mary Tyler Moore, and everyone will see that the sitcom is the great American art form. American poetry will perish with the language; the sitcoms, on the other hand, are new to human evolution and therefore will be less perishable. ~ Nicholson Baker

There are two kinds of cloning right now. One is therapeutic cloning which is for coming up with cures for life threatening, really, really awful diseases. Then there is reproductive cloning, which is to make a human being out of your DNA and a donor egg. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

And then Dick called and said, I'm going to do a special called Dick Van Dyke and the other woman, that would be you, because every time I try to check into a hotel with my wife, they look at me as though I'm cheating on Laura. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

I see myself as Rhoda, not Mary Tyler Moore. ~ Iris Murdoch

Lou Grant was pretty much always Lou Grant. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

I still feel as if I weren't a good enough mother. I didn't break any rules. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' was the best television, the best cast, the best-written television show ever. ~ Bob Newhart

I've had problems with my eyes, and my legs hurt if I walk a great deal. That's due to very bad circulation. It's called claudication, and it's painful. So I have to stop if I'm walking, and pretending I'm looking in the window, so that I can rest them a little bit and then start off again. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

This is a dream come true. To wake up in a place that I own and go to work in New York City as an actor - I feel like Mary Tyler Moore throwing her friggin' hat in the air. ~ Christopher Meloni

I don't know how to do the other, so I won't even consider television until the audience's taste changes. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

Diabetes is an all-too-personal time bomb which can go off today, tomorrow, next year, or 10 years from now - a time bomb affecting millions like me and the children here today. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

Mary [Tyler Moore] was absolutely brilliant ... She is a fabulous actress. She can do anything. ~ Gavin MacLeod

It was Grant's company and he made all the decisions. And that was just fine. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

You can't be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

I've had the fame and the joy of getting laughter - those are gifts. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

Diets are for those who are thick and tired of it. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

I do watch a lot of Fox News. I like Charles Krauthammer and Bill O'Reilly. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

A human being has been given an intellect to make choices, and we know there are other food sources that do not require the killing of a creature that would protest being killed. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

I think when life gets heavy, people look for an escape. "The Love Boat" is an escape. We have happy endings. You don't see many of those around. I think it gave people a vicarious adventure. ~ Gavin MacLeod

And that's what the audience was feeling too, as they watched the show and as they watch it now. And overriding all of that is the way it was written. It was written honestly. There was never any manufactured laugh. There was never compromising of character. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

Betty White's Sue Ann Nivens was classic ... She had done so much with that man-crazy character! Betty made every moment count. She still does. I've declared her an American treasure, because she is just that. ~ Gavin MacLeod

In the opening to the Mary Tyler Moore Show Mary's in the supermarket, hurrying through the aisles. She pauses at the meat case, picks up a steak and checks the price. Then rolls her eyes, shrugs and tosses it in the cart. That's kind of how I feel. Sure I would have liked things to be different. But, 'roll of eyes' what can you do? 'shrug' I threw the meat in my cart and moved on. ~ Augusten Burroughs

I live in New York simply because I don't know any better. I moved there when the show went off the air a couple of years after that. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

Worrying is a necessary part of life. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

I need insulin to stay alive. It's just therapy to keep going. What I can do is make sure that I keep my blood sugar down to a reasonable level. I can exercise, and I can eat properly. And insulin plays a very big part in that. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

Both children and adults like me who live with type 1 diabetes need to be mathematicians, physicians, personal trainers, and dietitians all rolled into one, ~ Mary Tyler Moore

Well, Rhoda was, I think, the last actress that we saw. There had been so many wonderful actresses who were close, really close. But there was no magical epiphany. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

I moved out to L.A. in July and Hot L Baltimore started in September or October. So I had done a few things. I'd done a Mary [Tyler Moore]. I'd done a Waltons. I hadn't done a Rhoda yet I don't think. ~ Richard Masur

I just like the continue doing what I've been doing. A melange of funny, straight drama, television, movies, a little theater here and there wouldn't hurt. So if I can keep doing that, I'll be a very happy person. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

My peripheral vision has been severely limited because of my diabetes, which means I can see just fine looking straight ahead. But if I am at a function with lots of people, I am constantly bumping into people - even kicking them! ~ Mary Tyler Moore

Alone in the bathroom, I stared into the mirror over the sink. Who was I looking at? Andrew or Drew? The boy on the lawn had been wearing my jeans, my T-shirt, my running shoes. I was wearing his clothes. I'd whistled for his dog the way he would have. I'd called his mother "Mama" as naturally as I'd once called my mother "Mom." If I stayed here long enough, would I sink down into Andrew's life and forget I'd ever been anyone else?
No, no, no. Splashing cold water on my face, I reminded myself I was just acting a part. When I won the marble game, the curtain would go down on the last act. I'd be Drew again and Andrew would be Andrew--for keeps. Till then, I'd call Mrs. Tyler "Mama" and Mr. Tyler "Papa," I'd think of Hannah and Theo as my brother and sister, I'd whistle for Buster, I'd do whatever my role demanded.
Outside, a horn blew and Theo yelled, "Andrew, hurry up or we'll leave without you!"
Yes--I'd even ride in a genuine Model T. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

Papa cut his business trip short when he heard how ill you were. He'll be home on the afternoon train. Won't he be happy to see you looking so well!"
Hannah came running up the stairs. "Dr. Fulton's on his way, Mama."
"He's in for a surprise, isn't he?" Mrs. Tyler smiled at me. "Dr. Fulton didn't think you'd live till morning, Andrew. The very idea--Hannah told him it would take more than diphtheria to kill you. ~ Mary Downing Hahn

Are you certain they aren't?"
Rose looked for a delicate way to put it.
"Doing the horizontal mumbo?"
Tyler laughed at the look the other two women gave her.
This was her mother, after all. "Mother spent too many years with a man who treated her like crap. She was lonely even when she wasn't alone. If Doctor Yum-Yum could coax her into bed, I'd say more power to her and way to go, Mom! ~ Mary J. Williams

Mary had a little sheep,
With the sheep she went to sleep.
The sheep turned out to be a ram,
And Mary had a little lamb. ~ Steven Tyler

Never be afraid to love. Surrender yourself to its sway, & even if it tears your earthly fibres to tatters, it will strengthen the heavenly ones. Such love is the only proof of Immortality. ~ Mary Tyler Peabody Mann

I shall go wherever I am asked to participate for freedom. ~ Mary Tyler Peabody Mann

Tyler almost came off the bed when his teeth nibbled a spot. When had that become an erogenous zone? "I don't recall you ever doing that before?"
"I've had a few years to study."
"Not the best time to bring up other women."
"Books." He reassured her. "Long, lonely hours at the library...."
"If you learned that from a book, I'm calling Lilah to have her send the author flowers! ~ Mary J. Williams

As I read, however, I applied much personally to my own feelings and condition. I found myself similar, yet at the same time strangely unlike to the beings concerning whom I read, and to whose conversation I was a listener. I sympathized with, and partly understood them, but I was unformed in mind, I was dependent on none, and related to none ... and there was none to lament my annihilation ... what did this mean? Who was I? What was I? Whence did I come? What was my destination? These questions continually recurred, but I was unable to solve them. ~ Mary Shelley

What happens if your choice is misguided?' I ask, softly.
Miss Moore takes a pear from the bowl and offers us the grapes to devour. 'You must try to correct it.'
'But what if it's too late? What if you can't?'
There's a sad sympathy in Miss Moore's catlike eyes as she regards my painting again. She paints the thinnest sliver of shadow along the bottom of the apple, bringing it fully to life.
'Then you must find a way to live with it. ~ Libba Bray

A wonderful emotion to get things moving when one is stuck is anger. It was anger more than anything else that had set me off, roused me into productivity and creativity. ~ Mary Garden

If we are leading but not closely following Christ, we are misleading. ~ Beth Moore

Synchronicity (life) isn't a series of random events at all, but an expression of a deeper order. ~ Mary Alice Monroe

One whispered yes becomes the wind song over an ocean of no's. ~ Mary Anne Radmacher

But I have known many women
many women indeed, and it is in their nature to confound us, Othello. They are all by their natures lovely lunatics. ~ Christopher Moore

This is someone who has a very stringent morality, and believes the system works, and has been deeply, deeply disappointed, and hurt, by it. You know, so she's in a very different place in life. ~ Julianne Moore

When you're and only child in a family with an only parent, you look at other, bigger families with envy. Mary Alice had a family with a station wagon, a split-level house, and a pool.
But then I looked up and saw Mary Alice's toes, as she stood at the edged of the diving board. Her second toe lay on top of her big toe on each foot. I had never seen such a thing. I wondered if Mary Alice's toes would ever prevent her from doing the things she wanted to do in life.
"Look, y'all!" she said, forming her perfect body into a perfect swan's dive. I decided then that any time I got frustrated with my overall situation in life, mad or jealous of knee socks or a pink canopy bed in a pink room, I'd take a deep breath and think about Mary Alice's toes. At least I didn't have Mary Alice's toes. ~ Margaret McMullan

Live and be devoured. ~ Mary McCormack

Studying goes deeper than mere reading. There are surface nuggets to be gathered but the best of the gold is underneath, and it takes time and labor to secure it. ~ Mary McLeod Bethune

Go to sleep. You look awful." I stood.
"Leaving so soon?"
"I was told not to tire you out." I looked at him. I would have wagered he couldn't lift his head if he had to.
He could have died.
"I'm glad you're going to be all right." Weak words, insufficient for the relief I felt, but I'd never claimed to be any kind of poet.
He smirked. "Glad enough to get me some chocolate?"
I raised an eyebrow at him. No, not glad enough to fetch and carry for him. "I bet the bureaucrat out there would do that for you."
Was that panic that flared in his eyes? "Amanda is out there?"
It amused me that he knew exactly who I'd been referring to. Assuming that was her name. "Want me to send her in?"
"Not if you hold the slightest affection for me in that cold, hard heart of yours."
"Now that'll take some serious self-examination," I said, opening the door.
"What, no good-bye kiss?" he protested.
"Don't tempt me, Stallion." And because I was tired and light-headed with relief, I blew one at him before I left. ~ Moira J. Moore

I put a lot of emphasis on how to treat people. The reason for this is simple. The real success of our personal lives and careers can best be measured by the relationships we have with the people most dear to us - our family, friends, and coworkers. If we fail in this aspect of our lives, no matter how vast our worldly possessions or how high on the corporate ladder we climb, we will have achieved very little. ~ Mary Kay Ash

We gaze continually at the world and it grows dull in our perceptions. Yet seen from another's vantage point, as if new, it may still take the breath away. ~ Alan Moore

Most kids bent their heads onto their notebooks and tried to sleep. One boy gauged the quality of his day by sleeping on graph paper, then drawing a circle around the drool spot he'd made and comparing it for size and integrity to his drool spot from the day before. For ~ Mary Karr

The careful rearer of the ductile human plant can instil his own religion, and surround the soul by such a moral atmosphere, as shall become to its latest day the air it breathes. ~ Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

The Painting is not shit,' said Lucien.
'I know,' said Henri. 'That was just part of the subterfuge. I am of royal lineage; subterfuge is one of the many talents we carry in our blood, along with guile and hemophilia. ~ Christopher Moore

If I see but one smile on your lips when we meet, occasioned by this or any other exertion of mine, I shall need no other happiness. ~ Mary Shelley

Every relationship must have a starting point so that past errors may remain in the past. ~ Mary Lydon Simonsen

If you want to change the culture, you will have to start by changing the organization. ~ Mary Douglas

Grow up, Brett baby, I would share a lot of things with a lot of people, money, clothes, bed and board, even my last crust I'd be willing to share, but one thing I won't share is a man. You'd better believe it. ~ Mary Moore

In 1965, worked with Nite Owl bringing street gangs under control. Tackled the Big Figure together. Brought down Underboss together. Good team.
Until he got soft, like rest. Until he quit.
No staying power. None of them. Except Comedian. Met him in 1966. Forceful personality. Didn't care if people liked him. Uncompromising. Admired that.
Of us all, he understood most. About world. About people. About society and what's happening to it.
Things everyone knows in gut. Things everyone too scared to face, too polite to talk about. He understood.
Understood man's capacity for horrors and never quit. Saw the world's black underbelly and never surrendered. Once man has seen, he can never turn his back on it. Never pretend it doesn't exist.
No matter who orders him to look the other way.
We do not do this thing because it is permitted. We do it because we have to.
We do it because we are compelled. ~ Alan Moore

I was 40 years old before I became an overnight success, and I'd been publishing for 20 years. ~ Mary Karr

I like you, Jase Ballenger," I said softly. "I think if you weren't a thief, we might be friends."
"And if you didn't whisk out knives and threaten to cut pretty necks, I think we might be friends too."
I wrinkled my nose. "Oh, how obsessed you are with your pretty neck."
His hands tightened on my wrists. He pulled me close, his teeth nipping at my neck and between kisses, he whispered, "It is not my neck I am obsessed with, Kazi of Brightmist. ~ Mary E. Pearson

We would be doing the children of South Asia a great disservice if we allowed ourselves to believe that the need of children to belong to a loving, permanent family was washed away by the waves of the tsunami. ~ Mary Landrieu

V: You asked for Knowledge, Eve, and that is what I shall pass on to you. Knowledge, like air, is vital to life. Like air, no one should be denied it.
Eve: Oh, V, come on. You've always kept thinks mysterious: yourself, this place, your plans ... If knowledge is like air, you've been suffocating me.
V: Not at all. I've been teaching you to breathe. ~ Alan Moore

Somewhere deep in my twisted little brain is the desire to be so good at so many things that I earn the chance to be multiple people. It seems so unfair that we only get to read the choose-your-own adventure book of our lives once, that we can't pick a point and go, "Okay, this time flip to page 102 and do the rest another way. ~ Mary Laura Philpott

Facing a difficulty requires a willingness of heart. ~ Mary Anne Radmacher

Mary, in these days, simply couldn't see that he was on the earth. She looked round him, above him, and through him, but never at him; ~ P.G. Wodehouse