Shirley Quotes

Shirley MacLaine: what an asshole. ~ Julie Klausner

It's real important to enjoy your turn. ~ Shirley Maclaine

The British civil service ... is a beautifully designed and effective braking mechanism. ~ Shirley Williams

I watched my head rolling on the floor. It landed face up and a big tear came out of one eye. ~ Shirley Maclaine

I promise.
For the other side of the card, I put the giraffe and penguin on it and wrote:
To think and try not to over think.
To breathe, but not hyperventilate.
To try to envision the best, and not dwell on the worst.
To call you when I'm in trouble.
To not do anything permanent on a situation that might be temporary. ~ Shirley Miranda

I was afraid I would get the Oscar for 'Irma La Douce' because it was popular. But I didn't want to because I didn't really think it was that good. ~ Shirley Maclaine

God, who knows me by name, [is] right next to me. ~ Shirley Corder

They walked off on the earthy path, laughing not quite naturally, for they could hardly help being pleased by the momentary attention of descending passengers and by their own almost meritorious youth. ~ Shirley Hazzard

The next time a woman of whatever color, or a dark-skinned person of whatever sex aspires to be president, the way should be a little smoother because I helped pave it ~ Shirley Chisholm

There is no ending to this story because, as I've realised, stories don't have endings, only beginnings. ~ Shirley Marr

On the moon we wore feathers in our hair, and rubies on our hands. On the moon we had gold spoons. ~ Shirley Jackson

I'd never imagined myself in a band. So the fact that I've had such a long career without really naturally pursuing it is really astounding. It's taken me a long time to accept what I do for a living and actually feel like I have anything of value to add to the equation. ~ Shirley Manson

Drinking Shirley Temple with my Mary Janes on,
let's say that every possibility waits ~ Lyn Hejinian

He turned down the passageway to their little parlor, and sent the door swinging open with a crash. "Losing my temper will not help," he said, and gave the door a vicious kick. ~ Shirley Jackson

I wonder if I could eat a child if I had the chance.'
'I doubt if I could cook one,' said Constance. ~ Shirley Jackson

I'm not a betting woman, but I have $50 on Secretariat with an old director friend of mine. ~ Shirley Booth

She wants her cup of stars." Eleanor ~ Shirley Jackson

The swamp roses, Gillie. It was the mare found them. She - if she hadn't run off - it was almost as if she meant me to see them."
"Are you saying? ... "
"I don't know what I'm saying. Yes," she cried, a gay silliness taking her. Drunk with the music and the dancing, drunk with his closeness, she laughed up at him. It was just as in the stories, a kind of magic just like ... " and then she stared at him, confounded.
"Just like what?"
"But in the stories ... "
"In the stories ... what?"
"In the stories ... "
"In the stories there's a prince," Gillie answered quietly. He held her away then. "So the story has come true. ~ Shirley Rousseau Murphy

Jonas," I told him, "you are not to listen any more to Cousin Charles," and Jonas regarded me in wide-eyed astonishment, that I should attempt to make decisions for him. ~ Shirley Jackson

He had seen how people came a cropper by giving way to impulse. It was to his judiciousness, at every turn, that he owed the fact that nothing terrible had ever happened to him. ~ Shirley Hazzard

The most important thing she had learned so far - and it was something to know, after only twelve hours - was that she need not pretend, always, to be competent or at home in a strange atmosphere. Other people, she had learned, were frequently uneasy and uncertain, lost their way or their money, were nervous at being approached by strangers or wary of officials. ~ Shirley Jackson

We moved together very slowly toward the house, trying to understand its ugliness and ruin and shame. ~ Shirley Jackson

So, most of it was done over the phone. But one of the first things I did as a director, because it's one of the first things you should do, even though most don't, is to ask good actors who they think is right for the part. They know better than anybody. But without missing a beat Maggie said Pauline Collins. I didn't know Pauline because I hadn't seen Shirley Valentine, but then I saw this thing that she did with Woody Allen [You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger], in which she was wonderful as a psychic, and I said to her on the phone: "The dialogue seemed improvised." ~ Dustin Hoffman

Yet her physical beauty was as strong a part of her character ... Its first and lasting impression was one of vitality and endurance. That is to say, of power: a power as self-contained, as unoppressive as that of a splendid tree. [p. 10] ~ Shirley Hazzard

She's bewitched you! What good could she do us?"

"Well, now... We could do some good for her. ~ Mariah Marsden

What we live with is ourselves. And when you have your own identity you are much easier to live with. ~ Shirley Maclaine

Some people you can't comfort. You can only go along with their pretending and pretend yourself. ~ Shirley Ann Grau

People in day-to-day life tend to skim the surface of things and be polite and careful, and that's not the language I speak. I like talking about feelings, fears and memories, anguish and joy, and I find it in music. ~ Shirley Manson

It mattered to us both to have some point of reference in that strange place, some means of attesting to the effect it had on us. [p. 87] ~ Shirley Hazzard

Sunnybrook Farm is now a parking lot; the petticoats are in the garbage can, where they belong in the modern world; and I detest censorship. ~ Shirley Temple

We humans should never forget our capacity to connect with the collective spirit of animals. Their energy is essential to our future growth. ~ Shirley Maclaine

Everybody's trying to be the biggest, because if you're not the biggest, you don't survive. ~ Shirley Manson

As a first-generation "Asian American woman," for one thing, I knew there was no such thing as an "Asian American woman." Within this homogenizing labeling of an exotica, I knew there were entire racial/national/cultural/sexual-preferenced groups, many of whom find each other as alien as mainstream America apparently finds me. ~ Shirley Geok-lin Lim

She had taken to wondering lately, during these swift-counted years, what had been done with all those wasted summer days; how could she have spent them so wantonly? I am foolish, she told herself early every summer, I am very foolish; I am grown up now and know the values of things. Nothing is ever really wasted, she believed sensibly, even one's childhood, and then each year, one summer morning, the warm wind would come down the city street where she walked and she would be touched with the little cold thought: I have let more time go by. ~ Shirley Jackson

I just love bright red drinks! ~ Anne Shirley

Why do women always look so funny alone at night? she thought. I guess you're so used to seeing them with someone. ~ Shirley Jackson

On the moon we have everything. Lettuce, and pumpkin pie and Amanita phalloides. We have cat-furred plants and horses dancing with their wings. All the locks are solid and tight, and there are no ghosts. ~ Shirley Jackson

I'm 41, I'm a woman not a kid. I have no interest in making silly pop music. ~ Shirley Manson

I'm benefitting from the sacrifices and seeds sown by Shirley Chisholm, John Lewis, and so many others. Those of us who are beneficiaries owe it to have a season of service in which we try to give back. ~ Terri Sewell

It is not possible, I frequently think, to walk down the street as fast as you can and kick yourself at the same time. ~ Shirley Jackson

That's what's wrong with the country. There are too many 'good soldiers' accepting too many bad decisions. ~ Shirley Chisholm

Is it Rilla-my-Rilla? ~ L.M. Montgomery

Let him be wise, or let me be blind; don't let me, she hoped concretely, don't let me know too surely what he thinks of me. ~ Shirley Jackson

Though she teased at explanations of sorcery in both her life and in her art (an early dust-flap biography called her "a practicing amateur witch," and ~ Shirley Jackson

Dwelling on the negative simply contributes to its power. ~ Shirley Maclaine

It is a longing so intense that it creates what it desires, it cannot endure any touch of correction; it is, as I say, unspeakable. ~ Shirley Jackson

I remember that I stood on the library steps holding my books and looking for a minute at the soft hinted green in the branches against the sky and wishing, as I always did, that I could walk home across the sky instead of through the village. ~ Shirley Jackson

None of these things bothered us excessively; we have always been a family that carries bewilderment like a banner, and odd new confusions do not actually seem to be any more bewildering than the ones we invent for ourselves; moreover, in each of these cases it was easier to believe that nothing had happened, or that it was of no importance anyway. ~ Shirley Jackson

Everyone tells stories around here. Every place, every
person has a ring of stories around them, a halo almost.
People have told me tales ever since I was a tiny girl
squatting in the front dooryard, in mud-caked overalls,
digging for doodlebugs. They have talked to me, and
talked to me. some I've forgotten, but most I remember.
And so my memory goes back before my birth ~ Shirley Ann Grau

Your life clock is ticking. But you know what? God made the clock. ~ Strength Renewed ~ Shirley Corder

I don't think you go out of style when you're living in the present most of the time. And I think that is what I do. ~ Shirley Maclaine

The sight of one's own heart is degrading; people are not meant to look inward - that's why they've been given bodies, to hide their souls. ~ Shirley Jackson

I'd like to go to another planet, which I might live long enough to accomplish. Just get on a spaceship and go. But not the moon. I don't see any flowers there. The moon is too close. I want to go further. ~ Shirley Maclaine

Eleanor found herself unexpectedly admiring her own feet. Theodora dreamed over the fire beyond the tips of her toes, and Eleanor thought with deep satisfaction that her feet were handsome in their red sandals; what a complete and separate thing I am, she thought, going from my red toes to the top of my head, individually an I, possessed of attributes belonging only to me. I have red shoes, she thought-that goes with being Eleanor; I dislike lobster and sleep on my left side and crack my knuckles when I am nervous and save buttons. I am holding a brandy glass which is mine because I am here and I am using it and I have a place in this room. I have red shoes and tomorrow I will wake up and I will still be here. 'I have red shoes,' she said very softly, and Theodora turned and smiled up at her. ~ Shirley Jackson

Failure can't live in the company of perseverance.

Failure eventually surrenders. Corky and Shirley taught me this. It took them ten years to win Blackpool. Ten years! Some people would give up and throw in the towel after ten minutes! Every time they lost, all the people around them blamed Corky. But he was relentless. He was going to prove his talent not just to the naysayers but also to himself. There were many times as a competitive dancer when I felt deflated and not good enough, but I never gave up--the Ballases never let me. You always have to keep on moving forward and having faith. Think of the greatest leaders we know. What do they all have in common? They all fought some uphill battle to get where they are. Call it tenacity, persistence, or plain old stubbornness. When someone or something tries to push me off my path, that's when I dig my heels in even harder. I'll be honest: in some areas of my life, I have this mastered. In others, I need a little reminder now and then. There's nothing you can't do if you see it through. ~ Derek Hough

Brown, they would later write, had taught them that the goal of reading and criticizing was "to know and understand, not to like or dislike, and the aim of writing was to get down what you wanted to say, not to gesticulate or impress. ~ Ruth Franklin

Dulcie said there were no cats in the Bible, but Kit wasn't sure she believed that. Why would there be horses and cows and dogs, wild pigs and weasels, but no cats? Why, when everyone knew that a little cat would have to be God's favorite? ~ Shirley Rousseau Murphy

If you have any opinions at all or if you're even remotely verbal then they're going to call you fiery. ~ Shirley Manson

Beyond the table, there is an altar, with candles lit for Billie Holiday and Willa Carter and Hypatia and Patsy Cline. Next to it, an old podium that once held a Bible, on which we have repurposed an old chemistry handbook as the Book of Lilith. In its pages is our own liturgical calendar: Saint Clementine and All Wayfarers; Saints Lorena Hickok and Eleanor Roosevelt, observed in the summer with blueberries to symbolize the sapphire ring; the Vigil of Saint Juliette, complete with mints and dark chocolate; Feast of the Poets, during which Mary Oliver is recited over beds of lettuce, Kay Ryan over a dish of vinegar and oil, Audre Lorde over cucumbers, Elizabeth Bishop over some carrots; The Exaltation of Patricia Highsmith, celebrated with escargots boiling in butter and garlic and cliffhangers recited by an autumn fire; the Ascension of Frida Khalo with self-portraits and costumes; the Presentation of Shirley Jackson, a winter holiday started at dawn and ended at dusk with a gambling game played with lost milk teeth and stones. Some of them with their own books; the major and minor arcana of our little religion. ~ Carmen Maria Machado

I looked at the clock with the faint unconscious hope common to all mothers that time will somehow have passed magically away and the next time you look it will be bedtime. ~ Shirley Jackson

Our representative democracy is not working because the Congress that is supposed to represent the voters does not respond to their needs. I believe the chief reason for this is that it is ruled by a small group of old men. ~ Shirley Chisholm

(an early dust-flap biography called her "a practicing amateur witch, ~ Shirley Jackson

P.s. I am pretty certain Beyonce doesn't need you fighting any battles on her account. Seems like she's got everything covered perfectly well on her own. ~ Shirley Manson

I'm cursed with empathy. I'm also by nature way too opinionated. ~ John Shirley

It's odd, because I used to see pictures, on telly or wherever, of what I now know to be Shaftesbury Avenue and I used to wonder what that amazing street with all the lights was. Well, now I know. I think when you get a wee taste of something, it maybe isn't what you thought it was. ~ Shirley Henderson

When people say of their tragedies, 'I don't often think of it now,' what they mean is it has entered permanently into their thoughts, and colors everything. ~ Shirley Hazzard

No, the menace of the supernatural is that it attacks where modern minds are weakest, where we have abandoned our protective armor of superstition and have no substitute defense. ~ Shirley Jackson

Peace, Eleanor thought concretely; what I want in all this world is peace, a quiet spot to lie and think, a quiet spot up among the flowers where I can dream and tell myself sweet stories. ~ Shirley Jackson

Chief Coordinator of DALTO – the Department of Aid to the Less technically Oriented, working to induce backwards nations to come forwards. ~ Shirley Hazzard

By the time I got to the Fox studio for my first major film, I knew how to hit a mark. I knew how to memorize lines. I knew how to pay attention. ~ Shirley Temple

Women can be divided, more or less, into cows and shrews, and the shrews are to be avoided. [p. 74] ~ Shirley Hazzard

Until mankind realizes that there is, in truth, no good, and there is, in truth, no evil-there will be no peace. ~ Shirley Maclaine

Perhaps the village was really a great game board, with the squares neatly marked out, and I had been moved past the square which read 'Fire; return to Start,' and was now on the last few squares, with only one move to go to reach home. ~ Shirley Jackson

Neil once told me you had to become a monster so that you didn't become the victim of one instead. I don't care what anyone says. I believe him. ~ Shirley Marr

I love America not for what she is, but for what she can become. ~ Shirley Chisholm

Grace Paley once described the male-female writer phenomenon to me by saying, "Women have always done men the favor of reading their work, but the men have not returned the favor. ~ Shirley Jackson

Everyone was always in danger, after all. From cancer, from car crashes and plane crashes, from criminals. Most people managed denial; managed to pretend they were safe. ~ John Shirley

I am naive. I make mistakes - But I don't give a rat's arse how I am perceived! ~ Shirley Manson

I don't feel competitive. ~ Shirley Maclaine

I eat what I want but in moderation. ~ Shirley Eaton

Intentions often melt in the face of unexpected opportunity. ~ Shirley Temple

My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all, I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cup mushroom. Everyone else in our family is dead. ~ Shirley Jackson

That's wrong, Mrs. Winning was thinking, you mustn't ever talk about whether people like you, that's bad taste. ~ Shirley Jackson

Betty Dravis is a fantastic mix of Shirley Jackson, Edna Buchanan and Janis Joplin. Don't ask me how I came up with that unlikely comparison––I just feel it, and I haven't been drinking much tonight. ~ Mark Laflamme

Scientists like ripping problems apart, collecting as much data as possible and then assembling the parts back together to make a decision. ~ Shirley M. Tilghman

I have a lot of friends who are around. I'm having a wonderful time in my life now with my platonic relationships with men and women, because when that sexual tension is off the requirement of the interplay, then you get to who the people really are, and to yourself. ~ Shirley Maclaine

Name?" the desk clerk said to me politely, her pencil poised.
"Name," I said vaguely. I remembered, and told her.
"Age?" she asked. "Sex? Occupation?"
"Writer," I said.
"Housewife," she said.
"Writer," I said.
"I'll just put down housewife," she said. ~ Shirley Jackson

I feel privileged, to be honest. ~ Shirley Manson

I disliked having a fork pointed at me and I disliked the sound of the voice never stopping; I wished he would put food on the fork and put it into his mouth and strangle himself. ~ Shirley Jackson

I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. ~ Shirley Jackson

And if it played its cards right they could end up flitting through the Overlook's halls like insubstantial shades in a Shirley Jackson novel, whatever walked in Hill House walked alone, but you wouldn't be alone in the Overlook, oh no, there would be plenty of company here. ~ Stephen King

Freedom comes in individual packages. ~ Shirley Boone

Dear old world. You are very lovely and I am glad to be alive in you - Anne Shirley ~ L.M. Montgomery

On the main street of one village she passed a vast house, pillared and walled, with shutters over the windows and a pair of stone lions guarding the steps, and she thought that perhaps she might live there, dusting the lions each morning and patting their heads good night. ~ Shirley Jackson

The main thing I have in common with the kids is that
we are tired of being lied to...If it is not too late for America to be saved, the young will save it – and the blacks, the Indians, the Spanish-surnamed,the young women, and the other victims of American society. They, if any, will become the conscience that the Country has lacked. They will try to force it to practice what it has preached. ~ Shirley Chisholm

I have always told anyone who would listen that I was available for more public service. ~ Shirley Temple

Most Americans have never seen the ignorance, degradation, hunger, sickness, and futility in which many other Americans live ... They won't become involved in economic or political change until something brings the seriousness of the situation home to them. ~ Shirley Chisholm

Bonding through dependence never works, whereas bonding through freedom always does. ~ Shirley Maclaine

Listen to sounds beyond silence. ~ Shirley Maclaine

When I'm doing theatre, I feel like my life's on hold. Even though you might go out for a coffee, or go and see a film, your brain is still there, pulling you back to it. ~ Shirley Henderson