Mae West Quotes

Mary Jane "Mae" West was an American actress, singer, playwright, screenwriter, comedian, and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades, known for her lighthearted bawdy double entendres and breezy sexual independence.

West was active in vaudeville and on the stage in New York City before moving to Hollywood to become a comedian, actress and writer in the motion picture industry, as well as appearing on radio and television. The American Film Institute named her 15th among the greatest female stars of classic American cinema.

Often using a husky contralto voice, West was one of the more controversial movie stars of her day and encountered many problems, especially censorship. She bucked the system, making comedy out of conventional mores, and the Depression-era audience admired her for it. When her cinematic career ended, she wrote books and plays and continued to perform in Las Vegas, in the United Kingdom, on radio and television and to record rock and roll albums. She was once asked about the various efforts to impede her career, to which she replied: "I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it."

✵ 17. August 1893 – 22. November 1980   •   Other names Mae Westová
Mae West photo
Mae West: 24   quotes 36   likes

Famous Mae West Quotes

“I only like two kinds of men, domestic and imported.”

I'm No Angel (1933)

“When I'm good, I'm very good. When I'm bad, I'm better.”

I'm No Angel (1933)

“I've been in more laps than a napkin.”

#685 in The 2,548 Best Things Anybody Ever Said (2006) by Robert Byrne

“I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.”

Interview http://books.google.com/books?id=jU8EAAAAMBAJ&q=%22I+used+to+be+Snow+White+but+I+drifted%22&pg=PA64-IA1#v=onepage in Life magazine (18 April 1969)

Mae West Quotes

“Between two evils, I generally like to pick the one I never tried before.”

Klondike Annie (1936) Sometimes quoted as: "When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I've never tried before."'

“When you got the personality, you don't need the nudity.”

Quoted in "For Women, Monologues They Haven't Heard" by Susan Pomerance, Dramaline Publications (1985)

“When women go wrong, men go right after them.”

She Done Him Wrong (1933)

“I've always had a weakness for foreign affairs.”

Person-to-Person interview (CBS) with Charles Collingwood, September 1959 http://books.google.com/books?id=21R_KPMzH2EC&q="I've+always+had+a+weakness+for+foreign+affairs"&pg=PA82#v=onepage

“Give a man a free hand and he'll run it all over you.”

#684 in The 2,548 Best Things Anybody Ever Said (2006) by Robert Byrne

“One and one is two; two and two is four; and "five will get you ten" if you work it right!”

Source: My Little Chickadee (1940)

“She's the kind of girl who climbed the ladder of success wrong by wrong.”

#832 in The 2,548 Best Things Anybody Ever Said (2006) by Robert Byrne

“Goodness had nothing to do with it, dearie.”

Response to an exclamation, "Goodness! What lovely diamonds!" in Night After Night (1932). She later used Goodness had nothing to do with it as the title of her autobiography (1953).

“Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?”

Sextette (1978)
Source: [Quote Investigator: Exploring the Origin of Quotes, http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/08/20/glad-to-see/]
Source: [The Oxford Dictionary of American Quotations, https://books.google.com/books?id=whg05Z4Nwo0C&pg=PA625]

“I feel like a million tonight. But one at a time.”

Myra Breckinridge (1970)

“Why don't you come up sometime and see me? … Come on up, I'll tell your fortune.”

She Done Him Wrong (1933); this statement has become widely misquoted with the paraphrase: "Why don't you come up and see me sometime?"

“Marriage is a fine institution, but I'm not ready for an institution.”

#149 in The 2,548 Best Things Anybody Ever Said (2006) by Robert Byrne

“A man in the house is worth two in the street.”

Belle of the Nineties (1934)

Similar authors

Marilyn Monroe photo
Marilyn Monroe 149
American actress, model, and singer
Meryl Streep photo
Meryl Streep 12
American actress
Brigitte Bardot photo
Brigitte Bardot 35
French model, actor, singer and animal rights activist
Sophia Loren photo
Sophia Loren 32
Italian actress
Zsa Zsa Gabor photo
Zsa Zsa Gabor 4
Hungarian-American socialite and actress
Marlene Dietrich photo
Marlene Dietrich 28
German-American actress and singer
Elizabeth Taylor photo
Elizabeth Taylor 33
British-American actress
Audrey Hepburn photo
Audrey Hepburn 21
British actress
Dolly Parton photo
Dolly Parton 36
American singer-songwriter and actress
Madonna photo
Madonna 107
American singer, songwriter, and actress