Marlene Dietrich citations

“Il y a en moi trois êtres, qui quelquefois se combattent et quelquefois se superposent. D'abord, l'actrice. J'ai mes petites qualités et mes limites. Dans ma génération, je pourrais en trouver une bonne dizaine qui sont plus douées que moi. Il y a ensuite la femme, et j'ai eu mes moments. En troisième lieu, il y a ce que je suis devenue, et qui ne m'appartient pas : la légende. Croyez-moi, il n'y a rien de plus important au monde.”

“C'est la femme qui m'a coûté le plus cher au monde.”

“On ne fait pas de robe pour Dietrich, on les crée pour elle.”

“Certaines stars s'échinaient à provoquer la publicité qui alimentait et entretenait leur gloire. Dietrich ne prit jamais cette peine. Elle n'avait nul besoin de faire des efforts pour être une star. Elle en était une; c'était son état naturel.”

“Sa voix seule vous briserait le cœur. Mais elle possède ce corps superbe et ce tendre visage sur lequel le temps n'a pas de prise. Qu'elle vous brise le cœur n'a pas d'importance du moment où elle est là pour le réparer.”

“Marlene Dietrich… Votre nom débute par une caresse et s'achève par un coup de cravache. Vous portez des plumes et des fourrures qui semblent appartenir à votre corps comme les fourrures des fauves et les plumes des oiseaux. Votre voix, votre regard, sont ceux de la Lorelei, mais la Lorelei était dangereuse; vous ne l'êtes pas parce que votre secret de beauté consiste à prendre soin de votre ligne de cœur.”

“Nous avons affaire à une femme noble et fière, dont l'unique souci est le perfectionnisme, le seul vice le désir d'aller au bout d'elle même, et dont le seul danger réside en son don de susciter chez les hommes autrement rationnels une prose aussi délirante que celle-ci. »”

“Les yeux bleus les plus troublants que j'aie jamais rencontré.”

“You can't live without illusions, even if you must fight for them.”

“To be completely woman you need a master, and in him a compass for your life. You need a man you can look up to and respect. If you dethrone him it's no wonder that you are discontented, and discontented women are not loved for long.”

“In Europe, it doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman - we make love with anyone we find attractive.”

“Words can bruise and break hearts, and minds as well. There are no black and blue marks, no broken bones to put in plaster casts, and therefore no prison bars for the offender.”

“The British have an umbilical cord which has never been cut and through which tea flows constantly. It is curious to watch them in times of sudden horror, tragedy or disaster. The pulse stops apparently, and nothing can be done, and not one move made, until a “nice cup of tea” is quickly made. There is no question that it brings solace and does steady the mind. What a pity all countries are not.”

“Champagne makes you feel like it's Sunday and better days are just around the corner.”

“To lose your prejudices you must travel.”

“Forgiveness: Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast.”

“Most women set out to try to change a man, and when they have changed him they do not like him.”

“There’s something about an American soldier you can’t explain. They’re so grateful for anything, even a film actress coming to see them.”

“America took me into her bosom when there was no longer a country worthy of the name, but in my heart I am German – German in my soul.”

“Sex: In America an obsession. In other parts of the world a fact.”

“The legs aren't so beautiful, I just know what to do with them.”

“The Germans and I no longer speak the same language.”

“What a man notices first about a woman is whether she notices him.”

“The weak are more likely to make the strong weak than the strong are likely to make the weak strong.”

“I am at heart a gentleman.”

“Without tenderness, a man is uninteresting.”

“Glamour is what I sell, it's my stock in trade.”

“Duties are what make life most worth living. Lacking them, you are not necessary to anyone.”

“Love for the joy of loving, and not for the offerings of someone else's heart.”

“I do not think that we have a “right” to happiness. If happiness happens, say thanks.”

“Glamour is assurance. It is a kind of knowing that you are all right in every way, mentally and physically and in appearance, and that, whatever the occasion or the situation, you are equal to it.”

“In language gender is particularly confusing. Why, please, should a table be male in German, female in French, and castrated in English?”

“Friendship is a precious gift that can't be bought or sold. It's value is greater than mountains made of gold. If you shall ask God for a gift be thankful if he sends not diamonds pearls or riches but the love and trust of friends. It is the friends you can call up at 4 a. m. that matter.”

“Jungs! Opfert euch nicht! Der krieg ist doch scheiße, Hitler ist ein idiot! (message in a pro-allied propaganda broadcast) Translation: Boy! Do not sacrifice yourself! The war is but shit, Hitler is an idiot!”

“Quotations: I love them because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognizedly wiser than oneself.”