“The chaos of our lives suited me; I don't think I wanted it to end.”

As quoted in Meditations for Women Who Do Too (1991) by Anne Wilson Schaef

I Ain't Got Time To Bleed (1999)

from Changeling

So Called Chaos
So-Called Chaos (2004)

Context: Please don't make me a joke. End the interview with what I believe. I don't mind making jokes, but I don't want to look like one... I want to be an artist, an actress with integrity... If fame goes by, so long, I've had you, fame. If it goes by, I've always known it was fickle. So at least it's something I experienced, but that's not where I live.

Her last taped interview, with Richard Meryman, published in LIFE magazine a few days before her death. (3 August 1962); quoted in Ms. magazine (August 1972) <!-- p. 42 -->

King's Highway
Lyrics, Into The Great Wide Open (1991)

Sendak here quotes from King Lear by William Shakespeare : Men must endure their going hence, even as their coming hither: Ripeness is all.
NOW interview (2004)
Context: My big concern is me and what do I do now until the time of my death. That is valid. That is useful. That is beautiful. That is creative. And also, I want to be free again. I want to be free like when I was a kid … Where we just had fun. What I mean by this is I've had my career. I've had my success. God willing, it should have happened to Herman Melville who deserved it a great deal more, you know? Imagine him being on Bill Moyers' show. Nothing good happened to Herman Melville. I want to see me to the end working, living for myself. "Ripeness is all." Now, interpreting what ripeness is our own individual problem. … So, what is the point of it all? Not leaving legacies. But being ripe. Being ripe.

Said while making Fitzcarraldo
Herzog on Herzog (2002)

Discussing the end sequence of "The Execution of Gary Glitter" on Screenwipe Review of the Year 2009
Screenwipe