Lauren Bacall

"You just learn to cope with whatever you have to cope with. I spent my childhood in New York, riding on subways and buses. And you know what you learn if you’re a New Yorker? The world doesn’t owe you a damn thing."

"How many women do we know who were continually kissed by Clark Gable, William Powell, Cary Grant, Spencer Tracy and Fredric March? Only one: Myrna Loy... And to meet whom did Franklin D. Roosevelt find himself tempted to call off the Yalta Conference? Myrna Loy. And to see what lady in what picture did John Dillinger risk coming out of hiding to meet his bullet-ridden death in an alley in Chicago? Myrna Loy, in Manhattan Melodrama."

"I went to a sneak preview... I was sort of stunned by it, because you dont realize what youve done. I never knew what was going to happen, but they knew. Warners knew, and Howard knew."

"I think your whole life shows in your face and you should be proud of that."

"Shes not a legend. Shes a beginner. What is this legend? She cant be a legend at whatever age she is. She cant be a legend, you have to be older."

"Looking at yourself in a mirror isnt exactly a study of life."

"When you talk about a great actor, youre not talking about Tom Cruise. His whole behavior is so shocking. Its inappropriate and vulgar and absolutely unacceptable to use your private life to sell anything commercially, but I think its kind of a sickness."

"Imagination is the highest kite that can fly."

"Nicole and I worked together on Dogville and we were friends when we started this. That laid the groundwork for our fabulous relationship on screen and off."

"The people Ive known I must say are extraordinary. When I think about some of them, I cant believe that I knew them all. And I think the reason I knew most of them at the beginning was because they were of Bogies generation, 25 years my senior, not mine. But they were the most talented people of all."

"Bacall: Im a total Democrat. Im anti-Republican. And its only fair that you know it. Even though..."

"I was Betty Bacall always. And Lauren was Howard Hawks... he felt that Lauren Bacall was better sounding than Betty Bacall. He had a vision of his own. He was a Svengali. He wanted to mold me. He wanted to control me. And he did until Mr. Bogart got involved."