Lillian Gish Quotes

Never get caught acting.

I think the things that are necessary in my profession are these: Taste, Talent and Tenacity. I think I have had a little of all three.

Oh, well. At least I won`t have to lose to Cher. (after failing to receive a best actress nomination for The Whales of August)

(on D.W. Griffith) He inspired in us his belief that we were working in a medium that was powerful enough to influence the whole world.

I can`t remember a time when I wasn`t acting, so I can`t imagine what I would do if I stopped now.

Lionel Barrymore first played my grandfather, later my father, and finally, he played my husband. If he`d lived, I`m sure I`d have played his mother. That`s the way it is in Hollywood. The men get younger and the women get older.

Young man, if God had wanted you to see me that way, he would have put your eyes in your bellybutton.

I don`t care for modern films -- all crashing cars and close-ups of people`s feet.

I believe that marriage is a career in itself. I have preferred a stage career to a marriage career. (1939)

Marriage is a business. A woman cannot combine a career and marriage ... I should not wish to unite the two. (1919)

What you get is a living, what you give is a life.

A happy life is one spent in learning, earning, and yearning.

The stage was our school, our home, our life.

(on D. W. Griffith) It`s true, sometimes I called him David. Even so, I might have said David, but I always thought Mr. Griffith. He was a born general. His voice was a voice of command. It was resonant, deep and full.

(on Mary Pickford) It was always Mary herself that shone through. Her personality was the thing that made her movies memorable and the pictures that showed her personality were the best.

The older I get, the more I believe in what I can`t explain or understand, even more than the things that are explainable and understandable.

I never approved of talkies. Silent movies were well on their way to developing an entirely new art form. It was not just pantomine, but something wonderfully expressive.

I`ve never been in style, so I can`t go out of style.

(on Richard Barthelmess) The most beautiful face of any man who went before the camera.

Those little virgins, after five minutes you got sick of playing them - to make them more interesting was hard work.

Fans always write asking why I didn`t smile more in films. I smiled in `Annie Laurie`, but I can`t recall that it helped much.

You can get through life with bad manners, but it`s easier with good manners.