Lillian Hellman Quotes

Quotes about:

• People change and forget to tell each other.

  Lillian Hellman

  Relationship, Change, Marriage

  Lillian Hellman (1960). “Toys in the Attic: A Drama in Three Acts”, Dramatist's Play Service

  62 Copy quote

• Things start out as hopes and end up as habits.

  Lillian Hellman

  Habit, Ends

  69 Copy quote

• It is best to act with confidence, no matter how little right you have to it.

  Lillian Hellman

  Confidence, Littles, Matter

  68 Copy quote

• Since when do you have to agree with people to defend them from injustice?

  Lillian Hellman

  Women, Diversity, People

  Lillian Hellman (1976). “Scoundrel time”

  61 Copy quote

• It's a sad day when you find out that it's not accident or time or fortune, but just yourself that kept things from you.

  Lillian Hellman

  Inspirational, Time, Mistake

  Lillian Hellman, Jackson R. Bryer (1986). “Conversations with Lillian Hellman”, p.271, Univ. Press of Mississippi

  58 Copy quote

• There are people who eat the earth and eat all the people on it like in the Bible with the locusts. And other people who stand around and watch them eat.

  Lillian Hellman

  People, Watches, Earth

  Lillian Hellman (1969). “The Little Foxes: Play in Three Acts”

  62 Copy quote

• Nobody knows what you want except you, and no one will be as sorry as you if you don't get it.

  Lillian Hellman

  Sorry, Want, Nobody Knows

  60 Copy quote

• The only good thing about [aging] is you're not dead.

  Lillian Hellman

  Aging, Good Things

  34 Copy quote

• You can't recover from what you do not understand.

  Lillian Hellman

  Understanding

  18 Copy quote

• You are what you are. It is my opinion that trouble in the world comes from people who do not know what they are, and pretend to be something they're not.

  Lillian Hellman

  People, World, Opinion

  Lillian Hellman (1943). “The North Star: A Motion Picture about Some Russian People”

  26 Copy quote

• I like people who refuse to speak until they are ready to speak.

  Lillian Hellman

  Women, Memorable, People

  "Untamed Tongues : Wild Words from Wild Women". Book by Autumn Stephens (p. 132), 1993.

  44 Copy quote

• You do too much. Go and do nothing for a while. Nothing.

  Lillian Hellman

  Too Much

  Lillian Hellman (1988). “Toys in the Attic”, p.54, Dramatists Play Service Inc

  12 Copy quote

• For every man who lives without freedom, the rest of us must face the guilt.

  Lillian Hellman

  Life, Freedom, Men

  Lillian Hellman (1944). “Watch on the Rhine: Acting Ed. Play in Three Acts”

  37 Copy quote

• I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions, even though I long ago came to the conclusion that I was not a political person and could have no comfortable place in any political group.

  Lillian Hellman

  Fashion, Cutting, Long Ago

  Letter to John S. Wood, 19 May 1952.

  41 Copy quote

• Truth made you a traitor as it often does in a time of scoundrels.

  Lillian Hellman

  Truth, Honesty, Doe

  Scoundrel Time (1976)

  21 Copy quote

• No one can argue any longer about the rights of women. It's like arguing about earthquakes.

  Lillian Hellman

  Equality, Earthquakes, Rights

  13 Copy quote

• I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions.

  Lillian Hellman

  Fashion, Peace, Integrity

  Letter to John S. Wood, 19 May 1952.

  43 Copy quote

• Nobody knows what you want except you. And nobody will be as sorry as you if you don't get it. Wanting some other way to live is proof enough of deserving it. Having it is hard work, but not having it is sheer hell.

  Lillian Hellman

  Sorry, Hard Work, Deserving It

  17 Copy quote

• Nothing, of course, begins at the time you think it did.

  Lillian Hellman

  Time, Thinking, Courses

  "An Unfinished Woman: A Memoir". Book by Lillian Hellman, 1969.

  6 Copy quote

• Courtesy is breeding. Breeding is an excellent thing. Always remember that.

  Lillian Hellman

  Remember, Courtesy, Excellent

  10 Copy quote

• Drinking makes uninteresting people matter less and late at night, matter not at all.

  Lillian Hellman

  Drinking, Night, People

  7 Copy quote

• Haven't you lived in the South long enough to know that nothing is ever anybody's fault?

  Lillian Hellman

  Long, Faults, Enough

  Lillian Hellman (1952). “The Autumn Garden: Play in Three Acts”, p.18, Dramatists Play Service Inc

  9 Copy quote

• Advances are made by those with at least a touch of irrational confidence in what they can do.

  Lillian Hellman

  Confidence, Made, Irrational

  18 Copy quote

• Lonely people, in talking to each other can make each other lonelier.

  Lillian Hellman

  Lonely, Loneliness, Being Alone

  Lillian Hellman (1952). “The Autumn Garden: Play in Three Acts”, p.35, Dramatists Play Service Inc

  13 Copy quote

• You don't always know how to do things when they're happening.

  Lillian Hellman

  Know How, Knows, Happenings

  Lillian Hellman (1974). “Another Part of the Forest: Play in Three Acts”, p.61, Dramatists Play Service Inc

  14 Copy quote

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