229 Quotes by Lauren Bacall

I'm not tough, and I never have been. I suppose over the years I've built up kind of a veneer to protect myself because I have functioned on my own for a long, long time, and I have never had a lot of flunkies preceding me to clear the way.

Movies are great fun and wonderful when they're good. But you never get to see them till six months after they're finished. So you never get a sense of whether they're really well liked or how good they are. And you don't really know what the finished product is going to be like, because it's a director's medium.

She's not a legend, ... She can't be a legend at whatever age she is. ... You have to be older.

Imagination is the highest kite that one can fly.

You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.

You know you don't have to act with me, Steve. You don't have to say anything, and you don't have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.'

The purity of Jewish upbringing is the restrictions that one carries through life being a "nice Jewish girl" -- what a burden!

I'm a fan. My grandchildren are fans. I wish I'd written the books.

If I could have lived as an actress in any period, it would have been the 1920s - I would have loved to have been part of that speakeasy era.