THE WIT OF GRETA GARBO

I have to admit I am a classic movie fan, but I have never seen a Garbo movie all the way through. I admit Greta Garbo (1905-1990) was one of the most beautiful women to ever have her face captured on film. However, the dry and sophisticated dramas she made during her time in Hollywood never appealed to me much. She was beautiful, eccentric, and witty as these quotes will show...

I never said, 'I want to be alone.' I only said, 'I want to be left alone.' There is all the difference.

Anyone who has a continuous smile on his face conceals a toughness that is almost frightening.

Life would be so wonderful if we only knew what to do with it.

There are some who want to get married and others who don't. I have never had an impulse to go to the altar. I am a difficult person to lead.

I'm tired and nervous and I'm in America. Here you don't know that you live.

I smoke all the time, one after the other.

It is bitter to think of one's best years disappearing in this unpolished country.

Your joys and sorrows. You can never tell them. You cheapen the inside of yourself if you do tell them.

There are many things in your heart you can never tell to another person. They are you, your private joys and sorrows, and you can never tell them. You cheapen yourself, the inside of yourself, when you tell them.

There is no one who would have me - I can't cook.

I don't want to be a silly temptress. I cannot see any sense in getting dressed up and doing nothing but tempting men in pictures.

There are some who want to get married and others who don't. I have never had an impulse to go to the altar. I am a difficult person to lead.

Being a movie star, and this applies to all of them, means being looked at from every possible direction. You are never left at peace, you're just fair game.

The story of my life is about back entrances, side doors, secret elevators and other ways of getting in and out of places so that people won't bother me....