I work so hard before the camera and on the stage that I have neither the desire nor the energy to act in my private life

A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.

You must train your intuition - you must trust the small voice inside you which tells you exactly what to say, what to decide

A kiss is a lovely trick, designed by nature, to stop words when speech becomes unnecessary.

No form of art goes beyond ordinary consciousness as film does, straight to our emotions, deep into the twilight of the soul.

It is not whether you really cry. It`s whether the audience thinks you are crying.

I don`t think anyone has the right to intrude in your life, but they do. I would like people to separate the actress and the woman.

If you took acting away from me, I`d stop breathing.

[Cary Grant] is quite remarkable, you know. I think [Audrey Hepburn] is now too old for him, and in his next picture he will be making love to someone like Jane Fonda.

I can do everything with ease on the stage, whereas in real life I feel too big and clumsy. So I didn`t choose acting; acting chose me.

Having a home, husband, and child ought to be enough for any woman`s life. I mean, that`s what we are meant for, isn`t it? But still I think every day is a lost day. As if only half of me is alive. The other half is pressed down in a bag and suffocated.

A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.

I always wanted to do comedies but nobody discovered this until my old age. They think all Swedes are like [Greta Garbo].

There are advantages to being a star, though - you can always get a table in a full restaurant.

I have had my different husbands, my families. I am fond of them all and I visit them all. But deep inside me there is the feeling that I belong to show business."

I made so many films which were more important, but the only one people ever want to talk about is that one with [Humphrey Bogart].

I don`t worry about it because we are all growing old. If I were the only one I would worry. But we`re all in the same boat, and all of my friends are coming with me. We all go toward old age. How many years left we don`t know. We just have to accept it.

In Paris, when the picture came out [Casablanca (1942)], they weren`t too pleased with it. They didn`t like the political point of view. The picture was taken off immediately and was never sold to television. A while ago, it was brought in and opened in five theatres in Paris, as a new movie. They had a big gala opening where I appeared and people were absolutely crazy about it.

Acting is the best medicine in the world - if you`re not feeling well, it goes away because you are busy thinking about something that isn`t yourself. We actors are very fortunate people.

I am happy I was born Swedish because this means having a tough education -- at least it was in my time. But I couldn`t live there, even when I was in my 20s. Sweden is too far from the rest of the world psychologically. There you feel confined on an island.

Cancer victims who don`t accept their fate, who don`t learn to live with it, will only destroy what little time they have left.

I have grown up alone. I`ve taken care of myself. I worked, earned money and was independent at 18.

I always felt guilty. My whole life.

Be yourself. The world worships the original.

Film as dream, film as music. No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls.

You must train your intuition - you must trust the small voice inside you which tells you exactly what to say, what to decide.

I was the shyest human ever invented, but I had a lion inside me that wouldn`t shut up.

Time is shortening. But every day that I challenge this cancer and survive is a victory for me.

Happiness is good health and a bad memory.

I don`t regret a thing I`ve done. I only regret the things I didn`t do.

Until 45 I can play a woman in love. After 55 I can play grandmothers. But between those ten years, it is difficult for an actress.

I have no regrets. I wouldn`t have lived my life the way I did if I was going to worry about what people were going to say.

I remember one day sitting at the pool and suddenly the tears were streaming down my cheeks. Why was I so unhappy? I had success. I had security. But it wasn`t enough. I was exploding inside.

I`ve never sought success in order to get fame and money; it`s the talent and the passion that count in success.

People didn`t expect me to have emotions like other women.

[to daughter Isabella Rossellini, on acting] Keep it simple. Make a blank face and the music and the story will fill it in.

I`ve gone from saint to whore and back to saint again, all in one lifetime.

The best way to keep young is to keep going in whatever it is that keeps you going. With me that`s work, and a lot of it. And when a job is finished, relax and have fun.