When you raise your opinion of yourself and what you are capable of it has a decided influence on what you do.

You must always be prepared to place a bet on yourself, on your future, by heading in a direction that others seem to fear.

Never waste valuable time, or mental peace of mind, on the affairs of others—that is too high a price to pay.

True genius, in strategy or anywhere, lies in self-control, self-mastery, presence of mind, fluidity of thought.

Mastery is not a function of genius or talent. It is a function of time and intense focus applied to a particular field of knowledge.

Mistakes and failures are precisely your means of education. They tell you about your own inadequacies.

Be Royal in your Own Fashion: Act like a King to be treated

It is in fact the height of selfishness to merely consume what others create and to retreat into a shell of limited goals and immediate pleasures.

The world wants to assign you a role in life. And once you accept that role you are doomed.

Lord, protect me from my friends; I can take care of my enemies.

No moment is wasted if you pay attention and learn the lessons contained in every experience.

I guess I was an early method actress. I would go to a quiet part of the sound stage with my mother. I wouldn't think of anything sad, I would just make my mind a blank. In a minute I could cry.

I have four grown children and two tiny grandchildren.

People get a kick out of my stupidity.

My father was an American who could cuss in Italian and make an aria out of it. It was wonderful to watch. But then again, he was a Gemini. I believe in that stuff.

[B]ut he had lived in a world in which, as he said, no one who loved ideas need hunger mentally.

I have an excellent internal compass.

In my time and neighborhood (and in my soul) there was only one standard by which a woman measured success: did some man want her?

I wonder whether being a scientists daughter makes you so conflicted about free will and fate.

When the ball is on the one-yard line, never risk a fumble. Carry it over yourself.

All lovers swear more performance than they are able, and yet reserve an ability that they never perform; vowing more than the perfection of ten, and discharging less than the tenth part of one.