Quotes by Audrey Hepburn

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I speak for those children who cannot speak for themselves, children who have absolutely nothing but their courage and their smiles, their wits and their dreams. 

Always be a first-rate version of yourself. 

My look is attainable. Women can look like Audrey Hepburn by flipping out their hair, buying the large sunglasses, and the little sleeveless dresses. 

Cheating on a good woman is like choosing trash over treasure. 

If you ever need a helping hand, it is at the end of your arm. As you get older you must remember you have a second hand. The first one is to help yourself. The second hand is to help others. 

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. 

For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others… 

The ‘Third World’ is a term I don’t like very much, because we’re all one world. I want people to know that the largest part of humanity is suffering. 

I am not beautiful. My mother once called me an ugly duckling. But,listed separately, I have a few good features. 

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone. If you ever need a helping hand, you’ll find one at the end of each of your arms. 

I think sex is overrated. I don’t have sex appeal and I know it. As a matter of fact, I think I’m rather funny looking. My teeth are funny, for one thing, and I have none of the attributes usually required for a movie queen, including the shapeliness. 

Is there anything more important than a child? 

Giving is living. If you stop wanting to give, there’s nothing more to live for. 

Happy girls are always the prettiest 

True beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. 

Good things aren’t supposed to just fall into your lap. God is very generous, but He expects you to do your part first. 

We all want to be loved, don’t we? Everyone looks for a way of finding love. It’s a constant search for affection in every walk of life. 

I don’t want to own anything until I find a place where me and things go together. I’m not sure where that is but I know what it is like. It’s like Tiffany’s. 

If I blow my nose, it gets written all over the world. 

All I want is a room somewhere, far away from the cold night air. With one enormous chair; Oh wouldn’t it be loverly? Lots of choc’late for me to eat; Lots of coal makin’ lots of heat. Warm face, warm ‘ands, warm feet, Oh wouldn’t it be loverly? Oh, so loverly sittin’ abso-bloomin’-lutely still! I would never budge ’til Spring crept over my window sill. Someone’s head restin’ on my knee; Warm and tender as he can be, Who takes good care of me; Oh wouldn’t it be loverly? Loverly, loverly, loverly, loverly. 

For my whole life, my favorite activity was reading. It’s not the most social pastime. 

Love does not terrify me. But the going away of it does. I have been made terribly aware of how everything can be wrenched away from you and your life torn apart. If I had known very secure nights all my life, if I had never seen or felt the fear of being tortured or deported or blown up into a million pieces, then I would not fear it. 

What would be awful would be to die and look back miserably – seeing only the bad things, the opportunities missed, or what could have been. 

I love people who make me laugh! 

The most important job in life is being a mom. 

You go back. You search for what made you happy when you were smaller. We are all grown up children, really… So one should go back and search for what was loved and found to be real. 

It’s that wonderful old-fashioned idea that others come first and you come second. This was the whole ethic by which I was brought up. Others matter more than you do, so ‘don’t fuss, dear; get on with it. 

Living is like tearing through a museum. Not until later do you really start absorbing what you saw, thinking about it, looking it up in a book, and remembering – because you can’t take it all in at once. 

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives the passion that she shows. The beauty of a woman grows with the passing years. 

In Holland and Belgium, and afterwards in England, my happiest moments were in the country. I’ve always had a passion for the outdoors, for trees, for birds and flowers. 

I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles. 

Ricorda, se hai bisogno di una mano la troverai alla fine del tuo braccio. Remember, if you need a hand you’ll find it at the end of your arm. 

Some people dream of having a big swimming pool. With me, it’s closets 

This is what you do on your very first day in Paris. You get yourself, not a drizzle, but some honest-to-goodness rain, and you find yourself someone really nice and drive her through the Bois de Boulogne in a taxi. The rain’s very important. That’s when Paris smells its sweetest. It’s the damp chestnut trees. 

Make-up can only make you look pretty on the outside but it doesn’t help if your ugly on the inside. Unless you eat the make-up. 

True friends are families which you can select. 

The more there is, the less I want. The more man flies to the moon, the more I want to look at a tree. 

Anyone who does not believe in miracles is not a realist. 

If we are meant to “love thy neighbor as theyself,” then surely we should love the world’s children as our own. 

My greatest ambition is to have a career without becoming a career woman. 

As the years go on, you see changes in yourself, but you’ve got to face that – everyone goes through it… Either you have to face up to it and tell yourself you’re not going to be eighteen all your life, or be prepared for a terrible shock when you see the wrinkles and white hair. Getting older doesn’t frighten me, but I wish I didn’t have to because I like life a lot. 

I don’t believe in collective guilt, but I do believe in collective responsibility. 

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you’ll find one at the end of your arm. I really hope no one misinterprets this quote as being about masturbation. 

I hope for better things, and I thank God the world is also full of people who want to be genuine and kind. 

And I always heard people in New York never get to know their neighbors. 

My goal was not to have huge luxuries. As a child, I wanted a house with a garden, which I have today. This is what I dreamed of. I”d never worry about age if I knew I could go on being loved and having the possibility to love… So it is’ age or even death that one fears, as much as loneliness and the lack of affection. 

Whatever you love most, you fear you might lose, you know it can change. Why do you look from left to right when you cross the street? Because you do’ want to get run over. But, you still cross the street. 

…walk with the knowledge that you are never alone. 

When the chips are down, you are alone, and loneliness can be terrifying. Fortunately, I’ve always had a chum I could call. And I love to be alone. It doesn’t bother me one bit. I’m my own company. 

Look, whenever I hear or read I’m beautiful, I simply don’t understand it … I’m certainly not beautiful in any conventional way. I didn’t make my career on beauty. 

If you lead a simple life, and that story is written, then that story will not satisfy. It needs an angle. Suppose there is no angle? 

How shall I sum up my life? I think I’ve been particularly lucky. Does that have something to do with faith also? I know my mother always used to say, ‘Good things aren’t supposed to just fall in your lap. God is very generous, but he expects you to do your part first.’ So you have to make that effort. But at the end of a bad time or a huge effort, I’ve always had – how shall I say it? – the prize at the end. My whole life shows that. 

When the chips are down, you are alone, and loneliness can be terrifying. Fortunately, I’ve always had a chum I could call. And I love to be alone. It doesn’t bother me one bit. I’m my own company. 

Look, whenever I hear or read I’m beautiful, I simply don’t understand it … I’m certainly not beautiful in any conventional way. I didn’t make my career on beauty. 

I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong 

It’s sad if people think that’s (homemaking) a dull existance, [but] you can’t just buy an apartment and furnish it and walk away. It’s the flowers you choose, the music you play, the smile you have waiting. I want it to be gay and cheerful, a haven in this troubled world. I don’t want my husband and children to come home and find a rattled woman. Our era is already rattled enough, isn’t it? 

To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow. 

There is a science of war, but how strange that there isn’t a science of peace. There are colleges of war; why can’t we study peace? 

I believe in manicures. I believe in overdressing. I believe in primping at leisure and wearing lipsitck. 

Happy girls are the prettiest girls. 

My life is’ theories and formulae. It’s part instinct, part common sense. Logic is as good a word as any, and I”ve absorbed what logic I have from everything and everyone… from my mother, from training as a ballet dancer, from Vogue magazine, from the laws of life and health and nature. 

There must be something wrong with those people who think Audrey Hepburn does’ perspire, hiccup or sneeze, because they know that’s not true. I n fact, I hiccup more than most. 

On the one hand maybe I”ve remained infantile, while on the other I matured quickly, because at a young age I was very aware of suffering and fear. 

I do’ take my life seriously, but I do take what I do – in my life – seriously – 

Some people dream of having a big swimming pool. With me, it’s closets 

I am proud to have been in a business that gives pleasure, creates beauty, and awakens our conscience, arouses compassion, and perhaps most importantly, gives millions a respite from our so violent world. 

Why change? Everyone has his own style. When you have found it, you should stick to it. 

I realize that most of us live on the skin – on the surface – without appreciating just how wonderful it is simply to be alive at all. 

A quality education has the power to transform societies in a single generation, provide children with the protection they need from the hazards of poverty, labor exploitation and disease, and given them the knowledge, skills, and confidence to reach their full potential. 

My life isn’t theories and formulae. It’s part instinct, part common sense. Logic is as good a word as any, and I’ve absorbed what logic I have from everything and everyone… from my mother, from training as a ballet dancer, from Vogue magazine, from the laws of life and health and nature. 

I tried always to do better: saw always a little further. I tried to stretch myself. 

There must be something wrong with those people who think Audrey Hepburn doesn’t perspire, hiccup or sneeze, because they know that’s not true. I n fact, I hiccup more than most. 

On the one hand maybe I’ve remained infantile, while on the other I matured quickly, because at a young age I was very aware of suffering and fear. 

I don’t take my life seriously, but I do take what I do – in my life – seriously – 

I have learnt how to live…how to be in the world and of the world, and not just to stand aside and watch. 

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. 

I can testify to what UNICEF means to children, because I was among those who received food and medical relief right after World War II, 

I have a long-lasting gratitude and trust for what UNICEF does. 

Taking care of children has nothing to do with politics. I think perhaps with time, instead of there being a politicisation of humanitarian aid, there will be a humanisation of politics. 

People in these places don’t know Audrey Hepburn, but they recognise the name UNICEF. When they see UNICEF their faces light up, because they know that something is happening. In the Sudan, for example, they call a water pump UNICEF. 

People associate me with a time when movies were pleasant, when women wore pretty dresses in films and you heard beautiful music. I always love it when people write me and and say ‘I was having a rotten time, and I walked into a cinema and saw one of your movies, and it made such a difference.’ 

Whatever a man might do, whatever misery or heartache your children might give you – and they give you a lot – however much your parents irritate you – it doesn’t matter because you love them. 

How shall I sum up my life? I think I’ve been particularly lucky. 

Pick the day. Enjoy it- to the hilt. 

You can only hope to get a combination of happy work and a happy life. 

I’ve always had- how shall I say it? -the prize at the end. My whole life shows that. 

I never expected to be a star, never counted on it, never even wanted it. Not that I didn’t enjoy it all when it happened. 

I lack self-confidence. I don’t know whether I shall ever get it. Perhaps it is better to be unsure of your self, as I am. But it is very tiring. 

You mustnt give your heart to a wild thing. The more you do, the stronger they get. 

Ive had my share of difficult moments, but whatever difficulties Ive gone through, Ive always gotten a prize at the end. 

No. The blues are because you’re getting fat and maybe it’s been raining too long; you’re just sad, that’s all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you’re afraid and you don’t know what you’re afraid of. Do you ever get that feeling? Well, when I get it the only thing that does any good is to jump in a cab and go to Tiffany’s. Calms me down right away. The quietness and the proud look of it. Nothing very bad could happen to you there. If I could find a real-life place that’d make me feel like Tiffany’s, then – then I’d buy some furniture and give the cat a name! 

Promise me one thing: don’t take me home until I’m drunk – very drunk indeed. 

Thursday? Oh no, it can’t be! It’s too gruesome. 

I have no illusions about my looks. I think my face is funny. 

Actually, depravity can be terribly boring if you don’t smoke or drink. 

I don’t bite you know … unless it’s called for, 

It is too much to hope that I shall keep up my success. I don’t ask for that. All I shall do is my best- and hope. 

To pull off any look, wear it with confidence. 

Have we forgotten about the children, and thus forsaken the next generation? 

…perhaps that is what ultimately unites us as a world: the fact that, no matter how prosperous a nation, how developed, all share the plight and embarrassment of having so many suffering children. We are united by our neglect, our abuse, our absence of love. Have we forgotten about the children, and thus forsaken the next generation? 

Somebody said to me the other day, ‘You know, it’s really senseless, what you’re doing. There’s always been suffering, there will always be suffering, and you’re just prolonging the suffering of these children [by rescuing them].’ My answer is, ‘Okay, then, let’s start with your grandchild. Don’t buy antibiotics if it gets pneumonia. Don’t take it to the hospital of it has an accident. It’s against life-against humanity-to think that way. 

It makes me self-conscious. It’s because I’m known, in the limelight, that it’s getting all the gravy, but if you knew, if you saw some of the people who make it possible for UNICEF to help these children survive. These are the people who do the jobs-the unknowns, whose names you will never know…I at least get a dollar a year, but they don’t. 

I went through a period of first successes. Then there was the inevitable change: the bad newspaper articles. Some people don’t care about that, but I do. I’m hurt. I feel it. I don’t think I’ve done anything dreadful. Sometimes you do things for reasons the press doesn’t know. But I’m happy to go on as I have. 

I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. 

I don’t need a bedroom to prove my womanliness. I can convey just as much sex appeal picking apples off a tree or standing in the rain. 

Never regret anything that makes you smile. 

[On her UNICEF work:] I’m glad I’ve got a name, because I’m using it for what it’s worth. … I do not want to see mothers and fathers digging graves for their children. 

A child is a child in any country, whatever the politics. Let’s get down to basics. That’s what a child forces you to do. Nothing else much matters, there is no complicated diplomacy, when a child is starving. It’s simple. And we’d better do something about it. For our sakes, too. That is, if we want to continue to call ourselves human. 

I will not rest until no child goes hungry. All is possible. 

nothing is more important than empathy for another human being’s suffering. Nothing. Not a career, not wealth, not intelligence, certainly not status. We have to feel for one another if we’re going to survive with dignity. 

Who thinks you’re as fantastic as your dog does? 

Gardening is the greatest tonic and therapy a human being can have. Even if you have only a tiny piece of earth, you can create something beautiful, which we all have a great need for. If we begin by respecting plants, it’s inevitable we’ll respect people. 

As much as I loved the art and discipline of the dance, it didn’t love me! 

I believe, every day, you should have at least one exquisite moment. 

My greatest victory has been to be able to live with myself, to accept my shortcomings. I’m a long way from the human being I’d liked to be, but I’ve decided I’m not so bad after all. 

My goal was not to have huge luxuries. As a child, I wanted a house with a garden, which I have today. This is what I dreamed of. I’d never worry about age if I knew I could go on being loved and having the possibility to love… So it isn’t age or even death that one fears, as much as loneliness and the lack of affection. 

As a child, I was taught that it was bad manners to bring attention to yourself, and to never, ever make a spectacle of yourself…all of which I’ve earned a living doing. 

I believe in pink, that laughing is the best calorie burner and that happy girls are the prettiest girls 

There is more to sex appeal than just measurements 

Work as hard as you can, whatever you do, and try to spread generosity of spirit. 

Each, in its own way, was unforgettable. It would be difficult to – Rome! By all means, Rome. I will cherish my visit here in memory as long as I live. 

Well, it’s nice being top banana in the shock department. 

Auntie Mame, who was the british lady?” ‘Oh, she’s from Pittsburgh’ ‘But she had the acc-‘ ‘Well, when your from Pittsburgh you gotta do something 

There is a shade of red for every woman. 

You have to look at yourself objectively. Analyze yourself like an instrument. You have to be absolutely frank with yourself. Face your handicaps, don’t try to hide them. Instead, develop something else. 

When I wear a silk scarf I never feel so definitely like a woman, a beautiful woman 

And…I think that’s what life is all about, actually, about children and flowers. 

No matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself 

A woman can be beautiful as well as intellectual. 

Elegance is the only beauty that never fades. 

Whatever you love most, you fear you might lose, you know it can change. Why do you look from left to right when you cross the street? Because you don’t want to get run over. But, you still cross the street. 

Life is a party. Dress for it. 

You can even say that I hated myself at certain periods. I was too fat, or maybe too tall, or maybe just plain too ugly … you can say my definiteness stems from underlying feelings of insecurity and inferiority. I couldn’t conquer these feelings by acting indecisive. I found the only way to get the better of them was by adopting a forceful, concentrated drive. 

For me the only things of interests are those linked to the heart 

To have beautiful lips, say beautiful things. To have beautiful eyes, look at people and see the good in them. 

For entertainment, a party bears no one in as much as those who are not there. 

I may not always be offered work, but I’ll always have my family. 

How shall I sum up my life? I think I”ve been particularly lucky. 

Thursday? Oh no, it can’t be! It’s too gruesome. 

Can I have a silk nightgown with rosebuds on it? 

There are more important things than outward appearance. No amount of makeup can cover an ugly personality. 

I believe in miracles. 

Never throw out anyone. 

Laughing is the best calorie burner. 

To be happy – that’s all that matters. 

Living is like tearing through a museum. 

The most important thing is growing old gracefully. 

Happiness is health and a short memory! 

Only the absolutely determined people succeed. 

When I get married, I want to be really married 

To be beautiful lips – say kind words. To my eyes were beautiful – radiate good. A woman’s beauty is not in the clothes, not in its shape or hairstyle. Beauty woman in her eyes, because the eyes – is the gateway to the heart, where love lives. 

I have always had a reputation for being frugal – less kind people might call me cheap. But my interest in building up a nest egg goes back to those days in Arnhem when I learned that money can grow, just like trees. 

I can testify to what UNICEF means to children, because I was among those who received food and medical relief right after World War II, I have a long-lasting gratitude and trust for what UNICEF does. 

As a child, I was taught that it was bad manners to bring attention to yourself, and to never, ever make a spectacle of yourself… All of which I’ve earned a living doing. 

People associate me with a time when movies were pleasant, when women wore pretty dresses in films and you heard beautiful music. I always love it when people write me and say I was having a rotten time, and I walked into a cinema and saw one of your movies, and it made such a difference. 

There is a science of war, but how strange that there isn’t a science of peace. There are colleges of war; why ca’ we study peace? 

Fewer things are lovelier to me than a full-blown rose when it opens up its heart. 

Take care of the small circle around you. When you have succeeded with them, then move outwards, one small step at a time. 

For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day. 

Beauty is being the best possible version of yourself, inside and out. 

When the chips are down, you are alone, and loneliness can be terrifying. Fortunately, I’ve always had a chum I could call. And I love to be alone. It doesn’t bother me one bit. I’m my own company. 

Look, whenever I hear or read I’m beautiful, I simply do’ understand it … I’m certainly not beautiful in any conventional way. I didn’t make my career on beauty. 

You can always tell what kind of a person a man really thinks you are by the earrings he gives you. 

I hate girls that giggle all the time… You hate any girl that David looks at. 

The best thing to hold onto in life is each other. 

The most important thing is to enjoy your life – to be happy – it’s all that matters. 

Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’! 

I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles. 

For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone. 

The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. 

If my world were to cave in tomorrow, I would look back on all the pleasures, excitements and worthwhilenesses I have been lucky enough to have had. Not the sadness, not my miscarriages or my father leaving home, but the joy of everything else. It will have been enough. 

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives the passion that she shows. The beauty of a woman grows with the passing years. 

I decided, very early on, just to accept life unconditionally; I never expected it to do anything special for me, yet I seemed to accomplish far more than I had ever hoped. Most of the time it just happened to me without my ever seeking it. 

Let’s face it, a nice creamy chocolate cake does a lot for a lot of people; it does for me. 

I believe in manicures. I believe in overdressing. I believe in primping at leisure and wearing lipstick. I believe in pink. I believe happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and… I believe in miracles. 

I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it’s the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. It’s probably the most important thing in a person. 

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries or the way she combs her hair. 

I was born with an enormous need for affection, and a terrible need to give it. 

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, it’s at the end of your arm, as you get older, remember you have another hand: The first is to help yourself, the second is to help others. 

Paris is always a good idea. 

There is more to sex appeal than just measurements. I don’t need a bedroom to prove my womanliness. I can convey just as much sex appeal, picking apples off a tree or standing in the rain. 

Pick the day. Enjoy it – to the hilt. The day as it comes. People as they come… The past, I think, has helped me appreciate the present – and I don’t want to spoil any of it by fretting about the future. 

Success is like reaching an important birthday and finding you’re exactly the same. 

Living is like tearing through a museum. Not until later do you really start absorbing what you saw, thinking about it, looking it up in a book, and remembering – because you can’t take it in all at once. 

I’m an introvert… I love being by myself, love being outdoors, love taking a long walk with my dogs and looking at the trees, flowers, the sky. 

You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him. 

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. 

I’ve been lucky. Opportunities don’t often come along. So, when they do, you have to grab them. 

I heard a definition once: Happiness is health and a short memory! I wish I’d invented it, because it is very true. 

I have to be alone very often. I’d be quite happy if I spent from Saturday night until Monday morning alone in my apartment. That’s how I refuel. 

When you have nobody you can make a cup of tea for, when nobody needs you, that’s when I think life is over. 

If I’m honest I have to tell you I still read fairy-tales and I like them best of all. 

Since the world has existed, there has been injustice. But it is one world, the more so as it becomes smaller, more accessible. There is just no question that there is more obligation that those who have should give to those who have nothing. 

There are certain shades of limelight that can wreck a girl’s complexion. 

I never thought I’d land in pictures with a face like mine. 

It’s that wonderful old-fashioned idea that others come first and you come second. This was the whole ethic by which I was brought up. Others matter more than you do, so ‘don’t fuss, dear; get on with it.’ 

Everything I learned I learned from the movies. 

I don’t want to be alone, I want to be left alone. 

If I get married, I want to be very married. 

I was asked to act when I couldn’t act. I was asked to sing ‘Funny Face’ when I couldn’t sing, and dance with Fred Astaire when I couldn’t dance – and do all kinds of things I wasn’t prepared for. Then I tried like mad to cope with it. 

I never think of myself as an icon. What is in other people’s minds is not in my mind. I just do my thing. 

I probably hold the distinction of being one movie star who, by all laws of logic, should never have made it. At each stage of my career, I lacked the experience. 

I’m half-Irish, half-Dutch, and I was born in Belgium. If I was a dog, I’d be in a hell of a mess! 

As a matter of fact, I rather feel like expressing myself now. 

And the beauty of a woman, with passing years only grows! 

Your heart just breaks, that’s all. But you can’t judge or point fingers. You just have to be lucky enough to find someone who appreciates you. 

As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others. 

It always boils down to the same thing – not only receiving love, but desperately needing to give it. 

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