A woman knows by intuition, or instinct, what is best for herself. Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world. I used to get the feeling, and sometimes I still get it, that I was fooling somebody - I don't know who or what - maybe myself. I have feelings some days where there are scenes with a lot of responsibility, and I'll wish, 'Gee, if only I had been a cleaning woman.' Dogs never bite me - just humans. All little girls should be told they are pretty, even if they aren't. The truth is, I've never fooled anyone. I've let men sometimes fool themselves. One of the best things that ever happened to me is that I'm a woman. That is the way all females should feel. A woman can't be alone. She needs a man. A man and a woman support and strengthen each other. She just can't do it by herself.

We should all start to live before we get too old. Sometimes I think it would be easier to avoid old age, to die young, but then you'd never complete your life, would you? You'd never wholly know you. There is just no comparison between having a dinner date with a man and staying home playing canasta with the girls. Success makes so many people hate you. I wish it wasn't that way. It would be wonderful to enjoy success without seeing envy in the eyes of those around you. It's often just enough to be with someone. I don't need to touch them. Not even talk. A feeling passes between you both. You're not alone.

The real lover is the man who can thrill you just by touching your head or smiling into your eyes - or just by staring into space. A career is wonderful, but you can't curl up with it on a cold night. It's better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone - so far. I am trying to find myself. Sometimes that's not easy. It's not true that I had nothing on. I had the radio on.

Designers want me to dress like Spring, in billowing things. I don't feel like Spring. I feel like a warm red Autumn. Sex is a part of nature. I go along with nature. A wise girl kisses but doesn't love, listens but doesn't believe, and leaves before she is left. Before marriage, a girl has to make love to a man to hold him. After marriage, she has to hold him to make love to him. I know I will never be happy, but I know I can be gay!

Beauty and femininity are ageless and can't be contrived, and glamour, although the manufacturers won't like this, cannot be manufactured. Not real glamour; it's based on femininity. I restore myself when I'm alone. Naturally, there are times when every woman likes to be flattered... to feel she is the most important thing in someone's world. Only a man can paint this picture. I think that sexuality is only attractive when it's natural and spontaneous. The nicest thing for me is sleep, then at least I can dream.

If I'd observed all the rules, I'd never have got anywhere. If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything. A strong man doesn't have to be dominant toward a woman. He doesn't match his strength against a woman weak with love for him. He matches it against the world. Sometimes I feel my whole life has been one big rejection. I'm selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I'm out of control, and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.

Respect is one of life's greatest treasures. I mean, what does it all add up to if you don't have that? I don't know if high society is different in other cities, but in Hollywood, important people can't stand to be invited someplace that isn't full of other important people. They don't mind a few unfamous people being present because they make good listeners. I don't know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot. Fear is stupid. So are regrets. A man is more frank and sincere with his emotions than a woman. We girls, I'm afraid, have a tendency to hide our feelings.

Creativity has got to start with humanity and when you're a human being, you feel, you suffer. You're gay, you're sick, you're nervous or whatever. Sometimes I've been to a party where no one spoke to me for a whole evening. The men, frightened by their wives or sweeties, would give me a wide berth. And the ladies would gang up in a corner to discuss my dangerous character. Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition. I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil. I am just a small girl in a big world trying to find someone to love. I don't want to make money, I just want to be wonderful.

Experts on romance say for a happy marriage there has to be more than a passionate love. For a lasting union, they insist, there must be a genuine liking for each other. Which, in my book, is a good definition for friendship. I have feelings too. I am still human. All I want is to be loved, for myself and for my talent. Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul. Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring. I don't mind making jokes, but I don't want to look like one.

At twelve I looked like a girl of seventeen. My body was developed and shapely. I still wore the blue dress and the blouse the orphanage provided. They made me look like an overgrown lummox. I don't mind living in a man's world as long as I can be a woman in it. We are all of us stars, and we deserve to twinkle. I remember when I was in high school I didn't have a new dress for each special occasion. The girls would bring the fact to my attention, not always too delicately. The boys, however, never bothered with the subject. They were my friends, not because of the size of my wardrobe but because they liked me.