Elaine Stritch

“I find it easier to abstain than do a little bit of anything. I'm not a 'little bit' kind of dame. I want it all, whatever I do.”

“I always say, 'If you can't give a reason for the banana peel being in the alley, then don't have the comic slide over it.' Do you understand what I mean? First explain how the banana peel g...”

“When the hospital sends for me, when the ambulance comes and I ease my way out of the world, I'd rather be in Detroit, Michigan, than Lenox Hill.”

“I could have made a lot of money doing 'Golden Girls,' and I would have been good. But the image of it! And for me to work with Betty White every day would be like taking cyanide.”

“Betty White is probably a very nice woman.”

“My biggest dream was to get out of Michigan - to discover life beyond the Sacred Heart Convent.”

“I love Birmingham, Michigan. It's lovely - you know, it's very similar to the Hamptons.”

“Let me tell you about those convents. All that crap about extending the pinkie finger while sipping tea is a myth. Convent schools are breeding grounds for great broads and occasionally one-...”

“For me, going to London is like coming home. In fact, I've often entertained the idea of ending my days there.”

“I don't want to see my family all the time, and they're delighted, I'm sure, to be aware of that.”

“As a diabetic, I'm a walking picnic. I have to eat measured amounts of food at certain times.”

“I smoked, I drank, I did all the kicking my heels up type things, but I went to Mass on Sunday.”

“I loved being on Broadway, but performing has become exhausting, and I just don't want to live in New York anymore. I'm just sick of the competition in New York, the feeling that I always ha...”

“There were a lot of lyrics that I sang but didn't understand. But I had this facade in performance of looking like I wrote the book.”

“I have not had any of that surgical stuff. I am too curious to find out exactly how I progress every day of my life naturally. That is what fascinates me.”

“All you have to do is say, 'I'm going home,' and you're the most popular girl at the party.”

“I mention I'm going home, and I'm a star immediately! This used to happen with my boyfriends - as soon as I'd say, 'I gotta go home now,' they fell in love.”

“I'm a good acting partner for me... when I don't have anyone else, I do really well!”

“I don't have a great talent for explaining myself in acting because I can't explain it.”

“I do believe in the infallibility of the Pope, because I think we have to believe in something.”