"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 never understood what makes me so special...that was a job, not reality."

"I'm not a born actress, as such, I care about expressing feelings."

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

"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 was born with something that appealed to an audience at that particular time...I acted instintively. I've had one of the greatest schools of all - a whole row of great, great directors."

"My career is a complete mystery to me. It's been a total surprise since the first day. I never thought I was going to be an actress, I thought I was going to be in movies, I never thought it would all happen the way it did."

"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."

Upon seeing her name in lights for the broadway production of Gigi: "Oh dear, and I've still got to learn how to act."

On seeing her name in lights for the broadway production of Gigi ~

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

~ After making it big on Broadway ~

"I am more than ever awed and overwhelmed by the monumental talents it was my great, great privelege to work for and with. There is therefore no way I can thank you for this beautiful award without thanking all of them, because it is they who helped and honed, triggered and taught, pushed and pulled, dressed and photographed - and with endless patience and kindness and gentlenss, guided and nurtured a totally unknown, insecure, inexperienced, skinny broad into a marketable commodity."

"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."

"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.'"

"...it's like when somebody gives you something to wear that's too big, and you have to grow into it...my one ambition is to be an actress."

"I remember the first time we met: he was wearing a yellow shirt, grey flannels, a red scarf knotted around his waist instead of a belt, and the famous feet were clad in soft moccasins and pink socks. He was also wearing that irrepressible smile. One look at this most debonair, elegant and distinguished of legends and I could feel myself turn into solid lead, while my heart sank into my two left feet. Then suddenly I felt a hand around my waist and, with his inimitable grace and lightness, Fred literally swept me off my feet. I experienced the thrill that all women at some point in their lives have dreamed of-to dance, just once, with Fred Astaire."

"All my life I dream of dancing with Fred Astaire and what do I get? Caked in mud."

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

"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."

"When I was a child, I didn't even comprehend the meaning of the words 'film star' "

"When my marriage to Mel [Ferrer] broke up, it was terrible; more than that, it was a keen disappointment. I thought a marriage between two good, loving people had to last until one of them died. I can't tell you how disillusioned I was. I'd tried and tried."

"I was lost without my mother. She had been my sounding board, my conscience. She was not the most affectionate person - in fact there were times when I thought she was cold - but she loved me in her heart, and I knew that all along. I never got that feeling from my father, unfortunately."

"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.'"

"I'm glad I've got a name, because I'm using it for what it's worth. It's like a bonus that my career has given me."