Marilyn Monroe is an American pop culture icon. Monroe was one of the most fascinating and marketable Hollywood actresses as well as America’s most famous sex symbol.
Marilyn Monroe may have been known for portraying comedic “dumb blonde” characters, but she was an extremely insightful person.
Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles, California. Monroe spent most of her childhood in foster homes and orphanages.
Monroe was discovered while working in a radioplane factory in 1944 as part of the at-home war effort of World War II. She began her career as a pin-up model. Her modeling work led to film contracts with Twentieth Century-Fox and Columbia Pictures.
Initially Monroe worked on some minor film roles. Beginning in 1951 she started to gain popularity as a Hollywood actress with a number of roles in comedies such as “As Young as You Feel” and “Monkey Business.” By 1953, Monroe was one of the most recognized and marketable stars in Hollywood.
Marilyn Monroe had affairs with a number of famous and powerful men, including President John F. Kennedy. While Monroe saw ample success in the limelight, she had a troubled private life. Monroe struggled with drug abuse, depression and anxiety.
Marilyn Monroe died on August 5, 1962 at the age of 36 from a drug overdose at her home in Los Angeles. Monroe’s death was ruled a probable suicide. Many decades later, Monroe continues to be a force in American pop culture and conspiracy theories exist as to her cause of death.
Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.
— Marilyn Monroe
I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they’re right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.
— Marilyn Monroe
Fear is stupid. So are regrets.
— Marilyn Monroe
Cutting negative people from my life does not mean I hate them, it simply means I respect me.
— Marilyn Monroe
A woman is often measured by the things she cannot control. She is measured by the way her body curves or doesn’t curve, by where she is flat or straight or round. She is measured by 36-24-36 and inches and ages and numbers, by all the outside things that don’t ever add up to who she is on the inside. And so if a woman is to be measured, let her be measured by the things she can control, by who she is and who she is trying to become. Because as every woman knows, measurements are only statistics… and STATISTICS LIE.
— Marilyn Monroe
The real lover is the man who can thrill you by kissing your forehead or smiling into your eyes or just staring into space.
— Marilyn Monroe
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.
— Marilyn Monroe
Just because you fail once, doesn’t mean you’re gonna fail at everything. Keep trying, hold on, and always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don’t, then who will, sweetie? So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life’s a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.
— Marilyn Monroe
Don’t stop when you’re tired; stop when you’re done.
— Marilyn Monroe
The real lover is the man who can thrill you by kissing your forehead.
— Marilyn Monroe
If you don’t love me at my worst, then you don’t deserve me at my best.
— Marilyn Monroe
Never regret anything because at one time it was exactly what you wanted.
— Marilyn Monroe
Keep smiling, because life is a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.
— Marilyn Monroe
It takes a smart brunette to play a dumb blonde.
— Marilyn Monroe
The more I think of it, the more I realize there are no answers. Life is to be lived.
— Marilyn Monroe
Always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don’t, then who will, sweetie?
— Marilyn Monroe
To all the girls that think you’re fat because you’re not a size zero, you’re the beautiful one, its society who’s ugly.
— Marilyn Monroe
I don’t forgive people because I’m weak, I forgive them because I am strong enough to know people make mistakes.
— Marilyn Monroe
Wise girls kiss but never love
Listen but never believe
And leave before they are left.— Marilyn Monroe
I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil. I am pretty, but not beautiful. I have friends, but I am not the peacemaker.
— Marilyn Monroe
Promises are worse than lies. You don’t just make them believe, you also make them hope.
— Marilyn Monroe
Always remember to smile and look up at what you got in life.
— Marilyn Monroe
Beneath the makeup & behind the smile I’m just the girl who wishes for the world. A wise girl kisses, but doesn’t love. Listens but doesn’t believe. And leaves before she is left. If you can make a girl laugh – you can make her do anything. 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.
— Marilyn Monroe
I remember when I got the part in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Jane Russell – she was the brunette in it and I was the blonde. She got $200,000 for it, and I got my $500 a week, but that to me was, you know, considerable. She, by the way, was quite wonderful to me. The only thing was I couldn’t get a dressing room. Finally, I really got to this kind of level and I said, “Look, after all, I am the blonde, and it is Gentlemen Prefer Blondes!” Because still they always kept saying, “Remember, you’re not a star.” I said, “Well, whatever I am, I am the blonde!
— Marilyn Monroe
All a girl really wants is for one guy to prove to her that they are not all the same.
— Marilyn Monroe
It’s all make believe, isn’t it?
— Marilyn Monroe
A career is wonderful, but you can’t curl up with it on a cold night.
— Marilyn Monroe
As of today, I have absolutely no regrets. I think I am a mature person who can take things in stride. I’m grateful for people in my past. They helped me get to where I am, wherever that is. But now, I am thinking for myself and sitting in on all the business transactions.
— Marilyn Monroe
I have too many fantasies to be a housewife. I guess I am a fantasy.
— Marilyn Monroe
This life is what you make it. Not matter what, you’re going to mess up sometimes, it’s a universal truth.
— Marilyn Monroe
I’m the type of person that tries to fall back asleep in the morning just to finish a dream.
— Marilyn Monroe
Love is something you cant invent, no matter how much you want to.
— Marilyn Monroe
Speaking of Oscars, I would win overwhelmingly if the Academy gave an Oscar for faking orgasms. I have done some of my best acting convincing my partners I was in the throes of ecstasy.
— Marilyn Monroe
As far as I can make out, women’s friendships with each other are based on a gush of lies and pretty speeches that mean nothing. You’d think they were all wolves trying to seduce each other the way they flatter and flirt when they’re together.
— Marilyn Monroe
I believe that everything happens for a reason.
— Marilyn Monroe
When you don’t have any money, the problem is food. When you have money, it’s sex. When you have both, it’s health.
— Marilyn Monroe
Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.
— Marilyn Monroe
Wouldn’t it be nice to be like men and get notches in your belt… and not get emotionally involved?
— Marilyn Monroe
I’ve never fooled anyone. I’ve let people fool themselves. They didn’t bother to find out who and what I was. Instead they would invent a character for me. I wouldn’t argue with them. They were obviously loving somebody I wasn’t.
— Marilyn Monroe
The sky is not the limit. Your mind is.
— Marilyn Monroe
Men love you more if they can be made a little uncertain about owning you.
— Marilyn Monroe
I’m very definitely a woman and I enjoy it.
— Marilyn Monroe
When it comes down to it, I let them think what they want. If they care enough to bother with what I do, then I’m already better than them.
— Marilyn Monroe
Most people in the world are Christ lovers. And then there are Christ haters. But all of them are fixated on Christ, and he perpetuates for ever.
— Marilyn Monroe
Boys think girls are like books, If the cover doesn’t catch their eye they won’t bother to read what’s inside”.
— Marilyn Monroe
No one ever told me I was pretty when I was a little girl. All little girls should be told they’re pretty, even if they aren’t.
— Marilyn Monroe
A wise girl knows her limits, a smart girl knows that she has none.
— Marilyn Monroe
Dreaming about being an actress, is more exciting then being one.
— Marilyn Monroe
My illusions didn’t have anything to do with being a fine actress. I knew how third rate I was. I could actually feel my lack of talent, as if it were cheap clothes I was wearing inside. But, my God, how I wanted to learn, to change, to improve!
— Marilyn Monroe
A girl does not need anyone who does not need her.
— Marilyn Monroe
What I really want to say: That what the world really needs is a real feeling of kinship. Everybody: stars, laborers, Negroes, Jews, Arabs. We are all brothers.
— Marilyn Monroe
I’ve never dropped anyone I believed in.
— Marilyn Monroe
Just because you fail once doesn’t mean you’re gonna fail at everything.
— Marilyn Monroe
Love and work are the only two real things in our lives. They belong together, otherwise it is off. Work is in itself a form of love.
— Marilyn Monroe
I live to succeed, not to please you or anyone else.
— Marilyn Monroe
With fame, you know, you can read about yourself, somebody else’s ideas about you, but what’s important is how you feel about yourself – for survival and living day to day with what comes up.
— Marilyn Monroe
Most men judge your importance in their lives by how much you can hurt them.
— Marilyn Monroe
If there is only one thing in my life that I am proud of, it’s that I’ve never been a kept woman.
— Marilyn Monroe
I think that sexuality is only attractive when it’s natural and spontaneous.
— Marilyn Monroe
Sometimes good things fall apart so better things could fall together.
— Marilyn Monroe
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.
— Marilyn Monroe
I want to grow old without facelifts. I want to have the courage to be loyal to the face I have made.
— Marilyn Monroe
If you’re gonna be two-faced at least make one of them pretty.
— Marilyn Monroe
Maybe I’ll never be able to do what I hope to, but at least I have hope.
— Marilyn Monroe
Nothing happens without a reason.
— Marilyn Monroe
Who said nights were for sleep?
— Marilyn Monroe
She was a girl who knew how to be happy even when she was sad. And that’s important—you know.
— Marilyn Monroe
A wise girl kisses but doesn’t love, listens but doesn’t believe, and leaves before she is left.
— Marilyn Monroe
I’m good, but I’m not an angel.
— Marilyn Monroe
Someday I want to have children and give them all the love I never had.
— Marilyn Monroe
Friendship is the bestiest thing that comes to life . Friends will always be there for you don’t worry about the fakes worry about the people who had your back from the start and never treated you wrong always remember they are your real friends don’t never take them as granted because one day your going to lose a good friend by the way your action’s are when you see a good friend stick to that person.
— Marilyn Monroe
Husbands are chiefly good as lovers when they are betraying their wives.
— Marilyn Monroe
I guess I have always been deeply terrified to really be someone’s wife since I know from life one cannot love another, ever, really.
— Marilyn Monroe
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.
— Marilyn Monroe
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.
— Marilyn Monroe
A smart girl is one who knows how to play tennis, golf, piano—and dumb.
— Marilyn Monroe
Everyone’s a star and deserves the right to twinkle.
— Marilyn Monroe
We are all of us stars, and we deserve to twinkle.
— Marilyn Monroe
I don’t stop when I’m tired. I only stop when I’m done.
— Marilyn Monroe
Just because you fall once, doesn’t mean you’re fall at everything. Keep trying, hold on, and always trust yourself, because if you don’t then who will?
— Marilyn Monroe
I could never pretend something I didn’t feel. I could never make love if I didn’t love, and if I loved I could no more hide the fact than change the color of my eyes.
— Marilyn Monroe
The fact is that I find more most men are more open, more generous, and much more stimulating than the majority of females I know.
— Marilyn Monroe
People had a habit of looking at me as if I were some kind of mirror instead of a person. They didn’t see me, they saw their own lewd thoughts, then they white-masked themselves by calling me the lewd one.
— Marilyn Monroe
Happiness never becomes a habit.
— Marilyn Monroe
In Hollywood a girl’s virtue is much less important than her hairdo. You’re judged by how you look, not by what you are. Hollywood’s a place where they’ll pay you a thousand dollars for kiss, and fifty cents for your soul. I know, because I turned down the first offer often enough and held out for the fifty.
— Marilyn Monroe
I read poetry to save time.
— Marilyn Monroe
I don’t understand why people aren’t a little more generous with each other.
— Marilyn Monroe
When you’re young and healthy you can plan on Monday to commit suicide, and by Wednesday you’re laughing again.
— Marilyn Monroe
I don’t mind living in a man’s world as long as I can be a woman in it.
— Marilyn Monroe
It is wonderful to have someone praise you, to be desired.
— Marilyn Monroe
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.
— Marilyn Monroe
Confidentially, the type of male I find most enjoyable for a friend is one who has enough fire and assurance to speak up for his convictions.
— Marilyn Monroe
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.
— Marilyn Monroe
No girl should ever forget that she doesn’t need anyone who doesn’t need her.
— Marilyn Monroe
Respect is one of life’s greatest treasures. I mean, what does it all add up to if you don’t have that?
— Marilyn Monroe
If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything.
— Marilyn Monroe
A woman knows by intuition, or instinct, what is best for herself.
— Marilyn Monroe
Friends accept you the way you are.
— Marilyn Monroe
Dogs never bite me – just humans.
— Marilyn Monroe
A career is a wonderful thing, but you can’t snuggle up to it at night.
— Marilyn Monroe
I knew I belonged to the public and to the world, not because I was talented or even beautiful, but because I had never belonged to anything or anyone else.
— Marilyn Monroe
But square-cut or pear-shaped, These rocks don’t lose their shape. Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.
— Marilyn Monroe
Don’t you know that a man being rich is like a girl being pretty? You wouldn’t marry a girl just because she’s pretty, but my goodness, doesn’t it help?
— Marilyn Monroe
I learned to walk as a baby, and I haven’t had a lesson since.
— Marilyn Monroe
If a man doesn’t want you at your worst, then he sure as hell doesn’t deserve you at your best.
— Marilyn Monroe
It’s easier to look sexy when you’re thinking of one man in particular.
— Marilyn Monroe
Yes, there was something special about me, and I knew what it was. I was the kind of girl they found dead in a hall bedroom with an empty bottle of sleeping pills in her hand.
— Marilyn Monroe
Women who try to be equivalent with men need desire.
— Marilyn Monroe
There is just no comparison between having a dinner date with a man and staying home playing canasta with the girls.
— Marilyn Monroe
I have noticed… that men usually leave married women alone and are inclined to treat all wives with respect. This is no great credit to married women.
— Marilyn Monroe
Girdles and wire stays should have never been invented. No man wants to hug a padded bird cage.
— Marilyn Monroe
I’ve been on a calendar, but I’ve never been on time.
— Marilyn Monroe
I am trying to find myself. Sometimes that’s not easy.
— Marilyn Monroe
It’s better for the whole world to know you, even as a sex star, than never to be known at all.
— Marilyn Monroe
Next to my husband, and along with Marlon Brando, I think that Yves Montand is the most attractive man I’ve ever met.
— Marilyn Monroe
A career is born in public – talent in privacy.
— Marilyn Monroe
I don’t mind making jokes, but I don’t want to look like one.
— Marilyn Monroe
We are all born sexual creatures,thank God, but it’s a pity so many people despise and crush this natural gift.
— Marilyn Monroe
Too often they don’t realize what they have until it’s gone. …they’re too stubborn to say, ‘Sorry, I was wrong’ they hurt the ones closest to their hearts, and we let the most foolish things tear us apart.
— Marilyn Monroe
This life is what you make it. Not matter what, you’re going to mess up sometimes, it’s a universal truth. But the good part is you get to decide how you’re going to mess it up. Girls will be your friends – they’ll act like it anyway. But just remember, some come, song go. The ones that stay with you through everything – they’re your true best friends. Don’t let go of them.
— Marilyn Monroe
Do people ever get over being shy? I think it’s with you for life-like the color of your eyes.
— Marilyn Monroe