Mae West Quotations

Mae West (click to enlarge)

Mae West was a very smart, witty, and sexy, woman.   As a screenwriter and actor,  she wrote and  delivered many of the "lines"  listed below on Broadway and in her movies. 

• A dame that knows the ropes isn't likely to get tied up.
• A hard man is good to find.
• A man has one hundred dollars and you leave him with two dollars, that's subtraction.
• A man in the house is worth two in the street.
• A man's kiss is his signature.
• All discarded lovers should be given a second chance, but with somebody else.
• An ounce of performance is worth pounds of promises.
• Any time you got nothing to do - and lots of time to do it - come on up.
• Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly.
• Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before.
• Cultivate your curves - they may be dangerous but they won't be avoided.
• Don't keep a man guessing too long - he's sure to find the answer somewhere else.
• Don't marry a man to reform him - that's what reform schools are for.
• Every man I meet wants to protect me. I can't figure out what from.
• Give a man a free hand and he'll run it all over you.
• He who hesitates is a damned fool.
• His mother should have thrown him out and kept the stork.
• I always say, keep a diary and someday it'll keep you.
• I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it.
• I believe that it's better to be looked over than it is to be overlooked.
• I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it.
• I like restraint - if it doesn't go too far.
• I never loved another person the way I loved myself.
• I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number you get in a diamond.
• I only have 'yes' men around me. Who needs 'no' men?
• I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
• I'll try anything once - twice if I like it - three times to make sure.
• I'm a woman of very few words, but lots of action.
• I'm no model lady. A model's just an imitation of the real thing.
• I've been in more laps than a napkin.
• If I asked for a cup of coffee, someone would search for the double meaning.
• It ain't no sin if you bend a few laws now and then - just so long as you don't break any.
• It's not the men in my life that count, it's the life in my men.
• Look your best - who said love is blind?
• Love conquers all things - except poverty and toothache.
• Love isn't an emotion or an instinct - it's an art.
• Love thy neighbor - and if he happens to be tall, debonair and devastating, it will be that much easier.
• Marriage is a great institution, but I'm not ready for an institution.
• Personally, I like two types of men - domestic and imported.
• Save a boyfriend for a rainy day - and another, in case it doesn't rain.
• She's the kind of girl who climbed the ladder of success wrong by wrong.
• The best way to hold a man is in your arms.
• The score never interested me, only the game.
• Those who are easily shocked should be shocked more often.
• To err is human, but it feels divine.
• Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.
• When I'm good, I'm very good. But when I'm bad I'm better.
• You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.

-- Mae West