The Quotebook
On the press.
Misquotation, publicity, and why he kept his opinions to himself.
He was misquoted for fifty years and developed a settled position on it, along with a refusal to hold forth in public that reads unusually well now.
The lines.
21 quotationsVerified
“My press agent was very indignant over something written about me not too long ago. ‘Look,’ I told him. ‘I’ve known this character for many years, and the faults he sees in me are really the faults in himself that he hates.’”
Verified
“I do! I don’t remember ever saying it in a movie, but now, every once in a while when I’m with friends, I say, ’Judeeee, Judeeee, Judeeee,’ and everyone breaks up. Isn’t that a good imitation of an imitation of an imitator?”
Verified
“Personally, I regard every knock as a boost.”
Verified
“Take Hitler and stick him on the funny pages.”
Cary Grant as Walter Burns · 1940 · film · His Girl Friday (1940)
Burns clears the front page for his own story.
Spoken as Walter Burns in His Girl Friday (1940).
Disputed
“Judy, Judy, Judy.”
Disputed
“Old Cary Grant fine. How you?”
Disputed
“To all of you out there who do not know me, I wish you a Merry Christmas, and to all of you who do know me, I ask, ‘What the hell were you thinking?’”
Verified
“You’ve got an old-fashioned idea divorce is something that lasts forever, ’til death do us part.’ Why, divorce doesn’t mean anything nowadays, Hildy, just a few words mumbled over you by a judge.”
Cary Grant as Walter Burns · 1940 · film · His Girl Friday (1940)
Walter Burns argues his ex-wife out of remarrying.
Spoken as Walter Burns in His Girl Friday (1940).
Attributed
“I’ve been called cheap so often I no longer wince at the word.”
Verified
“I really don’t like to speak about myself... and neither do I want to bother with the many ridiculous rumors that have been told by columnists, placing me into close relations, even matrimony, with the world’s most beautiful women.”
Verified
“I refuse to discuss my private life and my friendships and my family, present, past and future.”
Verified
“I’m opposed to actors taking sides in public and spouting spontaneously about love, religion or politics.”
Disputed
“I improve on misquotation.”
Verified
“As a rule, I have tended to avoid these events. I rarely go because I’m terrible at making speeches. The thought of that duty leaves me feeling helpless.”
Attributed
“Autographs are ridiculous. When I sign one, it starts off a chain reaction. I’m not able to do anything else for the rest of the day.”
Attributed
“I don’t care what they’re saying. I’ve developed a skin like a rhino’s.”
Verified
“I don’t know anything about drugs. None of the people I know is involved with drugs. Hollywood is a very hard-working town — you have to get up early, and you have to look good.”
Verified
“I’m just horrible at making speeches. When I’ve been forced to make a speech, I always have to steal a look at my notes. And then I can never come back to the proper place in my speech. I’m good at Q’s-and-A’s.”
Verified
“Oh no, that never happened. I love that story, though. It’s a delightful, witty answer — one of the things that I wish I had said.”
Verified
“People don’t realize how distressing that sort of thing is. I’m sure they don’t or they wouldn’t do it. I get stared at all the time, and it’s annoying.”
Verified
“We very rarely have the truth told about us in Hollywood. I’ve had five biographies written about me, for example, and they’re all absolute nonsense. I’ve never even met some of the people I’m supposed to have met.”