A collection of quotation and thoughts by Katharine Hepburn on feminism, self, life, love, marriage, independence, liberties, atheism and change.

55 Unforgettable Katharine Hepburn Quotes Every Women Should Know

Quick Facts

Born On: May 12, 1907

Died On: June 29, 2003

Born In: Hartford

Died At Age: 96

Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress, who rose to prominence in the 20th century and is widely considered one of the greatest actresses to have ever existed in Hollywood. She attended Oxford School for a while but studied privately later on and then attended Bryn Mawr College. It was during her time at college that she started acting and eventually acted in plays staged on Broadway. Her performances caught the eye of Hollywood filmmakers and she struck gold with the film ‘Morning Glory’ in 1933, for which she won an Academy Award for Best Actress. She went on to win three more Academy Awards for Best Actress for ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner’, ‘The Lion in Winter’ and ‘On Golden Pond’. Hepburn’s haul of 4 Academy Awards for Best Actress remains an all time record and American Film Institute has anointed her as the greatest actress in the category of Classic Hollywood Cinema. She was also known for her outspoken and independent nature and was famous for her wit. Just like her performances, her thoughts, sayings and quotations are also popular. Here is a collection of some of the best quotes, thoughts and sayings by Katharine Hepburn.

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Film & Theater Personalities

Actresses

If you obey all of the rules, you miss all of the fun.
You
Katharine Hepburn

Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get - only with what you are expecting to give - which is everything
You Love
Katharine Hepburn

Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then.
Women I
Katharine Hepburn

Life is hard. After all, it kills you.
You Life
Katharine Hepburn

I have not lived as a woman. I have lived as a man. I've just done what I damn well wanted to, and I've made enough money to support myself, and ain't afraid of being alone.
Money Alone I
Katharine Hepburn

If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased.
You
Katharine Hepburn

If you want to change attitudes, start with a change in behavior.
You Change
Katharine Hepburn

What in the world would we do without our libraries?
Katharine Hepburn

What you see before you, my friend, is the result of a lifetime of chocolate.
You
Katharine Hepburn

Life can be wildly tragic at times, and I've had my share. But whatever happens to you, you have to keep a slightly comic attitude. In the final analysis, you have got not to forget to laugh.
You Life
Katharine Hepburn

Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere.
Katharine Hepburn

You can’t change the music of your soul. —In Esquire, 1967
You Change Music
Katharine Hepburn

If you need a helping hand, you can find one at the end of your arm.
You Need
Katharine Hepburn

If you want to sacrifice the admiration of many men for the criticism of one, go ahead, get married.
You
Katharine Hepburn

I have many regrets, and I'm sure everyone does. The stupid things you do, you regret if you have any sense, and if you don't regret them, maybe you're stupid.
You I
Katharine Hepburn

I'm an atheist, and that's it. I believe there's nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for people.
Believe I
Katharine Hepburn

I have loved and been in love. There's a big difference.
Love I
Katharine Hepburn

I never lose sight of the fact that just being is fun.
Never I
Katharine Hepburn

Everyone thought I was bold and fearless and even arrogant, but inside I was always quaking.
I
Katharine Hepburn

Wouldn't it be great if people could get to live suddenly as often as they die suddenly?
Katharine Hepburn

If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun
You
Katharine Hepburn

I would have made a terrible parent. The first time my child didn't do what I wanted, I'd kill him.
Time I
Katharine Hepburn

Most people our brought up to believe they are as good as the person next to them, I was told I was better.
Believe I
Katharine Hepburn

Children need boundaries, so they can know how far they have to go to get beyond them.
Children Need
Katharine Hepburn

I could peel you like a pear and god himself would see the justice in it.
You God Like I
Katharine Hepburn

Life is to be lived.if you have to support yourself,you had bloody well better find some way that is going to be interesting.And you don't do that by sitting around.
You Life
Katharine Hepburn

I don't care what is written about me as long as it isn't true.
Me I
Katharine Hepburn

Acting is the most minor of gifts and not a very high-class way to earn a living. After all, Shirley Temple could do it at the age of four.
Living
Katharine Hepburn

The calla lilies are in bloom again. Such a strange flower—suitable to any occasion. I carried them on my wedding day, and now I place them here in memory of something that has died.
Wedding I
Katharine Hepburn

I was fearless...and lawless.
I
Katharine Hepburn

You politicians remain professional because the voters remain amateur.
You
Katharine Hepburn

Fuck the roots.
Katharine Hepburn

I just recently realized that women are supposed to be the inferior sex
Women I
Katharine Hepburn

Be yourself, it's a tough act to follow.
Yourself
Katharine Hepburn

Only the really plain people know about love - the very fascinating ones try so hard to create an impression that they soon exhaust their talents.
Love
Katharine Hepburn

Live dangerously. There's a lot to be said for sinning.
Katharine Hepburn

Listen to the Song of Life
Life
Katharine Hepburn

Only when a woman decides not to have children, can a woman live like a man. That's what I've done.
Like Children
Katharine Hepburn

Being a housewife and a mother is the biggest job in the world, but if it doesn't interest you, don't do it - I would have made a terrible mother.
You I
Katharine Hepburn

No part of marriage is the exclusive province of any one sex.
Katharine Hepburn

Death will be a great relief. No more interviews.
Death Will
Katharine Hepburn

Heaven to be the first one up and to eat breakfast all alone.
Alone
Katharine Hepburn

How wonderful are the women and men in the world who feed us. Especially those who feed us with no salary. The mothers—I thought. The wives.
Women
Katharine Hepburn

My father had been disgusted and heartsick over the fact that I wanted to act. Thought it a silly profession closely allied to street-walking.
I
Katharine Hepburn

I am an atheist and that's it. I believe there's nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for other people.
Believe I
Katharine Hepburn

He's worked his entire life and he's never lived a single moment, I mean not a moment, in the real world.
Life Never I
Katharine Hepburn

I have no romantic feelings about age. Either you are interesting at any age or you are not. There is nothing particularly interesting about being old-or being young for that matter.
You Young I
Katharine Hepburn

To put it simply: There was no bunk about Bogie. He was a man.
Katharine Hepburn

I never realized until lately that women were supposed to be inferior.
Never Women I
Katharine Hepburn

[Lauren Bacall] and Bogie seemed to have the most enormous opinion of each other's charms, and when they fought it was with the utter confidence of two cats locked deliciously in the same cage.
Katharine Hepburn