Top 60 Elaine Stritch Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Everybody’s got a sack of rocks.”

— Elaine Stritch

2. “There will always be ladies who lunch. Always. And apparently they live a long time.”

— Elaine Stritch

3. “People will always be around to tell you you’re no good or you’re wrong or unwise to keep doing what you want to do. They’re wrong. They’re always wrong. Keep going.”

— Elaine Stritch

4. “I am not influenced by other human beings. But I am inspired.”

— Elaine Stritch

5. “There’s nothing attractive about doing a documentary. Nothing. It’s hard, hard work, and I find having all the attention of the day on me a very unattractive proposition.”

— Elaine Stritch

6. “I can’t explain chemistry. I really can’t. I haven’t got a clue what it’s all about. It just happens. It’s like falling in love. You can’t explain why you fall in love or explain why it’s this particular person.”

— Elaine Stritch

7. “It’s a pain in the ass, show business. And the only time that I really enjoy it is when I’m in front of an audience and they’re reacting to me.”

— Elaine Stritch

8. “Diabetes is a lousy, lousy disease.”

— Elaine Stritch

9. “And why not do something new every day of your life? Change! Change!”

— Elaine Stritch

10. “I love audiences. My God, the best friends in the world!”

— Elaine Stritch

11. “I don’t know what should have happened in my life, but I do know that I’m dancing as fast as I can.”

— Elaine Stritch

12. “I don’t think I’m gonna die tomorrow or even two weeks from now, or even ever. I just don’t know – who the hell knows what’s gonna happen to them? Nobody! Isn’t that comforting? Nobody has a clue. I like that we don’t know. And I like that it’s somebody else’s decision, not mine.”

— Elaine Stritch

13. “I’ve changed a lot, too! I’m different, too. I have far more in some ways to offer and far less in other ways to offer. That’s life. And, you know, life goes on!”

— Elaine Stritch

14. “I want to settle down this last time. I say last, because I don’t think I’m in any condition to live a long time from now. The bell’s gonna ring pretty soon.”

— Elaine Stritch

15. “Fear is the base of what everybody does wrong in their lives.”

— Elaine Stritch

16. “I don’t dislike the way I look. I think I look fine. I think I look extraordinary for 88. And I’ve got energy. Out of my way.”

— Elaine Stritch

17. “I love holidays in New York. I love ’em. I want to celebrate something all the time and New York has holidays for every day of the week, practically. I like holidays in New York City.”

— Elaine Stritch

18. “New York is like a disco, but without the music.”

— Elaine Stritch

19. “Bette Davis taught Hollywood to follow an actress instead of the actress following the camera, and she’s probably the best movie actress there’s ever been.”

— Elaine Stritch

20. “I don’t think there’s any thrill in the world like doing work you’re good at.”

— Elaine Stritch

21. “I get sick of saying how hard everything is. It’s hard to get up in the morning. Everything’s hard. Everything takes effort.”

— Elaine Stritch

22. “This is a time in my life where I’m gonna behave like an elegant human being. Or not.”

— Elaine Stritch

23. “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing up there half the time. These performers that go on about their technique and craft – oh, puleeze! How boring! I don’t know what technique means. But I do know what experience is. I know in my gut when I’ve done a scene right.”

— Elaine Stritch

24. “I don’t know what to do with Warren Beatty. All I know is that he wasn’t attracted to me. That’s all right.”

— Elaine Stritch

25. “It gets tiring being a smartass.”

— Elaine Stritch

26. “Betty White is probably a very nice woman.”

— Elaine Stritch

27. “I care about money, very much. I want it. I don’t ever want to be without it. My mother once said about me, ‘Elaine has to have money.’”

— Elaine Stritch

28. “I certainly was not the romantic lead. I couldn’t be that, because I was not that good looking. And that is something about Hollywood that I do not like at all. Why can’t a woman who is just normally good looking fall in love? I mean, everybody in the movies is so good looking.”

— Elaine Stritch

29. “For my money, insecurity, depression, etc, can be healed by way of El Morocco, sad songs at 4am, and the pop of a champagne cork.”

— Elaine Stritch

30. “It’s very disconcerting to start out and to say, “I’m going to tell the truth,” and then to realize it’s that much trouble.”

— Elaine Stritch

31. “I was so happy I didn’t have to work that night. That was the truth, because show business is about the hardest profession in the world.”

— Elaine Stritch

32. “If somebody doesn’t have any talent, get off the stage! You’re wasting my time.”

— Elaine Stritch

33. “I have not had any of that surgical stuff. I am too curious to find out exactly how I progress every day of my life naturally. That is what fascinates me.”

— Elaine Stritch

34. “You can’t be funny unless you’re tragic, and you can’t be tragic unless you’re funny.”

— Elaine Stritch

35. “I tell the truth, and it has gotten me into a lot of trouble. My dad used to say to me, ‘If you tell the truth all day long, you will end up in jail.’”

— Elaine Stritch

36. “I felt that I committed myself too much. I promised too much. But that way it’s exciting.”

— Elaine Stritch

37. “Certain type of actresses get younger instead of older. I always say, ‘Only ingenues age.’”

— Elaine Stritch

38. “Drama drama drama. The public wants it, so let them get the whole ugly mess. Why not?”

— Elaine Stritch

39. “Woody Allen is a better actor than anybody from the Actors Studio, and he can be anybody he says he is.”

— Elaine Stritch

40. “There’s something exciting about being afraid.”

— Elaine Stritch

41. “I like to keep active. I’ve got too much energy not to.”

— Elaine Stritch

42. “I don’t have a great talent for explaining myself in acting because I can’t explain it.”

— Elaine Stritch

43. “Why haven’t I made more movies? Nobody asked me.”

— Elaine Stritch

44. “I compare Stephen Sondheim with humor, because humor is unanalyzable. You can’t analyze humor. You just have to get through it.”

— Elaine Stritch

45. “If you tell the truth all day long, you will end up in jail.”

— Elaine Stritch

46. “All of the writing on ‘30 Rock’ is a joy to go into. It’s pretty hot stuff.”

— Elaine Stritch

47. “Tony Bennett said to me, “Wow, your talent is amazing.” Maybe he’s a bore, maybe he’s a jerk, but when he said that to me, I didn’t need anything more than that.”

— Elaine Stritch

48. “This age thing is all up to you. It’s like happiness is up to you. You just have to understand what it is before you get it.”

— Elaine Stritch

49. “I’m going to do less performing because I’m tired. It’s hard to convince anybody that you’re just going to take it easy.”

— Elaine Stritch

50. “When you’re dealing with your life, my God, you gotta tell the truth.”

— Elaine Stritch