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Top 80 Eve Babitz Quotes (2025 Update)

Eve Babitz Quote: “It’s the frames which make some things important and some things forgotten. It’s all only frames from which the content rises.”

1. “It’s the frames which make some things important and some things forgotten. It’s all only frames from which the content rises.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “I did not become famous but I got near enough to smell the stench of success. It smelt like burnt cloth and rancid gardenias, and I realized that the truly awful thing about success is that it’s held up all those years as the thing that would make everything all right. And the only thing that makes things even slightly bearable is a friend who knows what you’re talking about.”

2. “I did not become famous but I got near enough to smell the stench of success. It smelt like burnt cloth and rancid gardenias, and I realized that the truly awful thing about success is that it’s held up all those years as the thing that would make everything all right. And the only thing that makes things even slightly bearable is a friend who knows what you’re talking about.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “It was all balance. But then, she already knew that from surfing.”

3. “It was all balance. But then, she already knew that from surfing.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “I was always much too elated to imagine despair.”

4. “I was always much too elated to imagine despair.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “So it turned out that power was the quality of knowing what you liked. An odd thing for power to be.”

5. “So it turned out that power was the quality of knowing what you liked. An odd thing for power to be.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “One afternoon I was sitting on a veranda at a party with about six women and the information that was exchanged, commonly called gossip, was enough to run the world for months. Suddenly a hush fell over the women and I looked around and there was a man. The women slid masks over their faces, the subject changed, the man said, “What are all you girls doing out here? Come in and join the party.” And the summit conference was over.”

6. “One afternoon I was sitting on a veranda at a party with about six women and the information that was exchanged, commonly called gossip, was enough to run the world for months. Suddenly a hush fell over the women and I looked around and there was a man. The women slid masks over their faces, the subject changed, the man said, “What are all you girls doing out here? Come in and join the party.” And the summit conference was over.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “Women want to be loved like roses. They spend hours perfecting their eyebrows and toes and inventing irresistible curls that fall by accident down the back of their necks from otherwise austere hair-dos. They want their lover to remember the way they held a glass. They want to haunt.”

7. “Women want to be loved like roses. They spend hours perfecting their eyebrows and toes and inventing irresistible curls that fall by accident down the back of their necks from otherwise austere hair-dos. They want their lover to remember the way they held a glass. They want to haunt.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “I felt luxuriously involved in an unsolvable mystery, my favorite way to feel.”

8. “I felt luxuriously involved in an unsolvable mystery, my favorite way to feel.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “There are three basic personality factors in cats: The kind who run up when you say hello and rub against you in cheap romance; the kind who run away certain that you mean to ravish them; and the kind who just look back and don’t move a muscle. I love all three kinds.”

9. “There are three basic personality factors in cats: The kind who run up when you say hello and rub against you in cheap romance; the kind who run away certain that you mean to ravish them; and the kind who just look back and don’t move a muscle. I love all three kinds.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “By the time I’d grown up, I naturally supposed that I’d grown up.”

10. “By the time I’d grown up, I naturally supposed that I’d grown up.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “It’s only temporary: you either die, or get better. – Something we used to say about life in general, feeling sophisticated and amusing in bars, back in the days when we thought how you behaved was the fault of other people.”

11. “It’s only temporary: you either die, or get better. – Something we used to say about life in general, feeling sophisticated and amusing in bars, back in the days when we thought how you behaved was the fault of other people.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “People go through life eating lamb chops and breaking their mother’s hearts.”

12. “People go through life eating lamb chops and breaking their mother’s hearts.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “Derek Taylor was where all the razz-ma-tazz and class sprang from; the Beatles were just charming, rich young men.”

13. “Derek Taylor was where all the razz-ma-tazz and class sprang from; the Beatles were just charming, rich young men.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “She figured that any day now she was going to start feeling the simple composure of normalcy that Jane Austen’s heroines always sought to maintain, the state described in those days as “countenance,” and later as “being cool.”

14. “She figured that any day now she was going to start feeling the simple composure of normalcy that Jane Austen’s heroines always sought to maintain, the state described in those days as “countenance,” and later as “being cool.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “They’re right. Los Angeles isn’t a city. It’s a gigantic, sprawling, ongoing studio. Everything is off the record. People don’t have time to apologize for its not being a city when their civilized friends suspect them of losing track of the point.”

15. “They’re right. Los Angeles isn’t a city. It’s a gigantic, sprawling, ongoing studio. Everything is off the record. People don’t have time to apologize for its not being a city when their civilized friends suspect them of losing track of the point.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “Virginia Woolf said that people read fiction the same way they listen to gossip, so if you’re reading this at all then you might as well read my private asides written so he’ll read it. I have to be extremely funny and wonderful around him just to get his attention at all and it’s a shame to let it all go for one person.”

16. “Virginia Woolf said that people read fiction the same way they listen to gossip, so if you’re reading this at all then you might as well read my private asides written so he’ll read it. I have to be extremely funny and wonderful around him just to get his attention at all and it’s a shame to let it all go for one person.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “Sometimes I think that jealousy, like skiing, is only for those with enough youthful stamina and energy to endure it. As people get older, they finally give jealousy up, or at least they put it off for as long as possible until there’s such incontrovertible evidence.”

17. “Sometimes I think that jealousy, like skiing, is only for those with enough youthful stamina and energy to endure it. As people get older, they finally give jealousy up, or at least they put it off for as long as possible until there’s such incontrovertible evidence.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “Secrets are lies that you tell to your friends.”

18. “Secrets are lies that you tell to your friends.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “This sense of ‘place’ – that there was nothing to be wanted from material things, nothing to be saved.”

19. “This sense of ‘place’ – that there was nothing to be wanted from material things, nothing to be saved.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “But you know so many men,” Ophelia said, “isn’t there even one for you?” “They’re all adjectives,” I said, “they all make me feel modified; even a word like girl friend gives me this feeling I’ve been cut in half. I’d rather just be a car, not a blue car or a big one, than sit there the rest of my life being stuck with some adjective.”

20. “But you know so many men,” Ophelia said, “isn’t there even one for you?” “They’re all adjectives,” I said, “they all make me feel modified; even a word like girl friend gives me this feeling I’ve been cut in half. I’d rather just be a car, not a blue car or a big one, than sit there the rest of my life being stuck with some adjective.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “From now on, I thought, only French mice will love me.”

21. “From now on, I thought, only French mice will love me.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “People think you should be in love with other people or your work or justice. I’ve been in love with people and ideas in several cities and learned that the lovers I’ve loved and the ideas I’ve embraced depended on where I was, how cold it was, and what I had to do to be able to stand.”

22. “People think you should be in love with other people or your work or justice. I’ve been in love with people and ideas in several cities and learned that the lovers I’ve loved and the ideas I’ve embraced depended on where I was, how cold it was, and what I had to do to be able to stand.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “You know, when you come to think about it, it’s a wonder women have anything to do with men at all, and no surprise that men have devised all kinds of schemes to bind women to them, like not giving them any money. If you had your choice of sleeping with a beautiful soft creature or a large hard one, which would you pick? I mean, if they both had the same amount of money?”

23. “You know, when you come to think about it, it’s a wonder women have anything to do with men at all, and no surprise that men have devised all kinds of schemes to bind women to them, like not giving them any money. If you had your choice of sleeping with a beautiful soft creature or a large hard one, which would you pick? I mean, if they both had the same amount of money?”

Eve Babitz Quote: “I discovered there was something else I had never considered-Plan C- don’t turn to mush, don’t leave, stay and resist. Tango’s entire point.”

24. “I discovered there was something else I had never considered-Plan C- don’t turn to mush, don’t leave, stay and resist. Tango’s entire point.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “How could they all just casually drink Coca-Cola when one sip, and it tasted like musty trunks? How on earth could anyone eat a hamburger unless they were starving?”

25. “How could they all just casually drink Coca-Cola when one sip, and it tasted like musty trunks? How on earth could anyone eat a hamburger unless they were starving?”

Eve Babitz Quote: “She discovered what most writers insist is true nowadays, which is that they can only write for three hours a day at the most, so what else is there to do but drink?”

26. “She discovered what most writers insist is true nowadays, which is that they can only write for three hours a day at the most, so what else is there to do but drink?”

Eve Babitz Quote: “The act of waitressing is a solace, it’s got everything you could ask for – confusion, panic, humility, and food.”

27. “The act of waitressing is a solace, it’s got everything you could ask for – confusion, panic, humility, and food.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “Still, if you ask me, some parts are just as beautiful as my dream version – even more beautiful if you subscribe to the Tennessee Williams decadence-as-poetry theory that ravaged radiance is even better than earnest maintenance.”

28. “Still, if you ask me, some parts are just as beautiful as my dream version – even more beautiful if you subscribe to the Tennessee Williams decadence-as-poetry theory that ravaged radiance is even better than earnest maintenance.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “Also they have this nervous feeling that anyone with tits like that must be vulgar. Or insensitive. There I sit, reading my Proust and minding my p’s and q’s and keeping up with current oddities – no slouch more or less – and I see them shrink from my gaze as though I were a tramp.”

29. “Also they have this nervous feeling that anyone with tits like that must be vulgar. Or insensitive. There I sit, reading my Proust and minding my p’s and q’s and keeping up with current oddities – no slouch more or less – and I see them shrink from my gaze as though I were a tramp.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “She was sure she wasn’t ever going to go Hollywood, so she went.”

30. “She was sure she wasn’t ever going to go Hollywood, so she went.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “She was America-for-spacious-skies, the reason our boys died gladly in the war.”

31. “She was America-for-spacious-skies, the reason our boys died gladly in the war.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “It made her question why human beings always appeared to be coming along so nicely as a whole when the bottom would fall out once again and they began collecting ears and filings from each other’s heads.”

32. “It made her question why human beings always appeared to be coming along so nicely as a whole when the bottom would fall out once again and they began collecting ears and filings from each other’s heads.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “She brought fresh flowers in from the tumbling-down hill where her landlady threw handfuls of wildflower seeds each spring.”

33. “She brought fresh flowers in from the tumbling-down hill where her landlady threw handfuls of wildflower seeds each spring.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “It must have been marvelous when the century was young and things impressed themselves in such blatant vivid brilliance that an approaching fire under a starry sky could illuminate, even to a Crimean actress, this sense of “place” – that there was nothing to be wanted from material things, nothing to be saved.”

34. “It must have been marvelous when the century was young and things impressed themselves in such blatant vivid brilliance that an approaching fire under a starry sky could illuminate, even to a Crimean actress, this sense of “place” – that there was nothing to be wanted from material things, nothing to be saved.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “There is no precedent for women getting their own “everything” and learning that it’s not the answer.”

35. “There is no precedent for women getting their own “everything” and learning that it’s not the answer.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “Of the nine million Harlequin Romance and Silhouette Ecstasy books for women today, sold and read by the ton, no hero appears whose primary quality isn’t arrogance. If any man appears at first helpful, cheerful, and polite, he’s the villain. The man who at first appears hopelessly mean and insensitive, he’s the hero. It’s cornography. Margaret Mitchell’s inspiration for Rhett Butler was Valentino in that tango. It’s a twentieth-century malaise.”

36. “Of the nine million Harlequin Romance and Silhouette Ecstasy books for women today, sold and read by the ton, no hero appears whose primary quality isn’t arrogance. If any man appears at first helpful, cheerful, and polite, he’s the villain. The man who at first appears hopelessly mean and insensitive, he’s the hero. It’s cornography. Margaret Mitchell’s inspiration for Rhett Butler was Valentino in that tango. It’s a twentieth-century malaise.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “The word “escape” had blown out the glow: it was so boring of these American women to imagine they were worth pursuing.”

37. “The word “escape” had blown out the glow: it was so boring of these American women to imagine they were worth pursuing.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “It’s not that that kills people,” he said, “it’s the fear. I mean, it’s okay to die. We remember that from our psychedelic days, don’t we? That we are divine?”

38. “It’s not that that kills people,” he said, “it’s the fear. I mean, it’s okay to die. We remember that from our psychedelic days, don’t we? That we are divine?”

Eve Babitz Quote: “They must have begun in life knowing they were going to amount to something.”

39. “They must have begun in life knowing they were going to amount to something.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “And I was in love with his book, which I felt I could have written myself. Which is one of the troubles with writing; people who love your writing already think they’re you. They think if they sat down and wrote, it would be your book. Exactly what I thought about Walter.”

40. “And I was in love with his book, which I felt I could have written myself. Which is one of the troubles with writing; people who love your writing already think they’re you. They think if they sat down and wrote, it would be your book. Exactly what I thought about Walter.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “I wonder if I’ll ever be able to have what I like or if my tastes are too various to be sustained by one of anything.”

41. “I wonder if I’ll ever be able to have what I like or if my tastes are too various to be sustained by one of anything.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “It wasn’t the way he looked that made him impossible. It was what he said. It was his sense of humor. He would not resist a pun. And any man who will not resist a pun will never lie up-pun me.”

42. “It wasn’t the way he looked that made him impossible. It was what he said. It was his sense of humor. He would not resist a pun. And any man who will not resist a pun will never lie up-pun me.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “You can’t read Proust at the Laundromat.”

43. “You can’t read Proust at the Laundromat.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “I’ve often noticed that there is a moment when a man develops enough confidence and ease in a relationship to bore you to death. Sometimes one hardly even notices it’s happened, that moment, until some careless remark arouses one’s suspicions. I have found that what usually brings this lethargy on is if the woman displays some special kindness. Like making dinner.”

44. “I’ve often noticed that there is a moment when a man develops enough confidence and ease in a relationship to bore you to death. Sometimes one hardly even notices it’s happened, that moment, until some careless remark arouses one’s suspicions. I have found that what usually brings this lethargy on is if the woman displays some special kindness. Like making dinner.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “I’m always amazed at how books find us at the time we need them, as if there’s some omniscient, benevolent librarian in the sky.”

45. “I’m always amazed at how books find us at the time we need them, as if there’s some omniscient, benevolent librarian in the sky.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “She really does hate parties and crowds and she really does love people one by one in such a way that she’s bound to always be involved in parties and crowds.”

46. “She really does hate parties and crowds and she really does love people one by one in such a way that she’s bound to always be involved in parties and crowds.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “God what a night. I was so glad you were home, standing up in all that wind while everyone else was blowing across the streets like tumbleweeds. I wonder if you wish you hadn’t been there, with the future looming up in such utter chaos before us. And meanwhile, the night was old and you were beautiful.”

47. “God what a night. I was so glad you were home, standing up in all that wind while everyone else was blowing across the streets like tumbleweeds. I wonder if you wish you hadn’t been there, with the future looming up in such utter chaos before us. And meanwhile, the night was old and you were beautiful.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “At the time, I didn’t think it was a tragedy, Zack’s fall, but later I wondered if the tragedies in life are only about when you could have been great but weren’t.”

48. “At the time, I didn’t think it was a tragedy, Zack’s fall, but later I wondered if the tragedies in life are only about when you could have been great but weren’t.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “Normal men aren’t going to love anyone who looks forward to anything but them. And I couldn’t help looking forward to being published.”

49. “Normal men aren’t going to love anyone who looks forward to anything but them. And I couldn’t help looking forward to being published.”

Eve Babitz Quote: “I got home, thank God, at 6:45 and decided the thing to do was to be a black swan myself. Stick to my own kind- freakish, beautiful outsiders.”

50. “I got home, thank God, at 6:45 and decided the thing to do was to be a black swan myself. Stick to my own kind- freakish, beautiful outsiders.”

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