Top 90 Lily Tomlin Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “The road to success is always under construction.”

— Lily Tomlin

Featured in: Success Quotes, Goal Quotes, Funny Quotes, Interesting Quotes, Famous Quotes

2. “The trouble with being in the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.”

— Lily Tomlin

Featured in: Funny Quotes, Crazy Quotes, Clever Quotes, Witty Quotes, Humor Quotes

3. “Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past.”

— Lily Tomlin

Featured in: Forgiveness Quotes

4. “I always wondered why somebody doesn’t do something about that. Then I realized I was somebody.”

— Lily Tomlin

Featured in: Accountability Quotes, Changing the World Quotes, Engagement Quotes, Witty Quotes, Responsibility Quotes

5. “The start to a better world is the belief that it is possible.”

— Lily Tomlin

6. “For fast-acting relief try slowing down.”

— Lily Tomlin

Featured in: Life Quotes, Funny Quotes, Funny Yearbook Quotes, Stress Quotes

7. “When I was growing up I always wanted to be someone. Now I realize I should have been more specific.”

— Lily Tomlin

8. “Things are going to get a lot worse before they get worse.”

— Lily Tomlin

9. “Don’t be afraid of missing opportunities. Behind every failure is an opportunity somebody wishes they had missed.”

— Lily Tomlin

10. “I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.”

— Lily Tomlin

11. “Success is a ladder that cannot be climbed with your hands in your pocket – The road to success is always under construction.”

— Lily Tomlin

12. “Maybe if people started to listen, history would stop repeating itself.”

— Lily Tomlin

13. “The best mind-altering drug is the truth.”

— Lily Tomlin

14. “What goes up must come down. But don’t expect it to come down where you can find it.”

— Lily Tomlin

15. “If trying harder doesn’t work, try softer.”

— Lily Tomlin

16. “If truth is beauty, how come no one has their hair done in the library?”

— Lily Tomlin

Featured in: Witty Quotes

17. “If love is the answer, could you please rephrase the question?”

— Lily Tomlin

18. “Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.”

— Lily Tomlin

19. “No matter how cynical you become, it’s never enough to keep up.”

— Lily Tomlin

20. “Reality is nothing but a collective hunch.”

— Lily Tomlin

21. “If you read a lot of books you are considered well read. But if you watch a lot of TV, you’re not considered well viewed.”

— Lily Tomlin

22. “When I am happy I feel like crying, but when I am sad I don’t feel like laughing. I think it is better to be happy; then you get two feelings for the price of one.”

— Lily Tomlin

23. “If I had known what it would be like to have it all – I might have been willing to settle for less.”

— Lily Tomlin

Featured in: Sarcastic Quotes

24. “Reality is the leading cause of stress among those in touch with it.”

— Lily Tomlin

25. “Even when I’m being funny, I’m deadly serious.”

— Lily Tomlin

26. “Did you know, in the entire universe, we are the only intelligent life forms thought to have a Miss Universe contest?”

— Lily Tomlin

27. “We are all in this together, by ourselves.”

— Lily Tomlin

28. “We don’t care. We don’t have to. We’re the phone company.”

— Lily Tomlin

29. “Ninety eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hardworking, honest Americans. It’s the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then, we elected them.”

— Lily Tomlin

Featured in: Country Quotes

30. “When I’ve had a meltdown, people will say to me, “Well, you failed to keep your sense of humor.””

— Lily Tomlin

31. “Sometimes I worry about being a success in a mediocre world.”

— Lily Tomlin

32. “We are people with lives, not consumers with lifestyles.”

— Lily Tomlin

33. “I worry that the person who thought up Muzak may be thinking up something else.”

— Lily Tomlin

34. “I can handle reality in small doses, but as a lifestyle, it’s much too confining.”

— Lily Tomlin

35. “Every day I read the newspapers, and no matter how cynical I get, it’s imposssible to keep up.”

— Lily Tomlin

36. “Instead of working for the survival of the fittest, we should be working for the survival of the wittiest – then we can all die laughing.”

— Lily Tomlin

37. “After all, in private, we’re all misfits.”

— Lily Tomlin

38. “I think life is perverse. It can be beautiful, but it won’t.”

— Lily Tomlin

39. “Reality is a crutch for people who can’t cope with drugs.”

— Lily Tomlin

40. “In the depths of the night, fear grips my heart. It paralyzes my mind. But most of all, I feel very, very alone.”

— Lily Tomlin

41. “There will be sex after death, we just won’t be able to feel it.”

— Lily Tomlin

42. “Does your mind feel more and more like teflon? Nothing sticks to it?”

— Lily Tomlin

43. “Infinity is just time on an ego trip.”

— Lily Tomlin

44. “If beauty is truth, why don’t women go to the library to have their hair done?”

— Lily Tomlin

45. “Well, if I can be of any help at all, you are in worse trouble than I thought.”

— Lily Tomlin

46. “Truth is, I’ve always been selling out. The difference is that in the past, I looked like I had integrity because there were no buyers.”

— Lily Tomlin

47. “Lady, I do not make up things. That is lies. Lies are not true. But the truth could be made up if yo know how. And that’s the truth.”

— Lily Tomlin

48. “What if it’s boring – or if it’s not boring, it might be too revealing, or worse, it might be too revealing and still be boring.”

— Lily Tomlin

49. “What I appreciate is acknowledging to the audience that I think they have brains.”

— Lily Tomlin

50. “You know being relevant or coming up with something interesting, funny to say about what’s current is just as hard as it might ever be depending on the serendipity of it all.”

— Lily Tomlin