Top 35 Mary Tyler Moore Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

Featured in: Inspirational Quotes, Courage Quotes, Confidence Quotes, Failure Quotes, Powerful Motivational Quotes

2. “Having a dream is what keeps you alive. Overcoming the challenges makes life worth living.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

Featured in: Dream Big Quotes

3. “You can’t be brave if you’ve only had wonderful things happen to you.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

4. “Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

5. “Sometimes you have to get to know someone really well to realize you’re really strangers.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

6. “There is a dark side. I tend not to be as optimistic as Mary Richards. I have an anger in me that I carry from my childhood experiences – I expect a lot of myself and I’m not too kind to myself.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

7. “I’m not an actress who can create a character. I play me.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

8. “Diabetes is an all-too-personal time bomb which can go off today, tomorrow, next year, or 10 years from now – a time bomb affecting millions like me and the children here today.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

9. “Diets are for those who are thick and tired of it.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

10. “Chronic disease like a troublesome relative is something you can learn to manage but never quite escape.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

11. “There are two kinds of cloning right now. One is therapeutic cloning which is for coming up with cures for life threatening, really, really awful diseases. Then there is reproductive cloning, which is to make a human being out of your DNA and a donor egg.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

12. “Three things have helped me successfully go through the ordeals of life – an understanding husband, a good analyst and millions of dollars.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

13. “No candy bars unless I’ve had a low blood sugar where I’m shaky.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

14. “Maybe mom is my alter ego and the woman I’m able to be when I’m working.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

15. “Worrying is a necessary part of life.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

16. “When the doctor said I had diabetes, I conjured images of languishing on a chaise longue nibbling chocolates. I have no idea why I thought this.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

17. “A human being has been given an intellect to make choices, and we know there are other food sources that do not require the killing of a creature that would protest being killed.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

18. “I’ve always had courage. But I didn’t always own my diabetes.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

19. “I live in a kind of controlled awareness. I wouldn’t call it fear, but it’s an awareness. I know I have a responsibility to behave in a certain way. I’m able to do that.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

20. “Well, there are certain foods that I prefer not to eat because they’re just such a jolt to the system.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

21. “Behind every beautiful fur, there is a story. It is a bloody, barbaric story.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

22. “There’s one beneficial effect of going to Moscow. You come home waving the American flag with all your might.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

23. “I do watch a lot of Fox News. I like Charles Krauthammer and Bill OReilly.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

24. “And I came close to losing a part of my foot on two occasions. I hope I’m consistently lucky and that the next time I develop a blister or step on something sharp, that I don’t go as far as I did on those two times.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

25. “But I’m very happy with my life the way it has been turning out. A little time in the country, a little time with the animals and working on behalf of them.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

26. “Lou Grant was pretty much always Lou Grant.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

27. “I feel about my dogs now, and all the dogs I had prior to this, the way I feel about children – they are that important to me. When I have lost a dog I have gone into a mourning period that lasted for months.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

28. “The only leading man I ever had a crush on was James Garner.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

29. “The kinds of shows that seem to work now, the comedy shows, are those which require very little attention. They’re superficial and I like articulate comedy.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

30. “I don’t know how to do the other, so I won’t even consider television until the audience’s taste changes.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

31. “I’ve had the fame and the joy of getting laughter – those are gifts.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

32. “It’s none of my business what other people think of me.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

33. “I still feel as if I weren’t a good enough mother. I didn’t break any rules.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

34. “And the sculptor woman was so clever in the way she did it. She had the beret just about to leave my hand. So it’s attached to this finger and that’s what will keep it there. And I’m looking up at it, so there’s no question but that that beret is going to fly.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

35. “I loved working with Valerie. That was the most wonderful revelation to find that when we are on a set and we’re playing our roles, we’re like separated twins. We can almost finish each other’s dialogue.”

— Mary Tyler Moore

36. “I just like the continue doing what I’ve been doing. A melange of funny, straight drama, television, movies, a little theater here and there wouldn’t hurt. So if I can keep doing that, I’ll be a very happy person.”

— Mary Tyler Moore