Dates with actors, finally, just seemed to me evenings of shop talk. I got sick of it after a hile. So the more famous I became, the more I narrowed down my choices.

Meaning of the quote

As Hedy Lamarr became more famous, she got tired of always talking about work during dates with other actors. She started to choose fewer people to go out with because she didn't want to spend her free time only discussing her job.

About Hedy Lamarr

Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian-born American actress and inventor who starred in numerous successful films, including the religious epic Samson and Delilah. During World War II, she co-invented a revolutionary radio guidance system for torpedoes that used spread spectrum and frequency hopping technology, though the technology was not used during the war.

More about the author

More quotes from Hedy Lamarr

I advise everybody not to save: spend your money. Most people save all their lives and leave it to somebody else. Money is to be enjoyed.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I must quit marrying men who feel inferior to me. Somewhere there must be a man who could be my husband and not feel inferior.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

It’s funny about men and women. Men pay in cash to get them and pay in cash to get rid of them. Women pay emotionally coming and going. Neither has it easy.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I was in constant demand, in my professional life and my personal life.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

Many people are target people. Once when Louis B. Mayer insulted me I poured a glass of water over his head.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

Mr. DeMille’s theory of sexual difference was that marriage is an artificial state for women. The want to be taken, ruled, raped. That was his theory.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

The ceremony took six minutes. The marriage lasted about the same amount of time though we didn’t get a divorce for almost a year.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I have always felt that if a man gives you a solid gold key to his door he is entitled to the courtesy of a visit.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I don’t believe in life after death. But I do believe in some grinding destiny that watches over us on earth. If I didn’t, the safety valve would give and the boiler would explode.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

The ladder of success in Hollywood is usually a press agent, actor, director, producer, leading man; and you are a star if you sleep with each of them in that order. Crude, but true.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I never go to funerals. To me a person is dead when he breathes for the last time. After that, your memories should be personal.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

Dates with actors, finally, just seemed to me evenings of shop talk. I got sick of it after a hile. So the more famous I became, the more I narrowed down my choices.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

Dirt makes a man look masculine. Let your hair blow in the wind, and all that. It’s OK. All you have to do is look neat when you have to look neat.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

Some men like a dull life – they like the routine of eating breakfast, going to work, coming home, petting the dog, watching TV, kissing the kids, and going to bed. Stay clear of it – it’s often catching.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

American men, as a group, seem to be interested in only two things, money and breasts. It seems a very narrow outlook.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

Any girl can look glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

My mother always called me an ugly weed, so I never was aware of anything until I was older. Plain girls should have someone telling them they are beautiful. Sometimes this works miracles.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

Lawyers know how to take isolated complaints in a divorce case and build them into one big one.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I know why most people never get rich. They put the money ahead of the job. If you just think of the job, the money will automatically follow. This never fails.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

Men are most virile and most attractive between the ages of 35 and 55. Under 35 a man has too much to learn, and I don’t have time to teach him.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

Let any pretty girl announce a divorce in Hollywood and the wolves come running. Fresh meat for the beast, and they are always hungry.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I have never seen a wrestling match or a prize fight, and I don’t want to. When I find out a man is interested in these sports, I drop him.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I enjoy countless hundreds pursuing me. I love those who love me the most. I am sort of flattered by men showing attention to me.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

Analysis gave me great freedom of emotions and fantastic confidence. I felt I had served my time as a puppet.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

Because you don’t live near a bakery doesn’t mean you have to go without cheesecake.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I am a very good shot. I have hunted for every kind of animal. But I would never kill an animal during mating season.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

All my six husbands married me for different reasons.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I don’t fear death because I don’t fear anything I don’t understand. When I start to think about it, I order a massage and it goes away.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I can excuse everything but boredom. Boring people don’t have to stay that way.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

The public pays and feels it is entitled to participate in the personal affairs of a performer.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

All creative people want to do the unexpected.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I often talked to Bing Crosby, and while I liked him, I never understood why he was so popular. To me his voice was just a gimmick.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

Most children turn out badly because they have the wrong parental image. This doesn’t mean their parents are criminal. It means they are boring and cruel.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

Perhaps my problem in marriage-and it is the problem of many women-was to want both intimacy and independence. It is a difficult line to walk, yet both needs are important to a marriage.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

Confidence is something you’re born with. I know I had loads of it even at the age of 15.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

When I attained a certain advanced intimacy with a man, and I don’t just mean sex, I married him.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I’ve met the most interesting people while flying or on a boat. These methods of travel seem to attract the kind of people I want to be with.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

Making pictures, for an actress, is like betting, for a gambler. Each time you make a picture you try to analyze why you won or lost.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

Jack Kennedy always said to me, Hedy, get involved. That’s the secret of life. Try everything. Join everything. Meet everybody.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

To be a star is to own the world and all the people in it. After a taste of stardom, everything else is poverty.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I think women are concerned too much with their clothes. Men don’t really care that much about women’s clothes. If they like a girl, chances are they’ll like her clothes.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I am not ashamed to say that no man I ever met was my father’s equal, and I never loved any other man as much.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

If I had my way everyone would have a psychiatrist. When the brain is sick and you must throw up, you do it by being purged in a psychiatrist’s office.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

It is easier for women to succeed in business, the arts, and politics in America than in Europe.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

One of my favorite people is Gypsy Rose Lee. She bears out the Biblical promise that he who has, gets. And I hope she gets a lot more.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I’m a sworn enemy of convention. I despise the conventional in anything, even the arts.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I don’t have any gnawing guilt over contributing to any unhappiness suffered by my husbands. They were as much to blame as I was.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

If I were to name my favorite pastime, I’d have to say talking about myself. I love it and I think most other people do too. We need, people like us, more listeners and less talkers.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

If you use your imagination, you can look at any actress and see her nude… I hope to make you use your imagination.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I’ve been an important star and lived a full life, yet I only hve three close friends. I guess that’s all anyone can expect.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I appreciate subtlety. I have never enjoyed a kiss in front of the camera. There’s nothing to it except not getting your lipstick smeared.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

Compromise and tolerance are magic words. It took me 40 years to become philosophical.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I have not been that wise. Health I have taken for granted. Love I have demanded, perhaps too much and too often. As for money, I have only realized its true worth when I didn’t have it.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I’d rather wear jewels in my hair than anywhere else. The face should have the advantage of this brilliance.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I would tell anyone who wants something from someone else to feign not wanting it. People are perverse. If you show great affection to them, they’ll run the other way.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

All a woman needs is a good bath, clean clothes, and for her hair to be combed. These things she can do herself. I very seldom go to the hairdresser, but when I do, I just marvel.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I know when I’m working I seldom get into trouble. My educated guess is that boredom has caused most of the problems with Hollywood celebrities.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

A good painting to me has always been like a friend. It keeps me company, comforts and inspires.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I remember all too well the premiere of Ecstasy when I watched my bare bottom bounce across the screen and my mother and father sat there in shock.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I find very often that very ugly women have really handsome men and vice versa because they don’t have any competition. Sometimes handsome men have avoided me.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

Experts always know everything but the fine points. When I took my citizenship exams, no one there knew how the White House came to be called the White House.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

I was born an only child in Vienna, Austria. My father found hours to sit by me by the library fire and tell fairy stories.

Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)