Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.

I hate the word wholesome.

I have been called a nun with a switchblade where my privacy is concerned. I think there’s a point where one says, that’s for family, that’s for me.

I would be a fool to deny my own abilities.

Sometimes oppurtunities float right past your nose. Work hard, apply yourself, and be ready. When an opportunity comes you can grab it.

On the whole, I think women wear too much and are to fussy. You can’t see the person for all the clutter.

I am an optimistic lady.

Garry Marshall is a joy. I feel so utterly safe in his hands.

If the director says you can do better, particularly in a love scene, then it is rather embarrassing.

I thought it was all a flash in the pan. It wasn’t until Broadway came along that I felt I had really made it.

I love singing, and I came to absolutely adore it in the later part of my career.

Broadway is a tough, tough arena for singing.

I’ve got a good right hook.

Richard Burton rang me up once and said, Do you know you’re my only leading lady I’ve never slept with? I said, Well, please don’t tell everybody, it’s the worst image.

I was lucky enough to be the lady that was asked to be Maria in the Sound Of Music, and that film was fortunate enough to be huge hit. The same with Mary Poppins. I got terribly lucky in that respect.

Sometimes I’m so sweet even I can’t stand it.

I am a liberated woman. And I do believe if a woman does equal work she should be paid equal money. But personally I am feminine and I do like male authority to lean on.

All love shifts and changes. I don’t know if you can be wholeheartedly in love all the time.

Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.

The thrill of being in front of a camera remains exactly the same.

I don’t think today’s younger audience… would even know what 1920s musicals were like.

I have always wished I could learn to be a potter. I love collecting ceramics; it would be so fulfilling to create something lovely.

I adored my birth father and constantly worried that I was being disloyal to him and his schoolteacher roots if I spent too much time performing and enjoying it.

I am very proud to be British. I’m very conscious of carrying my country with me wherever I go. I feel I need to represent it well.

Some people regard discipline as a chore. For me, it is a kind of order that sets me free to fly.