One and one is two, and two and two is four, and five will get you ten if you know how to work it.

Meaning of the quote

The quote means that simple math can lead to more complex calculations. For example, starting with 1 + 1 (which equals 2), and then adding 2 + 2 (which equals 4), you can eventually get to 5 + 5 (which equals 10). The key is understanding how basic math skills can be applied to solve more complicated problems.

About Mae West

Mae West was a legendary American actress, singer, comedian, screenwriter, and playwright who had a successful career spanning over seven decades. She was known for her breezy sexual independence, lighthearted bawdy double entendres, and husky contralto voice, often running into censorship issues due to her controversial and unconventional style.

More about the author

More quotes from Mae West

A man in the house is worth two in the street.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

I’ve been in more laps than a napkin.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

It’s hard to be funny when you have to be clean.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Virtue has its own reward, but no sale at the box office.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Personally, I like two types of men – domestic and foreign.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

I generally avoid temptation unless I can’t resist it.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Too much of a good thing can be taxing.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

I’d like to see Paris before I die. Philadelphia will do.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

I’ll try anything once, twice if I like it, three times to make sure.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Marriage is a great institution, but I’m not ready for an institution.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

It’s not what I do, but the way I do it. It’s not what I say, but the way I say it.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Keep a diary, and someday it’ll keep you.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

He who hesitates is a damned fool.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

I’ve been things and seen places.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

It ain’t no sin if you crack a few laws now and then, just so long as you don’t break any.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

An ounce of performance is worth pounds of promises.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

I didn’t discover curves; I only uncovered them.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

I like a man who’s good, but not too good – for the good die young, and I hate a dead one.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

I speak two languages, Body and English.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

I enjoyed the courtroom as just another stage but not so amusing as Broadway.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

It’s not the men in my life that count, it’s the life in my men.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Right now I think censorship is necessary; the things they’re doing and saying in films right now just shouldn’t be allowed. There’s no dignity anymore and I think that’s very important.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

One and one is two, and two and two is four, and five will get you ten if you know how to work it.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Look your best – who said love is blind?

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

I like restraint, if it doesn’t go too far.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number you get in a diamond.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

To err is human, but it feels divine.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Every man I meet wants to protect me. I can’t figure out what from.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Any time you got nothing to do – and lots of time to do it – come on up.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

His mother should have thrown him out and kept the stork.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

If I asked for a cup of coffee, someone would search for the double meaning.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

I’m no model lady. A model’s just an imitation of the real thing.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Say what you want about long dresses, but they cover a multitude of shins.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

The best way to hold a man is in your arms.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

She’s the kind of girl who climbed the ladder of success wrong by wrong.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Any time you’ve got nothing to do and lots of time to do it come on up.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

It is better to be looked over than overlooked.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

When women go wrong, men go right after them.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

I always say, keep a diary and someday it’ll keep you.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

I only have ‘yes’ men around me. Who needs ‘no’ men?

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Opportunity knocks for every man, but you have to give a woman a ring.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

A man’s kiss is his signature.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

A woman in love can’t be reasonable – or she probably wouldn’t be in love.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Don’t keep a man guessing too long – he’s sure to find the answer somewhere else.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

When I’m good I’m very, very good, but when I’m bad, I’m better.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Don’t marry a man to reform him – that’s what reform schools are for.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Whenever I’m caught between two evils, I take the one I’ve never tried.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Love isn’t an emotion or an instinct – it’s an art.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

The score never interested me, only the game.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

I’m a woman of very few words, but lots of action.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

I never loved another person the way I loved myself.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

It isn’t what I do, but how I do it. It isn’t what I say, but how I say it, and how I look when I do it and say it.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Personality is the most important thing to an actress’s success.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Love thy neighbor – and if he happens to be tall, debonair and devastating, it will be that much easier.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

I only like two kinds of men, domestic and imported.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

A man has one hundred dollars and you leave him with two dollars, that’s subtraction.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Personality is the glitter that sends your little gleam across the footlights and the orchestra pit into that big black space where the audience is.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

He’s the kind of man a woman would have to marry to get rid of.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Ten men waiting for me at the door? Send one of them home, I’m tired.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Save a boyfriend for a rainy day – and another, in case it doesn’t rain.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

When I’m good, I’m very good. But when I’m bad I’m better.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I’ve never tried before.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

A hard man is good to find.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Sex is emotion in motion.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Cultivate your curves – they may be dangerous but they won’t be avoided.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

I believe that it’s better to be looked over than it is to be overlooked.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

All discarded lovers should be given a second chance, but with somebody else.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

A dame that knows the ropes isn’t likely to get tied up.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

It takes two to get one in trouble.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Give a man a free hand and he’ll run it all over you.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

I see you’re a man with ideals. I better be going before you’ve still got them.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Love conquers all things except poverty and toothache.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

Those who are easily shocked should be shocked more often.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)

A man can be short and dumpy and getting bald but if he has fire, women will like him.

Mae West

American actress, singer, screenwriter, and writer (1893-1980)