Bette Davis Quotes

I'll never retire. I'm just using up somebody else's oxygen if I retire.

I've been in this business for 40 years - you do a show, and you don't know what's going to come of it.

Retire? I will never retire.

Retirement is not in my vocabulary. They aren't going to get rid of me that way.

Honestly, the thing that I have found to be most useful over a long career, or maintaining a long career, is taking back the power at some point and self-producing.

I want my daughter to grow up with some kind of ambition. I want her to work and to have that independence.

I've been lucky enough to do this fantastic job now for more than 50 years. To make people laugh, to entertain, create a wide range of emotions - it has always been a tremendous thrill for me, and it still is.

I've always had a job. I left home when I was 16, and you have to look after yourself.

What drew me to modeling was this idea of being independent.

I used to make everything myself. I used to do my own hair, make my own costumes, write my own jokes, and write my own songs. There were definitely some days where I had to choose between having tights that didn't have holes in them or having to buy makeup or something I needed for a show.

I grew up in show business, so I always knew I was going to be a dancer or a performer. I knew that was my business.

I have always worked on my own terms.

I don't mind travelling. I'm independent, so I gotta get on the grind.

I need to raise my kids. It takes a lot of time and a lot of energy to raise kids and make men of them these days. I don't want them to be lazy and just spend their father's money.

I can perform whenever I want to, without the pressure of having to.

I'll be that guy who's 80 years old and still has a job. There is no 'retire' for me.

I haven't got a family. I live to work.

And I love working, that's my life. I'm a lonely person anyway. I don't like being around a load of people so I can work on myself and think.

Keep thy shop, and thy shop will keep thee.

I don't mind anybody dropping out of anything, but it's the imposition on somebody else I don't like. The moment you start dropping out and then begging off somebody else to help you, then it's no good. It doesn't matter what you are as long as you work.

If you're good enough, the referee doesn't matter.

Don't expect others to do your work for you.

I had been asked to open a nightclub in Atlantic City. They offered me a ridiculous amount of money. They literally overpaid me. So I did one show a night. Then they asked me back by popular demand. So I went back. Then I said, "To hell with this." I was only doing it for the money, and I was doing easy routines. It's just too much work to get up every day and practice.

The child seeks for independence by means of work; an independence of body and mind.

I want to earn my own way, I like having nice things but I've never accepted anything I haven't earned.