Colbert, one actress who didn't lose any sleep over her lines.
So many women just don't know how great they really are. They come to us all vogue outside and vague on the inside.
—Mary Kay Ash, founder of the fantastically successful Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc. Ironically, Ash proved her own mettle by selling lots of . . . makeup.
I never go out unless I look like Joan Crawford the movie star. If you want to see the girl next door, go next door.
—Actress Joan Crawford. For her fans, Mommie Dearest put her best face forward.
You don't have to signal a social conscience by looking like a frump. Lace knickers won't hasten the holocaust, you can ban the bomb in a feather boa just as well as without, and a mild interest in hemlines doesn't necessarily disqualify you from reading Das Kapital and agreeing with every word.
—British journalist Jill Tweedie. Oh, go ahead and smash the state if you must—but just this once, it wouldn't kill you to put on a little makeup!
What is beautiful is good, And who is good will soon be beautiful.
—Sappho, gal-loving Greek poet. And who is neither beautiful nor good, it seems, is just plain out of the loop.
Never darken my Dior again!
—British actress Beatrice Lillie, displaying great Christian charity toward the waiter who accidentally dumped dinner onto her dress.
What you eat standing up doesn't count.
—Creative calorie-counter Beth Barnes, the right-brained dieter's answer to Richard Simmons.
Kiss my shapely big fat ass.
—Country crooner K. T. Oslin, whose much-publicized menopause made her a trifle less petite, and far more impolite.
Political Animas & Public Enemies
I want to be more than a rose in my husband's lapel.
I want two passports. I want a passport that says “wife of the Prime Minister” and a passport that says I'm free.
—Margaret Trudeau, a sexy side-kick in the pants to her Studio 54 pals; a mondo thorn in the side for poor Pierre.
Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.
—Abigail Adams, wife of the second president of the United States of America.
Sometimes when I look at my children I say to myself, “Lillian, you should have stayed a virgin.”
—Lillian Carter, mother of the thirty-ninth president of the United States of America.
Well, I've got you the presidency, what are you going to do with it?
—Florence Harding, wife of the twenty-ninth president of the United States of America.
Every politician should have been born an orphan and remain a bachelor.
—Lady Bird Johnson, wife of the thirty-sixth president of the United States of America.
Behind every successful man is a surprised woman.
—Maryon Pearson, former Canadian prime minister's wife.
The position of First Lady has no rules, just precedent, so its evolution has been at a virtual standstill for years. If Martha Washington didn't do it, then no one is sure it should be done.
—Paula Poundstone, social satirist with no political or marital ambitions whatsoever.
I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas.
—Hillary Clinton, wife of the forty-second president of the United States of America.
One cannot be too extreme in dealing with social ills; besides, the extreme thing is generally the true thing.
There's never been a good government.
—Emma Goldman. Often arrested for anarchy, “Red Emma” had plenty of solitary time to contemplate the numerous sins of the state.
If American politics are too dirty for women to take part in, there's something wrong with American politics.
—Writer Edna Ferber, an ornery “old maid” who called them like she saw them.
There is little place in the political scheme of things for an independent, creative personality, for a fighter. Anyone who takes that role must pay a price.
—Shirley Chisholm, professor and practitioner of political science, and the first black woman to battle her way into Congress.
I'm no lady; I'm a member of Congress, and I'll proceed on that basis.
—Mary Norton, the first Democrat with breasts ever elected to Congress entirely on her own merits, rather than creeping in on the coattails of a deceased spouse.
I have a brain and a uterus, and I use both.
When people ask me why I am running as a woman, I always answer, “What choice do I have?”
—Patricia Schroeder, veteran Colorado congresswoman who coined the term “Teflon-coated presidency,” also known as Mom.
The test for whether or not you can hold a job should not be the arrangement of your chromosomes.
Our struggle today is not to have a female Einstein get appointed as an assistant professor. It is for a woman schlemiel to get as quickly promoted as a male schlemiel.
I'm no Joanna come lately, believe me, I've been here all along—outside. (Upon being elected to US House of Representatives in 1971.)
All the men on my staff can type.
—Bella Abzug, three-term US Congresswoman from New York known both for the unconventional contents of her cranium and her penchant for placing ladylike chapeaux on it.
Dr. Kissinger was surprised that I knew where Ghana was.
—Shirley Temple Black, former ambassador to Ghana. (“The Good Ship Lollipop,” all-grown-up Shirley once noted diplomatically, “is now in drydock.”)
Winning may not be everything, but losing has little to recommend it.
—Senator Dianne Feinstein, the only powerhouse politico to dress for success in blouses with built-in bows.
You can no more win a war than
