Happy Birthday, Bette Davis!

Today is the 103rd birthday of the incomparable Bette Davis – as formidable, headstrong, fiery and mesmerising onscreen as she was in her private life. One of the biggest stars of her generation, Davis garnered ten Academy Awards nominations, racked up four husbands, and provided the gossip columnists with reams of gleeful coverage of her long-standing feud with fellow mega-star Joan Crawford.

With those enormous eyes, throaty laugh, and imperious lip-curl, Davis was a complete one-off. As unforgettable tearily smoking her way through the last lines of Now, Voyager, or swaggering across the screen in the sublime All About Eve as fading star Margo Channing – equal parts acid-tongued chutzpah and brittle-edged pathos.

Below, we’ve gathered together a clutch of our favourite Davis quotes, but there are dozens more – add your own favourites to Quotables and help us create the most complete collection online. But first, over to Bette as Margo Channing – the lady knows how to say a line.

Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night!
— Bette Davis as Margo, All About Eve

From the moment I was six I felt sexy. And let me tell you it was hell, sheer hell, waiting to do something about it.
— Bette Davis

My passions were all gathered together like fingers that made a fist. Drive is considered aggression today; I knew it then as purpose.
— Bette Davis

I love my profession. I would never stop. Relax? I relax when I work. It’s my life.
— Bette Davis

‘In the beginning was the Word,’ and you must not be tempted with a script just because you have a great part. You want a great role to play, but the whole – the whole – must be good. It’ll never succeed if it’s just the role you like.
— Bette Davis

Attempt the impossible in order to improve your work.
— Bette Davis

Brought up to respect the conventions, love had to end in marriage. I’m afraid it did.
— Bette Davis

Discipline is a symbol of caring to a child. Discipline is guidance. If there is love, there is no such thing as being too tough with a child.
— Bette Davis

When a man gives his opinion, he’s a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she’s a bitch.
— Bette Davis

You will never be happier than you expect. To change your happiness, change your expectation.
— Bette Davis

Old age ain’t no place for sissies.
— Bette Davis

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