Quotes by Helen Hayes

About Helen Hayes:

Helen Hayes MacArthur (née Brown) was an American actress whose career spanned almost 80 years. She eventually garnered the nickname First Lady of American Theatre and was one of twelve people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award (an EGOT). Hayes also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor, from President Ronald Reagan in 1986.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Age is not important unless you're a cheese.

Helen Hayes

People who refuse to rest honorably on their laurels when they reach retirement age seem very admirable to me.

Helen Hayes

I cry out for order and find it only in art.

Helen Hayes

Every human being on this earth is born with a tragedy, and it isn't original sin. He's born with the tragedy that he has to grow up... a lot of people don't have the courage to do it.

Helen Hayes

One has to grow up with good talk in order to form the habit of it.

Helen Hayes

There's a little vanity chair that Charlie gave me the first Christmas we knew each other. I'll not be parting with that, nor our bed - the four-poster - I'll be needing that to die in.

Helen Hayes

I'm leaving the screen because I don't think I am very good in the pictures and I have this beautiful dream that I'm elegant on the stage.

Helen Hayes

Mere longevity is a good thing for those who watch Life from the side lines. For those who play the game, an hour may be a year, a single day's work an achievement for eternity.

Helen Hayes

The good die young but not always. The wicked prevail but not consistently. I am confused by life, and I feel safe within the confines of the theatre.

Helen Hayes

Stardom can be a gilded slavery.

Helen Hayes

We relish news of our heroes, forgetting that we are extraordinary to somebody too.

Helen Hayes

The hardest years in life are those between ten and seventy.

Helen Hayes

The worst constructed play is a Bach fugue when compared to life.

Helen Hayes

The story of a love is not important-what is important is that one is capable of love. It is perhaps the only glimpse we are permitted of eternity.

Helen Hayes

From your parents you learn love and laughter and how to put one foot before the other. But when books are opened you discover that you have wings.

Helen Hayes

The truth is that there is only one terminal dignity - love. And the story of a love is not important - what is important is that one is capable of love. It is perhaps the only glimpse we are permitted of eternity.

Helen Hayes

Only the poet can look beyond the detail and see the whole picture.

Helen Hayes

If you rest, you rust.

Helen Hayes

Everybody starts at the top, and then has the problem of staying there. Lasting accomplishment, however, is still achieved through a long, slow climb and self-discipline.

Helen Hayes

Actors cannot choose the manner in which they are born. Consequently, it is the one gesture in their lives completely devoid of self-consciousness.

Helen Hayes

Author Bio

  • NameHelen Hayes
  • Descriptionactress
  • BornOctober 10, 1900
  • DiedMarch 17, 1993
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionFilm Actor; Actor; Autobiographer
  • AwardsAcademy Award For Best Actress; Academy Award For Best Supporting Actress; National Medal Of Arts; Presidential Medal Of Freedom; National Women's Hall Of Fame