80 Marilyn Monroe Quotes About Love, Success and Relationships

Our latest collection of Marilyn Monroe quotes on Everyday Power Blog.

Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, model, and singer who continues to fascinate the world with her beauty and talent. Born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926, in Los Angeles, California, Marilyn overcame a difficult childhood to become one of the most celebrated actresses in the world. During her short career, her films grossed over $200 before her untimely death in 1962.

Despite her death, Marilyn Monroe continues to be a major pop icon. Here are some inspirational quotes from her on love, success, relationships and much more.

Inspirational Marilyn Monroe Quotes

1. I’m selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I’m out of control, and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best. – Marilyn Monroe

You don’t need to be perfect to be loved. Real love is when someone loves you through the good and bad, ups and downs. Love isn’t just when it’s convent, it’s all the time.

2. Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.- Marilyn Monroe

The only people who will ever stand out are the ones that are different. Don’t be afraid to stand out, those are the people who are remembered. 

3. I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil. I am just a small girl in a big world trying to find someone to love.- Marilyn Monroe

We are all complex people. None of us are just one way and big labels will never work on describing us. Regardless of how many layers and labels we have, we all deserve love.

4. Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world.- Marilyn Monroe

Look good! Feel good! Be confident! Sometimes one small change can make you feel like a million bucks!

5. Success makes so many people hate you. I wish it wasn’t that way. It would be wonderful to enjoy success without seeing envy in the eyes of those around you.- Marilyn Monroe

Success isn’t easy and what makes it more difficult is the people who will become jealous along the journey. Don’ take it personal, it comes with the territory. 

6. It’s better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone – so far.- Marilyn Monroe

When you’re unhappy decide to work on yourself before trying to get into a relationship. Be what you want to attract. If you’re unhappy, miserable and critical you will attract someone similar. Be who you want to meet.

7. I am trying to find myself. Sometimes that’s not easy.- Marilyn Monroe

Emerson once said that “life’s greatest accomplishment will be to become who we truly are.” If you ask me, he’s right.

8. The real lover is the man who can thrill you just by touching your head or smiling into your eyes – or just by staring into space.- Marilyn Monroe

You know love is real when you don’t need anything extra. No fancy restaurants, no exotic vacations – just that special person in your presence. That’s the simplest and purest form of love.

9. Experts on romance say for a happy marriage there has to be more than a passionate love. For a lasting union, they insist, there must be a genuine liking for each other. Which, in my book, is a good definition for friendship.- Marilyn Monroe

The best lovers are best friends. The physical attraction will come and go, be up and down. When the passion is fleeting, it’s essential that the friendship remain. Or else, you’ve got nothing.

10. We are all of us stars, and we deserve to twinkle.- Marilyn Monroe

You were born to shine bright. We’re all star dust anyway!

11. If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything.- Marilyn Monroe

No matter who you meet, everyone loves to laugh!

12. I restore myself when I’m alone.- Marilyn Monroe

The best time to emotionally recharge is when you’re alone! No matter how popular you are, we all need downtime.

13. A smart girl leaves before she is left.- Marilyn Monroe

Know when you are not appreciated, and keep moving forward. “Go where you are celebrated and not tolerated.”

14. A strong man doesn’t have to be dominant toward a woman. He doesn’t match his strength against a woman weak with love for him. He matches it against the world.- Marilyn Monroe

True love has no competition. It is never You vs. Your partner. The world is tough enough already and the last thing you need is your partner keeping you down. 

15. Fear is stupid. So are regrets.- Marilyn Monroe

If there are two commitments you want to make it will be to do things in the face of fear and to learn to live with regret. We are all scared of something and we all wish we could have done certain things differently. What will always matter most, is how we move forward. How we manage the fear is much more important than the fear itself. And how we live with our choices will influence the next decision we make.

Marilyn Monroe quotes on love and life

16. “Sometimes things fall apart so that better things can fall together.” – Marilyn Monroe

17. “You never know what life is like, until you have lived it.” – Marilyn Monroe

18. “A woman can’t be alone. She needs a man. A man and a woman support and strengthen each other. She just can’t do it by herself.” – Marilyn Monroe

19. “This life is what you make it. No matter what, you’re going to mess up sometimes, it’s a universal truth. But the good part is you get to decide how you’re going to mess it up.” – Marilyn Monroe

20. “I don’t mind living in a man’s world as long as I can be a woman in it.” – Marilyn Monroe

21. “Sometimes I feel my life has been one big rejection” – Marilyn Monroe

.22.  “Sometimes you just have to throw on a crown and remind them who they’re dealing with.” – Marilyn Monroe

23. “We should all start to live before we get old. Fear is stupid. So are regrets.” – Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe quotes about lifestyle and happiness

24. “For those who are poor in happiness, each time is a first time; happiness never becomes a habit.” – Marilyn Monroe

25. “Always remember to smile and look up at what you got in life.” – Marilyn Monroe

26. “Keep smiling, because life is a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.” – Marilyn Monroe

27. “If you can make a woman laugh, you can make her do anything.” ― Marilyn Monroe

28. “I don’t mind making jokes, but I don’t want to look like one.” – Marilyn Monroe

30. “You better believe when the conversation is getting shorter with you… it’s getting longer with someone else.” – Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe quotes about dreams, work and character

32. “When you have only a single dream it is more than likely to come true – because you keep working toward it without getting mixed up.” – Marilyn Monroe

33. “I don’t forgive people because I’m weak, I forgive them because I am strong enough to know people make mistakes.” – Marilyn Monroe

34. “If I’d observed all the rules, I’d never have got anywhere.” – Marilyn Monroe

35. “Just because you fail once doesn’t mean you’re gonna fail at everything.” – Marilyn Monroe

36. “Things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they’re right.” – Marilyn Monroe

37. “I used to think as I looked out on the Hollywood night, ‘There must be thousands of girls sitting alone like me dreaming of being a movie star.’ But I’m not going to worry about them. I’m dreaming the hardest.” – Marilyn Monroe

38. “A girl should be like a butterfly. Pretty to see, hard to catch.” — Marilyn Monroe

39. “Against all odds and despite all the obstacles, we are going to make it.” – Marilyn Monroe

40. “I wanted to be treated as a human being who had earned a few rights since her orphanage days.” – Marilyn Monroe

41. “Ever notice how ‘What the hell’ is always the right answer?” – Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe quotes about beauty and relationships

42. “To all the girls who think you’re fat because you’re not a size zero. You’re the beautiful one. It’s society who’s ugly.” – Marilyn Monroe

43. “Beneath the makeup and behind the smile I am just a girl who wishes for the world.” – Marilyn Monroe

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of makeup quotes about the power of looking good.

44. “All a girl really wants from a guy is for him to prove to her that they are not all the same.” – Marilyn Monroe

45. “Beauty and femininity are ageless and can’t be contrived, and glamour, although the manufacturers won’t like this, cannot be manufactured.” – Marilyn Monroe

46. “I want to grow old without facelifts. I want to have the courage to be loyal to the face I have made.” – Marilyn Monroe

47. “Your clothes should be tight enough to show you’re a woman, but loose enough to show you’re a lady.” — Marilyn Monroe

48. “Never get too attached to someone, because attachments lead to expectations and expectations lead to disappointments.” – Marilyn Monroe

49. “I’ve never fooled anyone. I’ve let people fool themselves. They didn’t bother to find out who and what I was. Instead, they would invent a character for me. I wouldn’t argue with them. They were obviously loving somebody I wasn’t.” – Marilyn Monroe

50. “The real lover is the man who can thrill you by kissing your forehead or smiling into your eyes or just staring into space.” – Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe quotes to inspire and motivate

51. “A wise girl knows her limits, a smart girl knows that she has none.” – Marilyn Monroe

52. “Always, always, always believe in yourself. Because if you don’t, then who will, sweetie?” – Marilyn Monroe

53. “They will only care when you’re gone.” — Marilyn Monroe

54. “I don’t need a king I’m already the queen.” — Marilyn Monroe

55. “Who said nights were for sleep?” – Marilyn Monroe

56. “I think that love and work are the only things that really happen to us.” – Marilyn Monroe

57. “Dreaming about being an actress, is more exciting than being one.”– Marilyn Monroe

58. “Hollywood’s a place where they’ll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss, and fifty cents for your soul…First, I’m trying to prove to myself that I’m a person. Then maybe I’ll convince myself that I’m an actress.” – Marilyn Monroe

59. “Unfortunately, I am involved in a freedom ride protesting the loss of the minority rights belonging to the few remaining earthbound stars. All we demanded was our right to twinkle.” – Marilyn Monroe

60. “How wrong is it for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself.”– Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe quotes to motivate you

61. “Everybody is always tugging at you. They’d all like a sort of chunk out of you. I don’t think they realize it, but it’s like ‘grrr do this, grr do that…’But you do want to stay intact and on two feet.”– Marilyn Monroe

62. “I don’t consider myself an intellectual. And this is not one of my aims. But I admire intellectual people.”– Marilyn Monroe

63. “I always felt insecure and in the way, but most of all I felt scared. I guess I wanted love more than anything else in the world.”– Marilyn Monroe

64. “It’s not true that I had nothing on. I had the radio on.”– Marilyn Monroe

65. “Creativity has got to start with humanity and when you’re a human being, you feel, you suffer.”– Marilyn Monroe

66. “Dogs never bite me. Just humans.”– Marilyn Monroe

67. “Respect is one of life’s greatest treasures. I mean, what does it all add up to if you don’t have that?”– Marilyn Monroe

68. “In spite of everything life is not without hope.”– Marilyn Monroe

69. “I’m one of the world’s most self-conscious people. I really have to struggle.”– Marilyn Monroe

70. “I don’t stop when I’m tired. I only stop when I’m done.”– Marilyn Monroe

More Marilyn Monroe quotes and sayings

71. “If you’re gonna be two-faced at least make one of them pretty.” – Marilyn Monroe

72. “When it comes down to it, I let them think what they want. If they care enough to bother with what I do, then I’m already better than them.” – Marilyn Monroe

73. “She was a girl who knew how to be happy even when she was sad. And that’s important—you know.” – Marilyn Monroe

74. “A career is wonderful, but you can’t curl up with it on a cold night.” – Marilyn Monroe

75. “The nicest thing for me is sleep, then at least I can dream.” – Marilyn Monroe

76. “You believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself.” – Marilyn Monroe

77. “A wise girl kisses but doesn’t love, listens but doesn’t believe, and leaves before she is left.” ― Marilyn Monroe

78. “It’s often just enough to be with someone. I don’t need to touch them. Not even talk. A feeling passes between you both. You’re not alone.” ― Marilyn Monroe

79. “We are all born sexual creatures, thank God, but it’s a pity so many people despise and crush this natural gift.” – Marilyn Monroe

80. “I have feelings too. I am still human. All I want is to be loved, for myself and for my talent.” – Marilyn Monroe

Did you enjoy these Marilyn Monroe quotes?

Many people are inspired by Marilyn Monroe’s story and her words on success, relationships, and views on being a woman. Hopefully, these quotes from her have inspired you to find the shining star in your life.

Did you enjoy these Marilyn Monroe quotes? Do you have any favorite Marilyn Monroe quotes to add to the list? Let us know in the comments.