Lillian Hellman

I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions.

Nobody can be exactly like anybody else. You're like yourself, and I'm like myself.

Some people are like that, you know. They can't stand to see a thing done right.

There are people who eat the earth and eat all the people on it like in the Bible with the locusts. And there are other people who stand around and watch them eat.

I have a right to be myself. I have a right to be what I am.

Old people are always talking about the good old days. But I don't think they were so good.

We are all of us, in some way, victims of the things we believe.

It is not a good idea to be a woman and a writer; it is not a good idea to be a woman and anything.

I don't want to be a good woman. I want to be a bad woman, and I want to be a bad woman who is good at it.

Money is a kind of freedom.

The only way to write is to write. There is no other way.

I have never understood why people are so anxious to be happy. It is a state of mind that is not only difficult to achieve, but also difficult to maintain.

It's a strange thing, but when you are in trouble, you find out who your friends are.

The human heart is a strange and wonderful thing.

There is no such thing as a good war or a bad peace.

I am not a saint. I am not a martyr. I am a writer.

The past is never dead. It's not even past.

We are all of us, in some way, trying to escape from ourselves.

The truth is a terrible thing, but it is also a beautiful thing.

I have always been a rebel. I have always been a fighter.