Quotes

Working in Hollywood does give one a certain expertise in the field of prostitution.

I was terrified when I turned 30. I was pregnant and had the mumps and Faye Dunaway was just coming out in Những Kẻ Cướp Nhà Băng (1967). I thought, 'Oh my God, I'll never work again. I'm old!'

"Acting with Laurence Harvey is like acting by yourself - only worse." - Jane Fonda on her 1962 film Walk on the Wild Side (1962)

It hurt so many soldiers. It galvanised such hostility. It was the most horrible thing I could possibly have done. It was just thoughtless. [expressing regret at her support for the Viet Cong]

I, a Socialist, think we should strive toward a Socialist society, all the way to Communism.

If you understood what Communism was, you would hope, you would pray on your knees that one day we would become Communist. (speaking to students at the University of Michigan in 1970)

People think actresses find public speaking easy, and it's not easy at all; we're used to hiding behind masks.

[accepting her father's Oscar for On Golden Pond (1981)] I'll bet when he heard it just now, he said 'Hey ain't I lucky?' As if luck had anything to do with it.

[on the infamous photo of her posing with a Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun] The biggest lapse of judgment in my life. I don't regret going to North Vietnam. I'm glad I went. I'm glad I did everything I did, except that.

I don't know if I was set up or not. I was an adult. I take responsibility for my actions . . . These soldiers sang a song; I sang a song in feeble Vietnamese. Everyone was laughing. I was led to a gun site and I sat down. And I was laughing and clapping, and there were pictures taken . . . I understand the anger about that.

I would have given up acting in a minute. I didn't like how it set me apart from other people.

When I start down a path that I know is the right path, I go with all of me.

I'm a very brave person. I can go to North Vietnam, I can challenge my government, but I can't challenge the man I'm with if means I'm going to end up alone.

It's hard to imagine a happy ending to the US-led war in Iraq. What's it going to mean for stability as a nation, for terrorism, for the economy I can't imagine. I think the entire world is going to be united against us.

Ted Turner needs someone to be there 100 percent of the time. He thinks that's love. It's not love. It's babysitting.

I wanted to do a tour like I did during the Vietnam War, a tour of the country. But then Cindy Sheehan filled in the gap, and she is better at this than I am. I carry too much baggage.

When I left the West Coast I was a liberal. When I landed in New York I was a revolutionary.

[on Henry Fonda's love of the theater] I'm becoming obsessed with his presence in my head, because my dad adored theater. He didn't talk much, but he would talk about how he loved the immediacy of a live audience. I was never comfortable enough in my own skin 45 years ago to be able to understand it. I just wanted to escape. And now it's like, 'Oh Dad, I wish you were here and alive, so I could say to you: "I get it! I'm finally able to experience what you were talking about."

[why she quit acting while married to Tom Hayden] When I was really, really unhappy with myself and my life, which happened in the second half of my marriage to Tom, I just stopped. Acting became too painful. I just couldn't. All the joy leached out of it.

[Monster-in-Law (2005)] was the single smartest move I ever made

[on returning to the stage in 2009] I am not the same person I was. I really am a different person. And I feel now that I could really be better than I have ever been in acting. It felt like something I had left prematurely. I didn't complete it, and I wanted to see if I could find joy in it again. It's been 45, 46 years since I was last on Broadway, and it feels like it too, in the sense of my personal trajectory. I feel that in terms of my personal development there has been at least half a century in there. Thank God.

It's always great to rehearse on a plane because people think you're mad.

Emotionality is really easy for me. My father always said that Fondas can cry at a good steak.

[6/08, on dating] I want someone who is not only a great lover but who is also an old soul. Older men seem to think they are riding the crest when they decide to cash in and take it easy once they have hooked up with me, which becomes a burden and a bore.

[on her book 'Prime Time'] I actually never lead. There's always something more first, and then I'm the cheerleader. There are many, many books about aging. Mine just covers everything that I wanted to know.

I viewed my mother as a snob. Well she was a snob. Had she lived long enough I probably wouldn't have cared for her very much, frankly. So the way I protected myself from that is, 'Okay, I don't need you'. But of course I blamed myself when she killed herself.

I try to live my third act in such a way that I won't have regrets. You never get there entirely, but you can spend your life working at it.

[on third husband Ted Turner] For his own reasons, Ted moves laterally through life, very fast. Across his millions of acres. I wanted to go vertically. I knew if I stayed with him I'd be safe, I wouldn't need to work, and it would be interesting. But I would never be a whole person, and I wanted to be a whole person.

I took Klute (1971) because, in it, I expose a great deal of the oppression of women in this country - the system which makes women sell themselves for possessions.

Aging is not what we used to think it was, where you peak at middle age. It's ascending a staircase into growth, wisdom, well-being and happiness.

I have used acupuncture many times in the past - to reduce fever, heal broken bones, relieve pain... it really works if the doctor is skilled. I have felt I needed to have my energy system balanced.

It's never too late - never too late to start over, never too late to be happy.

[seminar broadcast on C-SPAN in 2005] Our leaders today are not paying attention to the fundamental rule of warfare: Know thine enemy! We didn't know the Vietnamese and we thought it would be a cakewalk going into Iraq and we didn't understand who they were. It comes from hubris and arrogance, the omnipotence of America. Nobody's number one forever. Not individuals and not nations. Sooner than later everybody crashes. I hope we don't crash in hostile territory but we're certainly headed that way.

[about David R. Slavitt's bestselling novel "The Exhibitionist"] I don't read trash. Is that that book that everyone says is about me?

I feel like my honesty gives people the freedom to talk about things they wouldn't otherwise.

[asked why she accepted her Oscar for Coming Home (1978) in sign language] Because I found out there were 17 million deaf people in the United States and the Academy Awards were not closed-captioned. I tried to get them to close caption and they wouldn't do it. So I decided to do my thing in sign language.

Roger Vadim and I were too different to last. I don't mean nationality, I mean attitude. I think opposites only attract for a brief, intense period.

The kind of parts that I think are the most exciting to play and are the most viable in terms of communication are characters that are complex; that is, characters that are full of contradictions that can be shown, that are in motion, that are trying to deal with problems that are real to people.

As an actor you spend all your life trying to do something they put people in asylums for.

To overcome bulimia, I had to teach myself to eat all over again, like a child.

[reflecting on her career slump in the mid-1970s] I can't say I was blacklisted, but I was greylisted. Richard Nixon used the same tactics on me he used on people he didn't like in the '50s. He had conservative state legislators introduce measures that would condemn or ban my films or prohibit me from even entering the state. Conservative theater owners went along, and studio executives who might have shared my politics said, 'What can we do? Why take a chance?'

[after having her breast implants removed] My kids are so relieved. They tell me I look normal again.

I find that arduous physical labor can jump-start my thought process.

I'm vain about loose flesh. And so I'm careful that what I wear will show off my best parts.

I'll smoke pot every now and then. I cannot see a movie on pot. The number of movies I've seen thinking, This is probably the best I have ever seen, and then I'll see it again sober and think, What was I thinking?

When I was young I never thought I was going to make it past thirty. I thought I was going to die of alcoholism and loneliness and you know that hasn't been the case... Don't give up no matter how hard it is. Try to make the best of who you are.

I grew up with a deep belief that wherever our troops fought, they were on the side of the angels.

[July 2011, her reaction to QVC axing a scheduled appearance at behest of angry phone callers threatening to boycott the show if she were allowed on] I am, to say the least, deeply disappointed that QVC caved to this kind of insane pressure by some well-funded and organized political extremist groups and that they did it without talking to me first. I have never shied away from talking about this as I have nothing to hide. I could have pointed out that threats of boycotts are nothing new for me and have never prevented me from having bestselling books and exercise DVDs, films, and a Broadway play. Most people don't buy into the far right lies. Many people have reached out to express how excited they were about my going onto QVC and hearing about my book. Bottom line, this has gone on far too long, this spreading of lies about me! None of it is true. NONE OF IT! I love my country. I have never done anything to hurt my country or the men and women who have fought and continue to fight for us. I do not understand what the far right stands to gain by continuing with these myths. In this case, they denied a lot of people the chance to hear about a book that can help make life better, easier and more fulfilling. I am deeply grateful for all of the support I have been getting since this happened, including from my Vietnam Veterans friends.

The only time I ever saw Dad cry was when Roosevelt died.

I think marriage is going to go out, become obsolete. I don't think it's natural for two people to swear to be together for the rest of their lives. [1961]