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Actors, Acting
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She runs the gamut of emotions from A to B.
-Dorothy Parker
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Adversity
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They sicken at the calm that know the storm.
-Dorothy Parker
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Apathy
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I shall stay the way I am because I do not give a damn.
-Dorothy Parker
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Art
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Art is a form of catharsis.
-Dorothy Parker
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Authors & Writing
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-Dorothy Parker
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If you're going to write, don't pretend to write down. It's going to be the best you can do, and it's the fact that it's the best you can do that kills you.
-Dorothy Parker
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Birth
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Good work, Mary. We all knew you had it in you.
-Dorothy Parker
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Boredom
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They sicken of the calm, who knew the storm.
-Dorothy Parker
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Charity
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Why is it no one ever sent me yet one perfect limousine, do you suppose? Ah no, it's always just my luck to get one perfect rose.
-Dorothy Parker
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Children
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The best way to keep children at home is to make the home a pleasant atmosphere and let the air out of the tires.
-Dorothy Parker
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Choice
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He'd have given me rolling lands,
Houses of marble, and billowing farms,
Pearls, to trickle between my hands,
Smoldering rubies, to circle my arms.
You- you'd only a lilting song,
Only a melody, happy and high,
You were sudden and swift and strong-
Never a thought for another had I.
He'd have given me laces rare,
Dresses that glimmered with frosty sheen,
Shining ribbons to wrap my hair,
Horses to draw me, as fine as a queen.
You- you'd only to whistle low,
Gayly I followed wherever you led.
I took you, and I let him go-
Somebody ought to examine my head!
-Dorothy Parker, The Choice
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Criticism
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This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.
-Dorothy Parker
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Death
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I never see the prettiest thing -
A cherry bough gone white with Spring -
But what I think, How gay 'twould be
To hang me from a flowering tree.
-Dorothy Parker, 'Cherry White', Death and Taxes (1931)
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That would be a good thing for them to cut on my tombstone: Wherever she went, including here, it was against her better judgment.
-Dorothy Parker
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Deception/Lying
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By the time you swear you're his,
Shivering and sighing,
And he vows his passion is
Infinite, undying -
Lady, make a note of this:
One of you is lying.
-Dorothy Parker, Unfortunate Coincidence
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Eggs
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It serves me right for putting all my eggs in one bastard.
-Dorothy Parker
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Fame
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Out in Hollywood, where the streets are paved with Goldwyn, the word
-Dorothy Parker, From a speech given in 1939 to the left-wing Congress of American Voters:
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Fashion
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Brevity is the soul of lingerie.
-Dorothy Parker
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Where's the man could ease a heart, like a satin gown?
-Dorothy Parker
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Friends
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The friends I made have slipped and strayed.
And who's the one that cares
A trifling lot and best forgot -
And that's my tale, and theirs.
Then if my 'friendships break and bend
There's little need to cry
The while I know that every foe
Is faithful till I die.'
-Dorothy Parker, The Leal
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Gossip
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I don't care what anybody says about me as long as it isn't true.
-Dorothy Parker
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Gratitude
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Gratitude -- the meanest and most sniveling attribute in the world.
-Dorothy Parker
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Health
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Money cannot buy health, but I'd settle for a diamond-studded wheelchair.
-Dorothy Parker, In Writers at Work, 1956
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Heart
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They laid their hands upon my head,
They stroked my cheek and brow;
And time could heal a hurt, they said,
And time could dim a vow.
And they were pitiful and mild
Who whispered to me then;
The heart that breaks in April, child;
Will mend in May again.
Oh, many a mended heart they knew;
So old they were, and wise.
And little did they have to do
To come to me with lies!
Who flings me silly talk of May
Shall meet a bitter soul;
For June was nearly spent away
Before my heart was whole.
-Dorothy Parker, The False Friends
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Hollywood
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Hollywood money isn't money. It's congealed snow, melts in your hand, and there you are.
-Dorothy Parker
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Books by and about Dorothy Parker