Quotes by Sophia Loren

“It is a great advantage for a system of philosophy to be substantially true.”

“The word Action! frees me - the transformation is something I cannot explain - too much analysis might destroy it”

“I know quite certainly that I myself have no special talent; curiosity, obsession and dogged endurance, combined with self-criticism, have brought me to my ideas.”

“Sadness flies away on the wings of time.”

“Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better take things as they come along with patience and equanimity.”

“Our business in life is not to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves -- to break our own records, to outstrip our yesterday by our today.”

A womans dress should be like a barbed-wire fence: serving its purpose without obstructing the view.

Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.

Everything you see I owe to spaghetti.

You have to believe in marriage and you have to believe in a relationship between two people. If you really think in your life that you have found the right person, you have to stick to it, even though there are ups and downs. If you really believe in your union, you have to nourish it and work for it, then you can really spend your life together forever.

There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.

I have my own peculiar yardstick for measuring a man: Does he have the courage to cry in a moment of grief? Does he have the compassion not to hunt an animal? In his relationship with a woman, is he gentle? Real manliness is nurtured in kindness and gentleness, which I associate with intelligence, comprehension, tolerance, justice, education, and high morality. If only men realized how easy it is to open a womans heart with kindness, and how many women close their hearts to the assaults of the Don Juans.

Ive never tried to block out the memories of the past, even though some are painful. I dont understand people who hide from their past. Everything you live through helps to make you the person you are now.

Sex appeal is fifty percent what youve got and fifty percent what people think youve got.

At the dressing table, every woman has a chance to be an artist, and art, as Aristotle said, completes what nature left unfinished.

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.

Discipline is the great equalizer. If a young woman is beautiful but has no discipline, she will lose her looks as she grows older. If a plain woman is disciplined she will undoubtedly become more beautiful with time.

Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. You must be able to sustain yourself against staggering blows. There is no code of conduct to help beginners. That is why some people with mediocre talent but with great inner drive go much further than people with vastly superior talent.

Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life.

When you are a mother you are never really alone in your thoughts ... A mother has to think twice once for herself and once for her child.