In this week’s installment of Marlene Explains It All:
On Pouting:
“I hate it, but men fall for it, so go on and pout.”
On the expression “Relax”:
“Commonly used in America, even by children. Outside of America only used when suggested to people who have really done something.”
On “Complexes”, inferiority, persecution, Oedipus, or otherwise:
“I’m getting tired of people alibiing for their bad manners by citing their complexes.”
In this week’s installment of Marlene Explains It All:
Art:
“A much abused word.”
Brassieres:
“In America something strange has happened. A man will turn his head, or whistle, if that is his fashion, on seeing an obvious contraption, a clearly outlined, padded, steel construction under a dress or, even worse, a sweater. This is rather touching and only proves what an idealist man is.”
Habit:
“Often mistaken for love.”
Envy:
“I do not know envy. I do not know how this happened. I can only guess that I was taught to enjoy things regardless of ownership.”
Intimacy:
“There are more imaginary specks of dust casually brushed off gentlemen’s shoulders by women wanting to show intimacy in public than there are real specks of dust desirous of settling on gentlemen’s shoulders.”
“At the best of times, gender is difficult to determine.”
-Marlene Dietrich (via)
On the evolutionary purpose of women’s hats:
“They can be great fun. And it is true that they can put a woman in a good mood. Anyone who laughs at this fact just knows nothing about the finer points of woman’s capacity for survival.”
-Marlene Dietrich (photographed here in 1936’s Desire)
Mental health is a type of health:
“I started smoking during the war. I have kept it up ever since. It keeps me healthy.”
-Marlene Dietrich
“Gentleman: A man who buys two of the same morning paper from the doorman of his favorite nightclub when he leaves with his girl.”
-Marlene Dietrich (photo by Eugene Robert Richee)
![Marlene Dietrich in Paris, acompanied by her husband, Rudolf Sieber (1933, photo by Imagno/Getty Images)
On true love:
“It’s a flower: Trillium erectum [aka the American True-Love]. Also called birthroot and bethflower. Medicinal use: astringent.
It is strong enough to survive sub-zero temperatures and its blossoms smell like rotting meat.”
-Dietrich, quoted in Marlene Dietrich’s ABC](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ldx5wlHlqF1qzdvhio1_r4_500.png)
Marlene Dietrich in Paris, acompanied by her husband, Rudolf Sieber (1933, photo by Imagno/Getty Images)
On true love:
“It’s a flower: Trillium erectum [aka the American True-Love]. Also called birthroot and bethflower. Medicinal use: astringent.
It is strong enough to survive sub-zero temperatures and its blossoms smell like rotting meat.”
-Dietrich, quoted in Marlene Dietrich’s ABC
On sadness:
“Bitter in childhood, sweet in adolescence, tragic in old age.”
-Marlene Dietrich, quoted in Marlene Dietrich’s ABC (photo circa 1937)
