Bright and beauty........

Bright and beauty........

“We are all of us stars, and we deserve to twinkle.”

This is one of the most beautiful quotes ever uttered by Miss Monroe, and it’s especially touching because it comes from someone that spend much of their adult life as a star in the form of a celebrity. We all deserve to have our time to shine, and it’s a matter of taking the opportunities that are granted to us to show what we can do. It speaks to the imbalance of attention given to only the best and brightest among us, even though we all have something to say, a talent to behold, and a spotlight that we deserve.

“Keep smiling, because life is a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.”

This quote sums up life in a very optimistic way, and even though Monroe had many challenges and plenty of reasons not to smile, it shows she was always looking for the beautiful things in the world, and choosing happiness over sadness. Whenever you’re feeling blue you can remember this quote and look around for things to smile about. According to her there’s plenty to smile about, as long as you’re looking for them. Look around you today for something to smile about. Tomorrow it might be something different, but there will always be many things available to put your attention on.

“Sometimes things fall apart so that better things can fall together.”

This puts a very good spin on those times when it appears that things aren’t going as planned, or after a bad break-up, or other low times in life. It would be arrogant to think that we know what’s best for us, and often the universe has other plans and is putting them into motion even if it means we have to go through some trying times or say goodbye to the people that once loved us. As long as you keep hope and optimism alive and keep the door open for something better to come along, it often will.

“If I’d observed all the rules I’d never have got anywhere.”

Here’s a cheeky quote that suggests it’s OK to break the rules now and then in the name of progress and success. Most of us know that rules are made to bed, and some might even need to be broken when going after the things that you want. It’s not a matter of breaking the law or showing a disrespect for authority, but rather confirming that you won’t let anything stop you from reaching your desired destination. Monroe wasn’t encouraging a state of lawlessness, but just giving a nod to the bendability of the established rules that govern our lives.

“You never know what life is like, until you have lived it.”

Here’s a simply stated way of saying that unless you get out and live your life you won’t really know what life is like. It’s almost as if she is saying some people live and die without really knowing what life is like. It’s a call to get out and do the things you’ve been wanting to do, to tell the people the things you’ve been wanting to say, and to feel the feelings that come with living a life that is meaningful and interesting. You don’t have to live to anyone else’s standards, as each of us has our own idea of what it means to live life to the fullest.

“A career is wonderful, but you can’t curl up with it on a cold night.”

At first glance this quote seems like it might be a step back for equality for women, but when you consider that both genders can use it as advice it seems more sound. While chasing a career and money many men also give up relationships because they see the two as mutually exclusive. Only later when they realize the emptiness of having success and no one to share it with do they regret their decision to pursue the almighty dollar at all costs. Find a balance between your career and your love life so that you don’t end up old, bitter, and alone, is what she seems to be saying.

“Beneath the makeup and behind the smile I am just a girl who wishes for the world.”

Marilyn Monroe had a strong desire to be seen as being more than just an actress, celebrity, and sex symbol. Many of her quotes attempt to shed light on who she was a person, and to remind her spectators that there was more to her than just a pretty face in designer clothing. It’s true that behind all of the glitz and glamor there was just a girl that started off simple enough married to a policeman. Who would have thought she’d eventually be married to Joe DiMaggio and have an alleged affair with JFK?

“Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.”

We’ve all had the feeling of wishing we were someone else, no matter how brief it lasted. Sometimes it can be easy to get fixated on someone else, whether it be a celebrity or someone you know personally. But it’s a huge oversight because it negates what a wonderful person you yourself are. It’s fine to admire the traits of someone else, and make it a point to have those same traits, but there’s no reason to wish you were them, especially since you don’t know exactly what it’s like to be them. If you were given the chance to be them you may realize it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

“I live to succeed, not to please you or anyone else.”

This is an interesting saying from Monroe, and it can be seen in the way she lived her life that she didn’t just say it but lived it. She was discovered after doing a magazine shoot and never looked back. She starred in dozens of movies and now has a star on the Walk of Fame because she didn’t live wondering what others were thinking about her, or trying to bend over backwards to make other people happy. Success was important to her, and by mapping the course of her life you can see that she was driven to succeed without second guessing herself based on opinions of others.

“Just because you fail once doesn’t mean you’re gonna fail at everything.”

How true! But most times it’s so easy to forget this and feel like failure is just going to follow you all your days. It’s true that you can be a whopping failure at one thing but a raging success at another. Few are good at everything they try, and for many it’s a matter of finding what you’re good at and then getting better and better at that. It would be sad indeed if we failed in one area of our lives and then projected that failure to another area. Cast those memories of failure aside as you try your next endeavor.

“It’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”

Here’s words to live by if you’re ever caught between being ridiculous or boring. At the very least you don’t want to be absolutely ridiculously boring! She must have been making mention to the different people she’d met during her life, which must have been filled with the bizarre and the mundane. She’s saying that if you have to choose, go for being the oddball, the one that confuses everyone, instead of being the wallflower that doesn’t take a chance or speak up. Only one way ensures that you’ll live a life filled with no regrets and a lot fewer what ifs.

“In spite of everything life is not without hope.”

It’s easy to see that Monroe lived a life of some hardship, trials, and tribulations, but she never gave up hope that things would turn out alright. Here she’s saying that even with all of the things that happened to her, she still holds onto that feeling of hope, which surely lead to better days for her right up until the end. Several reports from those that knew Monroe well say that she was usually in good spirits, despite what was said about her in the aftermath of her death. It seems that Monroe may have led a troubled childhood and had a whirlwind of a life but always maintained her spirits with hope.