Sophia Loren

Good food is a celebration of life.

The first woman was created from the rib of a man. She was not made from his head to top him, nor from his feet to be trampled on by him, but out of his side to be equal to him.

If you haven't cried, your eyes can't be beautiful.

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

The most indespensible ingredient of all good home cooking: love for those you are cooking for.

Cooking is an act of love, a gift, a way of sharing with others the little secrets -- 'piccoli segreti' -- that are simmering on the burners.

The right hairstyle can make a plain woman beautiful and a beautiful woman unforgettable.

I know how to say 'no' in twelve languages. That's enough for a woman.

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

Sex appeal is 50% what you've got and 50% what people think you've got.

I was blessed with a sense of my own destiny. I have never sold myself short. I have never judged myself by other people's standards. I have always expected a great deal of myself, and if I fail, I fail myself. So failure or reversal does not bring out resentment in me because I cannot blame others for any misfortune that befalls me.

Style must be adapted to the woman and not vice versa. The same can be said of clothes.

Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself.

A mother has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.

And as I walk round the park I always think, 'Maybe round the corner I am going to find something beautiful.' I always think positively. It is very rare that you find me in a mood that is sad or melancholic.

No press conference announcing a last film. I'd just steal away. Best way because, if by chance after two or three years something interesting comes up, I would not - like Sinatra - have to say: 'Well, I've thought it over and decided to come back.'

Sex is like washing your face - just something you do because you have to. Sex without love is absolutely ridiculous. Sex follows love, it never precedes it.

There's no pleasure in working if you don't do the things you want to do.

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

Is my mother my friend? I would have to say, first of all she is my Mother, with a capital 'M'; she's something sacred to me. I love her dearly...yes, she is also a good friend, someone I can talk openly with if I want to.

Where youthful beauty is unconscious, mature beauty is knowing and sophisticated.