I am doomed to an eternity of compulsive work. No set goal achieved satisfies. Success only breeds a new goal. The golden apple devoured has seeds. It is endless.
Bette DavisRead
If everybody likes you, you're pretty dull.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Being liked by everyone often indicates a lack of distinctiveness or excitement in one's personality.
Bette Davis suggests that if you strive for universal approval, you might compromise your individuality and authenticity. True uniqueness and depth can sometimes lead to mixed opinions, but it’s preferable to be interesting and true to oneself than to be bland and agreeable to all.
Themes
IndividualityAuthenticityApprovalUniquenessPersonality
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about being true to oneself.
More from Bette Davis
All quotes →I have been uncompromising, peppery, intractable, monomaniacal, tactless, volatile, and oftentimes disagreeable... I suppose I'm larger than life.
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Acting should be bigger than life. Scripts should be bigger than life. It should all be bigger than life.
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Today everyone is a star - they're all billed as 'starring' or 'also starring'. In my day, we earned that recognition.
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Once the love bug wears off, as it inevitably does, you are shocked to discover that you really didn't know the object of your affections at all. We know this to be so, even as we repeat the same mistake over and over and over.
Bette DavisRead
You will never be happier than you expect. To change your happiness, change your expectation.
Bette DavisRead
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Our economic approach to food and its distribution reflects our basic moral values.
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This non-proletarianised plebs has been racialist when it has been colonialist; it has been nationalist - chauvinist - when it has been armed; and it has been fascist when it has become the police force.These ideological effects on the plebs have been uncontestable and profound.
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