Shirley Temple Quotes

I have always told anyone who would listen that I was available for more public service.

— Shirley Temple

“There's nothing like real love. Nothing.”

— Shirley Temple

When you're a performer, you have to please a large audience. And when you're in politics, you have to please a large audience, too.

— Shirley Temple

“Time is money. Wasted time means wasted money means trouble.”

— Shirley Temple

“I was in Vienna in August 1968 for a meeting of the International Federation of Multiple Sclerosis Societies, of which I was co-founder, and we wanted a 20th country to join. They asked for a volunteer to go to Prague to get Czechoslovakia to do it, and my hand always goes up first.”

— Shirley Temple

“The U.N. acts as the world's conscience, and over eighty-five percent of the work that is done by the United Nations is in the social, economic, educational and cultural fields.”

— Shirley Temple

“When I was 14, I was the oldest I ever was. I've been getting younger ever since.”

— Shirley Temple

Long ago, I became more interested in the real world than in make-believe.

— Shirley Temple

“By the time I got to the Fox studio for my first major film, I knew how to hit a mark. I knew how to memorize lines. I knew how to pay attention.”

— Shirley Temple

“Dr. Kissinger was a former child. Jerry Ford was a former child. Even F.D.R. was a former child. I retired from the movies in 1949, and I'm still a former child.”

— Shirley Temple

There are many of us who should be in a position to bring peace to the world.

— Shirley Temple

“Good luck needs no explanation.”

— Shirley Temple

“I've led three lives: the acting part, wife and mother - which is a career - and international relations. I'm proud of my career, the first one, and I'm proud of the other two, too.”

— Shirley Temple

“I have one piece of advice for those of you who want to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award: Start early!”

— Shirley Temple

“At the end of the Depression, people were perhaps looking for something to cheer themselves up. They fell in love with a dog and a little girl. It won't happen again.”

— Shirley Temple

“Nothing crushes freedom as substantially as a tank.”

— Shirley Temple

I've always been bossy.

— Shirley Temple

“I'm not too proud of the movies I made as a grownup except for 'That Hagen Girl', which nobody remembers but which gave me a chance to act.”

— Shirley Temple

Most of the people in Ghana wouldn't know me as an actress. They'd know me for my work at the U.N.

— Shirley Temple

“We would have to invent the U.N. if we did not have it, which is not an original thought.”

— Shirley Temple

I guess I was an early method actress. I would go to a quiet part of the sound stage with my mother. I wouldn't think of anything sad, I would just make my mind a blank. In a minute I could cry.

— Shirley Temple

“I work a seventeen hour day, and I'm personally responsible for 108 staff members in the embassy.”

— Shirley Temple

“I ran for Congress, just once.”

— Shirley Temple

“Don't forget to tell your favorite people that you love them.”

— Shirley Temple

“Be brave and clear. Follow your heart and don't be overly influenced by outside factors. Be true to yourself.”

— Shirley Temple

“Intentions often melt in the face of unexpected opportunity.”

— Shirley Temple

“Movies mirror the times, they do not create them.”

— Shirley Temple

“You've got to S-M-I-L-E To be H-A-Double-P-Y”

— Shirley Temple

We salute her for a life of remarkable achievements as an actor, as a diplomat, and most importantly as our beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and adored wife for fifty-five years of the late and much missed Charles Alden Black.

— Shirley Temple

“[Campaign sign when running for Congress in 1967:] Vote for me or I will hold my breath until I turn blue.”

— Shirley Temple

“If you hear someone scream, you shouldn't close the drapes. You should help. You've got to try.”

— Shirley Temple

“Visiting old haunts is hard on memory. Things shrink, change, and disappear.”

— Shirley Temple

“Delay and indecision are first weapons in the armory of moviemakers.”

— Shirley Temple

“I've been so blessed. If someone asked me whom I would choose to be if I could come back in another life, I would have to say Shirley Temple Black. I cannot think of a more interesting life to ask for.”

— Shirley Temple

“Sunnybrook Farm is now a parking lot; the petticoats are in the garbage can, where they belong in the modern world; and I detest censorship.”

— Shirley Temple

“I had a very close family and I couldn't get away with anything.”

— Shirley Temple

“Some people liked Rudolph Valentino. I liked Rin Tin Tin.”

— Shirley Temple

One famous movie executive who shall remain nameless, exposed himself to me in his office. 'Mr X,' I said, 'I thought you were a producer not an exhibitor'.

— Shirley Temple

“Make-believe colors the past with innocent distortion, and it swirls ahead of us in a thousand ways - in science, in politics, in every bold intention.”

— Shirley Temple

“In the world of movie personalities the distance between popularity and politics is short.”

— Shirley Temple

“Our whole way of life today is dedicated to the removal of risk. Cradle to grave we are supported, insulated, and isolated from the risks of life - and if we fail, our government stands ready with Bandaids of every size.”

— Shirley Temple

“On the good ship Lollipop Its a sweet trip To the candy shop Where bon-bon's play, On the sunny beach Of peppermint bay Lemonade stands, Everywhere Crackerjack bands, Fill the air, And there you are, Happy landings on a chocolate bar. See the sugar bowl Do a tootsie roll In a big bad devils food cake, If you eat too much, Oh, oh, You'll awake, With a tummy ache.”

— Shirley Temple

“My mother made it seem perfectly normal for thousands of people to be cheering me, as if there was nothing special going on. I thought all children must live as I did.”

— Shirley Temple

“Animal crackers in my soup Monkeys and rabbits loop the loop Gosh oh gee but I have fun Swallowing animals one by one In every bowl of soup I see Lions and Tigers watching me I make 'em jump right through a hoop Those animal crackers in my soup When I get hold of the big bad wolf I just push him under to drown Then I bite him in a million bits And I gobble him right down When their inside me where it's dark I walk around like Noah's ark I stuff my tummy like a goop With animal crackers in my soup.”

— Shirley Temple

“I liked work shoes and big, working-class hands. The stars would come and go, but the crew on my movies was my extended family.”

— Shirley Temple

I'm quite optimistic. I'm also a realist. And I hope, you know, things work out. I don't think that the world will ever know peace. Complete peace in all countries. I think perhaps that's not in our makeup to do this although we can pray for it and work for it. But I think that the building blocks of peace are moving into shape, and I think that the world is going to be a better place.

— Shirley Temple

“I wanted to be in the FBI. I also wanted to be a pie salesman. It was so intense that the studio got the prop department to make a little pie wagon and they filled it with tarts. I wheeled it around the set and sold them to the crew. I was about eight years old. I always sold out and I didn't have to pay for them. It was a great deal.”

— Shirley Temple

“One has to handle these negative experiences alone.You can't get help from your friends or family.You're finally alone with it, and you have to come to grips with misfortune and go on.”

— Shirley Temple

I don't like to do negatives. There are always pluses to things.

— Shirley Temple

“Won't the new 'Suggested for Mature Audience' protect our youngsters from such films? I don't believe so. I know many forty-five-year old men with the mentalities of six-year-olds, and my feeling is that they should not see such pictures, either.”

— Shirley Temple