The World According to Mae

Following are some of Mae West’s most memorable movie bon mots: “I’s not the men in my life that counts--it’s the life in my men.”

“A man in the house is worth two in the street”

“Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.”

“He who hesitates is last.”

“I used to be Snow White but I drifted.”

“I’ve been things and done places.”

“When I’m good, I’m very good, but when I’m bad, I’m better.”

“When a girl goes bad--men go right after her.”

“You’ve got to rock with the rock and roll with the roll.”

“It isn’t what I do, but how I do it. It isn’t what I say, but how I say it, and how I look when I do it and say it.”

Hat-check girl in “Night After Night” (1932), to Mae in her first scene in her first film: “Goodness, what lovely diamonds.” “Goodness had nothing to do with it, dearie.”