Marilyn Monroe Quotes
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Source: Marilyn Monroe
Author: Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Well-behaved women rarely make history.
Context
This misquoted line is often attributed to Marilyn Monroe.
Marilyn Monroe was a blonde bombshell with plenty of quippy phrases: "Diamonds are a girl's best friend," "I don't want you to think I'm a drinker. I can stop if I want to, only I don't want to," "Happy birthday, Mr. President…" yet for some reason, people want her to say more.
That's the drawback to being a world-renowned celebrity sex symbol. People always want more. This quote is one that Marilyn Monroe didn't say, but it is a real quote. Historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich wrote a book with this title, but we guess she isn't glamorous enough. Maybe if Ms. Ulrich donned a pink dress and diamonds, people would have listened to her instead of needing Marilyn to be a makeshift mouthpiece.
Where you've heard it
You've seen this on the bumper sticker of the car in front of you… who just cut you off on their way to make history.
Pretentious Factor
If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.
While the quote itself isn't pretentious, attributing it to Marilyn is. Putting words into someone else's mouth to serve your own purposes is pretty pretentious.