Katharine Hepburn – The Simple Life

Katharine Hepburn

“You keep asking questions and posing situations, and I keep thinking of my father: A man whose sink had on it one big bar of durable, good soap. And that bar of soap was used for cleaning, shaving, and brushing his teeth. It worked fine; it was fast; it was economical. He could then get on with his day. I think we clutter our minds and our lives in a way people would have liked for my father to clutter his toilet. There is too much clutter and too much thinking and too much devising. I think you need to be true to your work and your friends–these should be small circles. People who have too many friends tend to have too few ideas, I find, and they cover up their disappointment with parties and chatter and movement. Focus on working well and being there for you, your work, and your friends. One bar of soap. Taught me a lot.”–Katharine Hepburn Interview with James Grissom 1990

(Tom: I think her father lived an overly complicated life. He shaved.)

A Christmas Wish

Elizabeth Taylor

James Grissom: What is your wish?

Elizabeth Taylor: “For the most part, we live the life we craft with our thoughts and deserve with our actions. There is so much we cannot control, but I believe that we control most of what occurs in the orbit we have to always call ‘our life.’ We need to fill it with kindness and generosity; we need to observe it with curious eyes and constant questions; we need to give it away daily so that we are forced to re-build it all over again, growing stronger and more appreciative of what we have and what we have given to others. My wish is that we all craft a life that others enjoy visiting and enjoy having tour and bump into their lives. That’s my wish. That we all take the extraordinary God-given talents we all have and we use them for good.” (1991)