# Sophia Loren

Sophia Loren (born 20 September 1934) is an Italian actress.

## Quotes

* I've never tried to block out the memories of the past, even though some are painful. I don't understand people who hide from their past. Everything you live through helps to make you the person you are now.
** As quoted in Valentines & Vitriol (1977) by Rex Reed
* I was born wise. Street-wise, people-wise, self-wise. This wisdom was my birthright. I was also born old. And illegitimate. But the two big advantages I had at birth were to have been born wise and to have been born in poverty.
** Quoted by A. E. Hotchner in Sophia, Living and Loving: Her Own Story (1979), p. 9
* I was not intrigued with the accouterments of success and fame, the furs, jewels, expensive automobiles and mansions... I can assure you that these things were not on my mind when I sat spellbound in that Pozzuoli movie house. It was what these performers on the screen were doing, not what they received for doing it.
** As quoted in Sophia, Living and Loving: Her Own Story (1979) by A. E. Hotchner, p. 63.
* I was blessed with a sense of my own destiny. I have never sold myself short. I have never judged myself by other people’s standards. I have always expected a great deal of myself, and if I fail, I fail myself. So failure or reversal does not bring out resentment in me because I cannot blame others for any misfortune that befalls me.
** As quoted in Sophia, Living and Loving: Her Own Story (1979) by A. E. Hotchner, p. 76.
* My philosophy is that it's better to explore life and make mistakes than to play it safe and not to explore at all.
** As quoted in Sophia, Living and Loving: Her Own Story (1979) by A. E. Hotchner, p. 239.
* A woman's dress should be like a barbed-wire fence: serving its purpose without obstructing the view.
** Quoted on Good Morning, America ABC TV (10 August 1979).
* Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.
** As quoted in Morrow's International Dictionary of Contemporary Quotations (1982) by Jonathon Green, p. 340.
* Sex appeal is fifty percent what you've got and fifty percent what people think you've got.
** As quoted in Halliwell’s Filmgoer’s Companion (1984) Leslie Halliwell
* Nothing makes a woman more beautiful than the belief that she is beautiful.
** As quoted in The Subtlety of Emotions (2001) by Aaron Ben-Ze'ev, p. 204.
* There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of the people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will have truly defeated age.
** As quoted in Hope Notes : 52 Meditations to Nudge Your World (2004) by Wayne Willis, p. 11.
* Being beautiful can never hurt, but you have to have more. You have to sparkle, you have to be fun, you have to make your brain work if you have one. Being a Hollywood beauty was a mixed blessing. Men are men, with all that testosterone, and when a pretty girl comes in front of them what can you expect? The fact that I became one is probably the loveliest, most glamorous and fortunate misunderstanding.
** As quoted in Bombshell (2004) by Lynda Curnyn, p. 196.
* After all these years, I am still involved in the process of self-discovery. It's better to explore life and make mistakes than to play it safe. Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life.
** Quoted in Words of Wisdom and Quotables Quotes (2007) by Dr. A.N.P. Ummerkutty.
* My mother’s feelings were all closed off inside herself…I was allowed to be a part of it, never in a good way, never like mother and daughter.
** On channeling her mother Romilda for her role in the film “The Life Ahead” in “Sophia Loren: 'The body changes. The mind does not'” in The Guardian (2020 Nov 6)
* I wanted to be able to walk into the kind of places my father walked into. I wanted to understand what it was like to live like he did. I wanted reasons. I wanted answers…But I got nowhere.
** On wanting the financial security that her biological father deprived her and her family in “Sophia Loren: 'The body changes. The mind does not'” in The Guardian (2020 Nov 6)
* Not at first. She was against new things. She thought I would never be successful, and that was wrong, she was wrong. Later she started to believe that I could maybe be somebody. But it was always a big maybe. To her, the life that I wanted, it was all a dream. And she didn’t believe in dreams.
** On whether her mother, who had entertainment aspirations of her own, was pleased with Loren’s ascent in “Sophia Loren: 'The body changes. The mind does not'” in The Guardian (2020 Nov 6)
* Naples is so strong, so vital. It’s about music and dance. Books and books of history. Read all the books first and then we can talk.
** On her view of the city of Naples in “Sophia Loren: 'The body changes. The mind does not'” in The Guardian (2020 Nov 6)
* Yes, well, maybe sometimes. But then I say to myself: ‘Shut up. Be strong. Just keep going and try. Sometimes you make mistakes and sometimes you win.’ I made some mistakes,”…But still I won.
** On if she ever felt any self-doubt in “Sophia Loren: 'The body changes. The mind does not'” in The Guardian (2020 Nov 6)

## Quotes about Sophia Loren

* Sophia Loren, my favorite actress
** Liana Badr Interview with Words Without Borders (2016) translated from the Arabic by Suja Sawafta

## External links

* Official website
* Sophia Loren on IMDb
* Tribute site
* Divas - Sophia Loren
* All Movie Guide biography of Loren