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Jane Birkin Quotes

Powerful Jane Birkin for Daily Growth

I'd rather live on my own than live with a face that looks at me with the wrong eyes.

- Jane Birkin

Face, Looks, Rather, My Own

I put some red stuff on my mouth and cheeks so I look healthy - any old red lip pencil and a lip colour from Dr. Hauschka in a crushed berry tone. I never put anything on my eyes, or I look like Joan Crawford.

- Jane Birkin

Some, Tone, Joan, Berry

Robert Louis Stevenson... I'm focusing on the late short stories that I was ignorant of. I always thought he was a boys' author, but he's not at all.

- Jane Birkin

Thought, Always, Stories, Robert

I colour my hair mousy brown and I wear makeup only on stage. I use Laura Mercier - something called Biscuit, I think. I run one tiny sponge over my face and cover the red blotches. If I've got some rouge, I'll bung it on my mouth and cheeks.

- Jane Birkin

Makeup, Some, Sponge, Brown

There's no fun in a bag if it's not kicked around so that it looks as if the cat's been sitting on it - and it usually has. The cat may even be in it! I always put on stickers and beads and worry beads. You can get them from Greece, Israel, Palestine - from anywhere in the world.

- Jane Birkin

Bag, Been, Anywhere, Kicked

I have never written a book about my life, despite being offered purses of gold. I made 'Boxes' because I wanted to make a sincere depiction of a daughter who has lost her father, or the jealousy one can feel towards a daughter who has become more beautiful than you and whose stepfather starts to take her shopping.

- Jane Birkin

Father, Book, My Life, Stepfather

I love Dickens because it makes me chuckle to myself so. He has taken me to another world and out of so many earthly miseries.

- Jane Birkin

Love, Myself, Miseries, Earthly

I feel most comfortable in an old pair of jeans, Converse, and a man's jersey. My best friend cuts my hair with kitchen scissors.

- Jane Birkin

Best, Old, Feel, Jersey

My mother was right: When you've got nothing left, all you can do is get into silk underwear and start reading Proust.

- Jane Birkin

Start, Nothing, Silk, Underwear

If I were mayor, I'd invite everyone to have free boat trips on the river and free balloon rides over the city. I'd let the elderly in residential homes wander free.

- Jane Birkin

Balloon, Mayor, Over, Wander

I know what it's like to have someone coming home who looks at you not in the way they used to in the old days, and I've seen my own face contorted with sadness and rage in the mirror.

- Jane Birkin

Mirror, Sadness, Own, Coming Home

When I arrived in France aged 20, I marched against the death penalty, which was an unpopular thing to protest against at the time.

- Jane Birkin

Death, Death Penalty, Which, Unpopular

I think I did a lot of humorous films when I was young, and they were No. 1 films.

- Jane Birkin

Think, Lot, Films, Humorous

I don't know why people keep banging on about the '60s. I came from a conventional family and I didn't go off with different people - I rather wish I had now, seeing all the fun everyone else was having.

- Jane Birkin

Why, Rather, About, Banging

Jacques Doillon wanted me to be in his film, 'La Fille Prodigue,' and there I was, expecting, for some reason, this great bearded man, when a splendid looking red-Indian style man appeared at my door. I said no to his film because I knew that if I said yes, I would run off with him.

- Jane Birkin

Door, Reason, Some, La

I don't much enjoy travelling, but I have always longed to take a slow train to Russia. I'd like to go alone - like writers do - with only a pencil and piece of paper as company. I'd take my sketchbook and note down all the wonderful details of other travellers.

- Jane Birkin

Enjoy, Other, Note, Travellers

A Birkin bag is a very good rain hat; just put everything else in a plastic bag.

- Jane Birkin

Rain, Bag, Very, Everything Else

I have to be careful not to get a paunch - I'm so skinny that if I put any weight anywhere, it'd be there, and I don't like a bulge. I wouldn't mind if it went on my bosom, but it doesn't.

- Jane Birkin

Mind, Be Careful, Like, Bosom

My father was a painter, so I was encouraged to take a sketchbook everywhere. Cameras are perishable, but I still have tonnes of sketchbooks from all the trips I've ever been on. It gets you by when you don't know what to give people as a gift; drawings are good souvenirs.

- Jane Birkin

Father, Gift, Been, Trips

People always like things that seem exotic.

- Jane Birkin

Always, Like, Things, Exotic

It's usually a jolly good trick to pick up a local tour guide. They can tell you all the anecdotes that make a place interesting. I'm one for rushing off to museums at the crack of dawn, eating fabulous things on terraces for lunch, and enjoying long dinners on balmy evenings.

- Jane Birkin

Lunch, Tell, Trick, Jolly

When my father died, my mother came back from being Mrs. Birkin to being Judy Campbell. She was a stunning actress. She came out of her shell. She was herself again: this very independent, funny, intellectual lady - and was able to perform again, which was her life before meeting my father squashed it out.

- Jane Birkin

Independent, Before, Very, Campbell

I think it's always good to read local authors or relevant books. In Egypt, I studied hieroglyphics and read everything about the mummies.

- Jane Birkin

Think, Always, I Think, Authors

At school, I used to hear, 'You're a half-caste.' They'd laugh at my figure and say, 'Are you a boy or a girl?'

- Jane Birkin

Say, Used, Figure, Laugh

I love the French very much, and I think they know that. I've been adopted here. They treat me as one of their own.

- Jane Birkin

Love, Here, Very, French

I think there is an extreme charm in the French, and actually it's their bolshiness that makes them such fun.

- Jane Birkin

Think, I Think, Makes, French

My distinguishing feature is the gap between my teeth. I had to wear a brace because my teeth used to stick out like guns from a fortress.

- Jane Birkin

Guns, Like, Distinguishing, Fortress

My first husband, John Barry, was a composer. I couldn't believe that this sophisticated, talented genius chose me and not any of the other girls. I was so flattered, so excited, so in love with him. Of course, my parents were horrified, as he'd been married once and had a daughter with the au pair girl.

- Jane Birkin

Love, Other, Sophisticated, Horrified

Without my specs on, I think I look really great; then I put them on, and I scream. But at 62, I still think less is better. I use Clarins foundation, but I don't put it everywhere - I hate that covered look - so just on the sides of my nose where the veins have gone bang.

- Jane Birkin

Scream, I Think, Use, Bang

Big Ben... hearing the chimes makes me feel at home.

- Jane Birkin

Me, Big, Makes, Hearing

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