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Nora Ephron Quotes

Powerful Nora Ephron for Daily Growth

When you're young, you think that clothes are almost magical, and that if you wear the right thing - to school, to the prom, on the date, etc. - something's going to happen. Black, it's the anti-magical thing. It comes from the recognition that it is not going to be 'the' dress.

- Nora Ephron

Dress, Young, Date, Prom

In California, of course, they never break up couples at dinner for fear of what might happen if someone's husband were seated next to someone else's very young girlfriend. But dinners with couples seated next to one another are always deadly dull, which is why there are almost no good dinner parties in the entire state of California.

- Nora Ephron

Young, Next, Very, Deadly

I use those medical gloves that fit very tightly and are disposable for all chopping - peppers, onions, garlic, etc. Very Lady Macbeth, I think.

- Nora Ephron

Think, Garlic, Very, Onions

The one thing my mother did make was what was known at the time as lox and onions and eggs. Now, no one makes it with lox; they make it with nova. That was my mother's specialty, which she cooked on New Year's Day for the Rose Bowl games, which we had a party for every year. It took her about an hour to make scrambled eggs.

- Nora Ephron

Year, About, Specialty, Onions

'Sleepless' was a script that had been written by three or four other writers before me, and it never really worked, but it had this amazing ending on the top of the Empire State Building that just worked, no matter what came before it.

- Nora Ephron

Other, Been, Before, Empire State

What will happen to sex after liberation? Frankly, I don't know. It is a great mystery to all of us.

- Nora Ephron

Sex, Will, Happen, Liberation

When you slip on a banana peel, people laugh at you; but when you tell people you slipped on a banana peel, it's your laugh. So you become the hero rather than the victim of the joke.

- Nora Ephron

Banana, Tell, Rather, Joke

If pregnancy were a book they would cut the last two chapters.

- Nora Ephron

Last, Cut, Would, Pregnancy

My mother was a good recreational cook, but what she basically believed about cooking was that if you worked hard and prospered, someone else would do it for you.

- Nora Ephron

Good, Cook, About, Recreational

I don't have writer's block, really. I do have times when I can't get the lead, and that is the only part of the story which I have serious trouble with. I don't write a word of the article until I have the lead. It just sets the whole tone - the whole point of view.

- Nora Ephron

Point Of View, Tone, Part, Block

I survived turning 60, I was not thrilled to turn 61, I was less thrilled to turn 62, I didn't much like being 63, I loathed being 64, and I will hate being 65. I don't let on about such things in person; in person, I am cheerful and Pollyanna-ish. But the honest truth is that it's sad to be over 60.

- Nora Ephron

Sad, Turn, About, Cheerful

Oh, how I regret not having worn a bikini for the entire year I was 26. If anyone young is reading this, go, right this minute, put on a bikini, and don't take it off until you're 34.

- Nora Ephron

Regret, Young, Year, Bikini

I think that readers believe that a writer becomes friends with the people he interviews and writes about - and I think there are some writers who do that - but that hasn't happened to me. I do think it's dangerous because then you write the article to please them, which is a terrible error.

- Nora Ephron

Some, I Think, About, Writes

One of the best things about directing movies, as opposed to merely writing them, is that there's no confusion about who's to blame: you are.

- Nora Ephron

Best, About, Opposed, Confusion

Directing movies is the best job there is, that's all. I can hardly say a word after that. It's just a great job.

- Nora Ephron

Great, Best, Say, Hardly

All I do when I write scripts is think about food: 'Have I worked long enough to justify a walk to the kitchen?'

- Nora Ephron

Think, I Write, About, Scripts

I am continually fascinated at the difficulty intelligent people have in distinguishing what is controversial from what is merely offensive.

- Nora Ephron

Offensive, Distinguishing, Controversial

Whenever I get married, I start buying Gourmet magazine.

- Nora Ephron

Get, Whenever, Gourmet, Get Married

The desire to get married, which - I regret to say, I believe is basic and primal in women - is followed almost immediately by an equally basic and primal urge - which is to be single again.

- Nora Ephron

Alone, Desire, Which, Get Married

I have now been married to my third husband for more than 20 years. But when you've had children with someone you're divorced from, divorce defines everything; it's the lurking fact, a slice of anger in the pie of your brain.

- Nora Ephron

Husband, Fact, Been, Divorced

You do get to a certain point in life where you have to realistically, I think, understand that the days are getting shorter, and you can't put things off thinking you'll get to them someday. If you really want to do them, you better do them. There are simply too many people getting sick, and sooner or later you will.

- Nora Ephron

Thinking, Sick, I Think, Too Many People

I just bring a black turtleneck sweater everywhere - it's the greatest purchase of my life. Period.

- Nora Ephron

My Life, Bring, Period, Sweater

I think when you get older, things come along that you know are a test in some way of your ability to stay with it. And when e-mail came along, I was just going to fall in love with it. And I did. I can't believe it now - it's like one of those ex-husbands that you think, 'What was I thinking?'

- Nora Ephron

Love, Some, I Think, E-Mail

E-mail is a whole new way of being friends with people: intimate but not, chatty but not, communicative but not; in short, friends but not. What a breakthrough. How did we ever live without it? I have more to say on this subject, but I have to answer an instant message from someone I almost know.

- Nora Ephron

Breakthrough, Almost, Whole, E-Mail

Your hair doesn't need to be washed every day any more than your black pants have to be dry-cleaned every time you wear them.

- Nora Ephron

Need, Pants, Washed, Every Time

At the age of 55, you will get a saggy roll just above your waist, even if you are painfully thin.

- Nora Ephron

Will, Roll, Your, Painfully

Here are some questions I am constantly fretting over: Do you splurge, or do you hoard? Do you live every day as if it's your last, or do you save your money on the chance you'll live 20 more years? Is life too short, or is it going to be too long?

- Nora Ephron

Here, Some, Hoard, Fretting

We're saved somewhat by Google. You can - when you're all sitting around the table desperately snapping your fingers in the hopes of remembering the name of that movie that you can't remember the name of - you can make people think that you are not as old as you actually are because you have the technology to find the answer.

- Nora Ephron

Saved, Movie, Your, Table

I don't think there was ever a dish that changed my life. I certainly remember a constant series of things that I had for the first time and thought, 'Where has this been all my life?' One was brie. I mean, oh my God! One was my first soft-shell crabs.

- Nora Ephron

My Life, Been, Constant, Changed

Every 10 years or so, there was a moment when I'd say, even subconsciously, 'Is that all there is?' You've got to find ways to keep it fresh for yourself.

- Nora Ephron

Say, Got, Subconsciously, Fresh

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