"The most intriguing woman I've ever known."
John Wayne


"If she had nothing more than her voice she could break your heart with it. But she has that beautiful body and the timeless loveliness of her face. It makes no difference how she breaks your heart if she is there to mend it."
Ernest Hemingway


"She remains what she has been for many years – an absolutely strange delight, whose gift lies outside her achievement as an actress, is not tied to a specific time
and does not depend on the taste of the moment, not
even on common sense."
Cecil Beaton


"Whoever knows her and has been able to experience her has experienced perfection itself."
 Jean Cocteau


"She has the bearing of a man; the characters she plays love power and wear trousers. Marlene's masculinity appeals to women and her sexuality to men."
Kenneth Tynan


"Miss Dietrich is the first female star for years with whom Paris society has fallen in love. Apparently she is also the first woman in man's clothing since Christina of Sweden about three hundred years ago on whom the government has again cast a watchful eye."
Janet Flanner


"Marlene – with the unambiguous allure of the woman of yesterday and the ambiguous charm of the woman of today who has man not only about her but also within her."
Hanna Schygulla


"Le nom de Marlene Dietrich, plus que tout autre, se confondait avec l' essence du cinema. Un certain nombre d' actrices deviennent des stars, peu d' entre elles deviennent des mythes."
 Jaçques Chirac


"... this woman was not created by contemplation to be what everyone wants her to be, one for many. She emerges, is displayed, her wings rise, and, behold, she returns the look!"
Elfriede Jelinek

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