Shirley Bassey Quotes

#1. In truth, it requires not only a large intellect, but a large heart, to judge with becoming charity of the peculiar temptations of riches.

Shirley Bassey

#2. When you live in a safe place like Monte Carlo, you can walk home at any time of the night and you don't have to worry. I don't feel at risk there. If I drive myself, I can leave the car doors unlocked.

Shirley Bassey

#3. No wedding bells for me anymore. I've been happily married to my profession for years.

Shirley Bassey

#4. I'm a virgin and I brought up all my children to be the same.

Shirley Bassey

#5. I think men are afraid to be with a successful woman, because we are terribly strong, we know what we want and we are not fragile enough.

Shirley Bassey

#6. I'm not getting old. I'm getting better.

Shirley Bassey

#7. When I started singing, I couldn't be shut up.

Shirley Bassey

#8. I hate it when people come up to me when I'm eating.

Shirley Bassey

#9. You don't get older, you get better.

Shirley Bassey

#10. It's hard for a man to live with a successful woman - they seem to resent you so much. Very few men are generous enough to accept success in their women.

Shirley Bassey

#11. Diamonds never leave you ... men do!

Shirley Bassey

#12. You want success, and then when you do get it, you don't want it because of the attention.

Shirley Bassey

#13. I've always been the breadwinner and men don't like that. They turn on you. They bite the hand that feeds them. Eventually, too, they become very jealous of the love one has with an audience.

Shirley Bassey

#14. I wanted to be a model; I wanted to be a nurse; I wanted to be so many things, almost anything but being part of show business.

Shirley Bassey

#15. I learned by standing in the wings and watching established acts on stage.

Shirley Bassey

#16. How oddly do life and death jostle each other in this strange world of ours! How nearly allied are smiles and tears!

Shirley Bassey

#17. I'm too busy putting my energies into my performance to be a diva.

Shirley Bassey

#18. I decided to retire from show business at the age of 17, because I didn't like it a bit.

Shirley Bassey

#19. I'd like to run away
From you,
But if you didn't come
And find me ...
I would die.

Shirley Bassey

#20. I was a wild kid. I was left to climb trees. And you know those railways logs, they piled them up, six feet apart, and I'd jump from one to the other. Without a safety net! I was an incredible tomboy.

Shirley Bassey

#21. I'm always being asked if I watch 'The X Factor,' and I do from time to time. I know it makes for great TV and that Simon Cowell has a real gift.

Shirley Bassey