The wisdom acquired with the passage of time is a useless gift unless you share it.

Somehow I kept my head above water. I relied on the discipline, character, and strength that I had started to develop as that little girl in her first swimming pool.

Critics established a snobbery toward me.

I think it's so funny when people think they can't control a movie star. They can. We're just women, you know.

I remember when I first walked into Mayer's cavernous office. You had to walk 50 yards to get to him, and in that time he could really study everything about you.

I never walked the streets of New York hoping to be a musical comedy star. For one thing, they would have thought I was too tall, because l was five feet eight and a half, and they were all little bitty things running around in the studio at that time.

I ended up buying a restaurant. Already we had invested in a gas station and a metal products plant.

I always took it for granted that there would be life after Hollywood.

When you're out of sight for as long as I was, there's a funny feeling of betrayal that comes over people when they see you again.

I was 15, and the years of hard swimming had packed muscle on my frame and made me very strong. Not as strong as a football player, but strong enough to inflict heavy damage.

With two little boys in diapers, I had to keep it simple if I were going to have a life at all.

Widowhood had done nothing to curb my smart mouth. So much for diplomacy.

Which Esther Williams do you want to hear about?

Even though I had a lucrative contract with MGM, I had a husband who was drinking and gambling our money away faster than I could make it.

By the time I got home at night, my eyes were so chlorinated I saw rings around every light.