"She's prettier than me!"

If you read quotes attributed to classic actresses lauded as great beauties, you will often come across a strange pattern. They deny their own beauty and lavishly praise someone else. Even in a couple cases, people wish they looked like each other. See the following quotes and anecdotes.

In her autobiography, Ava Gardner called Katharine Hepburn, Lena Horne, and Greta Garbo "perfect beauties". In Lee Server's book, "Love is Nothing" she is recorded having looked at pictures of herself and saying she had hoped she looked as nice as people were saying, but, sadly, she was nothing special after all.

Elizabeth Taylor: "I don't think I am a beautiful woman. Ava Gardner is. I think Audrey Hepburn is. But the way I look is all right with me."

Audrey Hepburn said that when she was younger, she wanted to look like a cross between Elizabeth Taylor and Ingrid Bergman. She also denied being glamourous, giving Gardner as an example of a glamourous woman. And how ugly Hepburn though herself to be sometimes is well documented.

Even Marilyn Monroe said she was "pretty, but...not beautiful." And Ava Gardner and Vivien Leigh ran into each other once in England and spent about five minutes telling the other how much prettier she was than themself. The list could go on and on, including how Natalie Wood thought her face was fat and Marlene Dietrich wished she could be as mysterious as Greta Garbo.

Moral: If you think you are beautiful, for goodness's sake, keep your mouth shut! The most beautiful women in the world probably would have been barely attractive if they had known it themselves.

There are, however, a few notable exceptions. Lana Turner was far from insecure, and Gene Tierney didn't exactly think herself ugly. But, as in Gene Tierney's case, if vanity keeps you from jumping out of a window and killing yourself, please disregard previous advice.