They made me use an accent, which I wasn't thrilled about because a lot of us, obviously, don't have them. - Rita Moreno

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When you engage your brain, it just keeps getting fatter and richer and wonderful. - Rita Moreno

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I call myself the hardware shelf. There's a lot of awards and honors there. And I have earned that. I didn't ask for it, I didn't beg for it, I didn't pay for it. I earned that. People see the accomplishments - but it's good to remind people that so much strife and labor and tears and heartbreak came before that, that it really is earned. - Rita Moreno

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I write with my left hand even though I'm right-handed, I walk backwards in a very safe place - anything that engages your brain. - Rita Moreno

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Lupe Velez was way before me; Dolores Del Rio was way before me, so I had no one. So the only one I could think of that I identified with was this gorgeous creature named Elizabeth Taylor, so she became my role model. - Rita Moreno

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My video has a lot to do with the inside of a woman. Usually, exercise videos refer to exteriors only. They never talk to a woman where she lives - in her heart and soul. I do that at the beginning and end of mine. - Rita Moreno

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But, truly, I have wept too much! The Dawns are heartbreaking. Every moon is atrocious and every sun bitter.

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When I was a little girl, there was no Variety Latino. When I was a little girl, there was no nothing. There were very few roles for people like myself. - Rita Moreno

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I'm not afraid of color. I like color. - Rita Moreno

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Any character who had dark skin, I got all those parts. I could play a Polynesian, East Indian princess, whatever. - Rita Moreno

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