Young girls are told you have to be the delicate princess. Hermione taught them that you can be the warrior.

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Mellowing has never done much for me. You need to keep moving. - 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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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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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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Arrogance - I have very little tolerance for that. - Rita Moreno

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No one's going to tell me how to make my own choices. For too many years, everybody told me what to say and what to do and how to be. - 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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I don't want to miss out on my grandchildren and my daughter, and doing Broadway would do just that. - Rita Moreno

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I live in the moment. The moment is the most important thing. That's my entire philosophy: Make the best of the good moments. - Rita Moreno

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