Our Favorite Lily Tomlin Quotes

Lily Tomlin is a comedy institution. From "Laugh-In" to 9 to 5 to All of Me, to her one woman show The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (written by her partner Jane Wagner), Tomlin has been making us laugh and think for a very long time...over 50 years, in fact.

Although she never really went away, she's experiencing something of a career resurgence these days with her Netflix series "Gracie and Frankie" and a new movie, Grandma, directed by Paul Weitz. Grandma promises to be the next in a long line of interesting film work that isn't always simply comedic, which includes The Incredible Shrinking Woman, The Late Show, and Robert Altman's Nashville. Here are 13 insightful, funny quotes from Lily Tomlin.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. homely
    lacking in physical beauty or proportion
    I grew up in a time when women didn't really do comedy. You had to be homely, overweight, an old maid, all that. You had to play a stereotype, because very attractive women were not supposed to be funny - because it's powerful; it's a threat.
  2. cynical
    believing the worst of human nature and motives
    No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up.
  3. schizophrenic
    of a psychotic disorder marked by distortions of reality
    Why is it that when we talk to God we're said to be praying but when God talks to us we're schizophrenic?
  4. hunch
    an impression that something might be the case
    Reality is nothing but a collective hunch.
  5. figment
    a contrived or fantastic idea
    Sometimes I feel like a figment of my own imagination.
  6. daunting
    discouraging through fear
    I mean yes to act out something or take chances in the performance is one thing. But in terms of a camera, whatever's captured is captured so that's a little more daunting.
  7. serendipity
    good luck in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries
    You know being relevant or coming up with something interesting, funny to say about what's current is just as hard as it might ever be depending on the serendipity of it all.
  8. empathetic
    showing ready comprehension of others' states
    I think my politics are just inclined to be empathetic and humanistic. I grew up with so many different kinds of people with different politics, different religion, no religion, no politics, education, no education, and I was infatuated with all of them
  9. infatuated
    marked by foolish or unreasoning fondness
    I think my politics are just inclined to be empathetic and humanistic. I grew up with so many different kinds of people with different politics, different religion, no religion, no politics, education, no education, and I was infatuated with all of them.
  10. Teflon
    a material used to coat cooking utensils and in industrial applications where sticking is to be avoided
    Does your mind feel more and more like Teflon? Nothing sticks to it?
  11. integrity
    moral soundness
    Truth is, I've always been selling out. The difference is that in the past, I looked like I had integrity because there were no buyers.
  12. farcical
    broadly or extravagantly humorous
    Nobody is here without a reason. … I always had a different sensibility. I like a huge range of comedy — from broad and farcical, the most sensitive, the most understated — but I always
    wanted my comedy to be more embracing of the species rather than debasing of it.
  13. debasing
    used of conduct; characterized by dishonor
    Nobody is here without a reason. … I always had a different sensibility. I like a huge range of comedy — from broad and farcical, the most sensitive, the most understated — but I always
    wanted my comedy to be more embracing of the species rather than debasing of it.
Created on Mon Aug 24 11:40:04 EDT 2015 (updated Mon Aug 24 14:26:38 EDT 2015)

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