Kitty Kelley Quotes

• Once I decide to do something, I can't have people telling me I can't. If there's a roadblock, you jump over it, walk around it, crawl under it.

  Kitty Kelley

  Perseverance, People, Walks

  45 Copy quote

• I only choose to write about people who are alive, are extremely powerful and as such have influenced our lives. I try to go behind their constructed myths to find the humanity of the person. It takes me about four years on every book and requires hundreds of interviews so I choose people whose lives I respect and achievements are worth recording.

  Kitty Kelley

  Powerful, Book, Writing

  "Kitty Kelley discusses Oprah bio". Online Chat, www.washingtonpost.com. April 28, 2010.

  12 Copy quote

• I'm not surprised, but I am disappointed that Katharine Carr Esters claims that she was 'tricked' into divulging her true feelings about Oprah and that she now denies that she revealed to me the identity of Oprah's biological father.

  Kitty Kelley

  Father, Feelings, Identity

  "Oprah’s Aunt Katharine’s Denials May Be Pressure From Oprah" by Kitty Kelley, www.huffingtonpost.com. June 20, 2010.

  4 Copy quote

• People forget that unauthorized does not mean untrue and authorized does not mean authentic.

  Kitty Kelley

  Mean, People, Doe

  "Unauthorized, But Not Untrue" by Kitty Kelley, www.huffingtonpost.com. December 6, 2010.

  4 Copy quote

• Kennedy was haunted by the Bay of Pigs invasion but carried the country through the Cuban Missile Crisis. He later increased the number of U.S. military advisers to South Vietnam to more than 16,000.

  Kitty Kelley

  Country, Military, Numbers

  "Obama and the Legacy of Camelot" by Kitty Kelley, www.huffingtonpost.com. January 23, 2013.

  58 Copy quote

• Presidents often disappoint, but first ladies rarely do.

  Kitty Kelley

  President, Firsts, Disappoint

  "Goosey Lucy and Gay Marriage" by Kitty Kelley, www.huffingtonpost.com. March 1, 2013.

  4 Copy quote

• I am what is known as a benched Catholic and disillusioned by the church doctrine. I believe in things the Catholic Church does not believe in: divorce being one, and a women's right to choose being another.

  Kitty Kelley

  Believe, Divorce, Catholic

  7 Copy quote

• I don't give you editorial control. I want to meet you. I want to interview everybody who's ever known you. I want to see your correspondence. I want to see your bank statements. But you will have no control over what I write. That's why I really believe in the unauthorized biography.

  Kitty Kelley

  Believe, Writing, Giving

  6 Copy quote

• I admired Eugene McCarthy’s courage and although I left his Senate staff after four years to accept a job as the researcher on the editorial page of the Washington Post, I remained an admirer.

  Kitty Kelley

  Jobs, Years, Four

  "Smudging a Senator’s Legacy" by Kitty Kelley, www.huffingtonpost.com. August 9, 2010.

  4 Copy quote

• I was raised Irish Catholic and went to Holy Names Academy, an all-girl's private Catholic school. I loved the nuns there and I love them to this day.

  Kitty Kelley

  Girl, School, Names

  4 Copy quote

• Most historians agree that Abraham Lincoln was the most important man to ever occupy the White House because he abolished slavery and kept the states united through a bloody civil war.

  Kitty Kelley

  War, Men, White

  "Capturing Camelot" by Kitty Kelley, www.huffingtonpost.com. November 27, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

• The rumors of Frank Sinatras violence and his ties to organized crime were such that journalists joked in print about me ending up in concrete boots and sleeping with the fishes if I proceeded to write his biography.

  Kitty Kelley

  Writing, Sleep, Ties

  4 Copy quote

• Gay marriage has jumped out of the closet on to the front page. Everyone from the president of the U.S. to retired four-star general Colin Powell is embracing the issue, now supported by most Americans. Still, a few people, like former First Lady Laura Bush appear to be conflicted.

  Kitty Kelley

  Stars, Gay, Issues

  "Goosey Lucy and Gay Marriage" by Kitty Kelley, www.huffingtonpost.com. March 1, 2013.

  7 Copy quote

• Barack Obama and Michelle Obama don't go to Georgetown. The Clintons did, indeed. And the Clintons go out and about in Washington now. They go to neighborhood restaurants.

  Kitty Kelley

  Clinton, Restaurants, Neighborhood

  "Kelley pulls curtain back on Camelot" by Patrick Gavin, www.politico.com. December 17, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

• While many applauded Oprah for opening her heart to young girls in South Africa, some criticized her for not investing in the youth of America.

  Kitty Kelley

  Girl, Heart, America

  "No Oprah in the Billionaire Club" by Kitty Kelley, www.huffingtonpost.com. August 6, 2010.

  4 Copy quote

• There's still time for redemption if I live long enough, don't you think?

  Kitty Kelley

  Thinking, Long, Redemption

  "Kelley softens tone in new books" by Patrick Gavin, www.politico.com. February 07, 2013.

  4 Copy quote

• A hero is someone we can admire without apology.

  Kitty Kelley

  Sports, Sorry, Hero

  12 Copy quote

• My biography of Frank Sinatra is not paean to his music but rather an illumination of the man behind the music, who once described himself as 'an 18-karat manic-depressive who lived a life of violent emotional contradictions with an over-acute capacity for sadness as well as happiness.

  Kitty Kelley

  Happiness, Sadness, Men

  4 Copy quote

• I have believed in the biographies I have written. I truly can tell you that they have influenced our society politically, culturally, socially.

  Kitty Kelley

  Biographies, Our Society, Written

  "Kelley softens tone in new books" by Patrick Gavin, www.politico.com. February 07, 2013.

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• I tend to place my own value in spirituality rather than religiosity.

  Kitty Kelley

  Spirituality, My Own, Values

  4 Copy quote

• I would love to do an unauthorized biography about Congress. It's like a secret society up there.

  Kitty Kelley

  Secret, Biographies, Congress

  "Kelley pulls curtain back on Camelot" by Patrick Gavin, www.politico.com. December 17, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

• JFK used to say the bishops and the cardinals were all Republicans, but the nuns were Democrats! I sort of believe that too.

  Kitty Kelley

  Believe, Bishops, Republican

  19 Copy quote

• Studies have been done showing that there really are gender differences, that women do bring more congeniality and compromise to the table.

  Kitty Kelley

  Differences, Done, Tables

  "Kelley softens tone in new books" by Patrick Gavin, www.politico.com. February 07, 2013.

  6 Copy quote

• The difference between authorized and unauthorized biographies is the difference between riding in carriage or squatting in steerage.

  Kitty Kelley

  Differences, Riding, Biographies

  "Unauthorized, But Not Untrue" by Kitty Kelley, www.huffingtonpost.com. December 6, 2010.

  9 Copy quote

• Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to ensure fair pay for women in the workplace. In addition, he succeeded in getting a measure passed to end discrimination against gays in the military.

  Kitty Kelley

  Military, Gay, Pay

  "Obama and the Legacy of Camelot" by Kitty Kelley, www.huffingtonpost.com. January 23, 2013.

  4 Copy quote

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