Dorothy Parker
American author and poet Dorothy Parker poses with her arms crossed. Getty Images/ Hulton Archive

If the legendary author and poet, Dorothy Parker, would have been alive, she would have turned 124 years old on Tuesday.

An eminent name in literary and journalist circuit, Parker was an innovative theatre critic, and she wrote for many publications such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, and later the New Yorker. She was the only female core member of the 1920s Algonquin “vicious circle,” a gathering of celebrated New York City writers, critics, actors, and wits. Parker was also known for her biting wit.

She published around 300 poems and free verses in various publications, and in 1926, her first volume of poetry became a bestseller. During the 1930s, Parker shifted base to Hollywood, where she worked on several films including "A Star Is Born." She became associated with the Communist Party in the 1930s, and supported causes such as the fight for civil rights, which led to her getting blacklisted in Hollywood.

Here are some quotes on the literary giant's 124th birthday, courtesy Goodreads.

  • I require three things in a man: he must be handsome, ruthless, and stupid.
  • Take me or leave me; or, as is the usual order of things, both.
  • Now I know the things I know, and I do the things I do; and if you do not like me so, to hell, my love, with you!
  • If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.
  • Ducking for apples -- change one letter and it's the story of my life.
  • A hangover is the wrath of grapes.
  • I don't care what is written about me so long as it isn't true.
  • Four be the things I'd have been better without love, curiosity, freckles and doubt.
  • Money cannot buy health, but I'd settle for a diamond-studded wheelchair.
  • Love is like quicksilver in the hand. Leave the fingers open and it stays. Clutch it and it darts away.
  • I'd like to have money. And I'd like to be a good writer. These two can come together, and I hope they will, but if that's too adorable, I'd rather have money.
  • Misfortune and recited misfortune especially, can be prolonged to the point where it ceases to excite pity and arouses only irritation.
  • Authors and actors and artists and such — Never know nothing, and never know much.
  • It turns out that, at social gatherings, as a source of entertainment, conviviality, and good fun, I rank somewhere between a sprig of parsley and a single ice-skate.
  • The only “ism” Hollywood believes in is plagiarism.
  • There must be courage; there must be no awe. There must be criticism, for humor, to my mind, is encapsulated in criticism. There must be a disciplined eye and a wild mind...There must be a magnificent disregard of your reader, for if he cannot follow you, there is nothing you can do about it.
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