Today Tuesday August 14, 2012 the AWOD is Helen Gurley Brown born February 18, 1922 and passed yesterday August 13, 2012 at the ripe old age of 90. She was an American author, publisher, businesswoman and was editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine for 32 years. She wrote “Sex and the Single Girl” which at the time was taboo to discuss the fact that single women had SEX let alone the fact that they actually may have enjoyed it! As the editor-in-chief of Cosmo she informed women on how they too could enjoy this thing called sex, it wasn’t just for the mans pleasure anymore.
Here then are some of Gurley Brown's wisest, funniest and most outrageous quotes.
Helen on money:
“Money, if it does not bring you happiness, will at least help you be miserable in comfort.”
Helen on being bad:
“Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere.”
Helen on vanity:
“One of the paramount reasons for staying attractive is so you can have somebody to go to bed with.”
Helen on humble beginnings:
“Nearly every glamorous, wealthy, successful career woman you might envy now started out as some kind of schlep.”
Helen on having it all:
“The message was: So you're single. You can still have sex. You can have a great life. And if you marry, don't just sponge off a man or be the gold-medal-winning mother. Don't use men to get what you want in life - - get it for yourself.”
Helen on feminism:
“Cosmo is feminist in that we believe women are just as smart and capable as men and can achieve anything they want. But it also acknowledges that while work is important, men are, too. The Cosmo girl absolutely loves men!”
Helen on listening:
“Never fail to know that if you are doing all the talking, you are boring somebody.”
Helen on her wilder side:
“I was mousy on the outside but inside I'm this tiger and I have to get on with it.”
Helen on husbands:
"Marry a decent, good, kind person who will cherish you."
Helen on sex:
"If only one of you is in the mood, do it. Even if sex isn’t great every time, it's a unique form of communication and togetherness that can help you stay together with a good degree of contentment."
Helen on success:
“I hope I have convinced you—the only thing that separates successful people from the ones who aren’t is the willingness to work very, very hard.”
Here is a great article about her in the NY times…no matter what women may have thought about her, she was bold and groundbreaking for sure.
