"I never hated a man enough to give him diamonds back"
About this Quote
The intent is to flip the usual moral script. In polite society, returning jewelry is coded as virtue: proof you’re above it, proof the relationship meant more than money. Gabor treats that posture as theater for people who can afford purity. Her world - old Hollywood, jet-set marriages, transactional courtship - understands love as a marketplace where sentiment and strategy share a bed. Keeping the diamonds isn’t greed; it’s refusing to subsidize a man’s narrative about her.
The subtext is feminist in a hard, unsentimental way: women are routinely asked to be gracious even when men aren’t. “Enough to give him diamonds back” frames generosity as the real extravagance, and she won’t spend it on someone who’s earned her dislike. It also lands because it weaponizes charm. She delivers a moral non-moral: never let heartbreak turn into bad accounting. In a culture that polices women’s appetites, Gabor turns appetite into the punchline - and the punchline into autonomy.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Gabor, Zsa Zsa. (2026, January 15). I never hated a man enough to give him diamonds back. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-never-hated-a-man-enough-to-give-him-diamonds-15071/
Chicago Style
Gabor, Zsa Zsa. "I never hated a man enough to give him diamonds back." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-never-hated-a-man-enough-to-give-him-diamonds-15071/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I never hated a man enough to give him diamonds back." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-never-hated-a-man-enough-to-give-him-diamonds-15071/. Accessed 13 Feb. 2026.








