Daily Inspiration Quote by Mae West

Mae West turns experimentation into a punchline and a manifesto, all in one sly loop. “I’ll try anything once, twice if I like it, three times to make sure” sounds like breezy hedonism, but the craft is in how she smuggles agency past the gatekeepers of her era. The escalating numbers are comedic timing - a perfect staircase of temptation - yet they also reframe “anything” as a deliberate choice rather than a scandalous accident. West isn’t confessing; she’s negotiating terms.

The subtext is consent with teeth. “Try” implies curiosity, not recklessness. “If I like it” centers her pleasure at a time when women in popular culture were expected to be either virtuous symbols or cautionary tales. The final clause, “to make sure,” is the masterstroke: it mock-innocently borrows the language of prudence and verification, the kind of rationality society respects, and applies it to desire. She turns sexual autonomy into something almost scientific. Who could object to being thorough?

Context matters: West built her career in the early 20th century, skirting censorship and scandal while selling an image that was both campy and confrontational. Her humor works because it’s double-coded. On the surface, it’s a naughty wisecrack. Underneath, it’s a woman claiming appetite, repetition, and certainty - not as shame, but as a right. The line doesn’t just flirt; it dares you to call it immoral without sounding absurd.