"The most important thing is to enjoy your life - to be happy - it's all that matters"
About this Quote
The subtext is sharper than the wording. “The most important thing” is an argument with everything that usually gets called important: fame, productivity, approval, romantic mythology. Hepburn’s dash-heavy phrasing mimics someone narrowing the frame in real time, stripping away the extras until only the emotional core remains. “To be happy” is presented not as a reward for getting life right, but as the point of the exercise. “It’s all that matters” sounds absolute because it’s meant to be: a boundary, not a motto.
Context does a lot of the lifting. Hepburn’s biography includes war-time deprivation, relentless scrutiny, and later humanitarian work with UNICEF. That arc makes the quote feel less like naive optimism and more like hard-won perspective. It’s a line that plays especially well in a fame economy: the person who had the most reason to fetishize success is telling you the trophy isn’t the thing.
Quote Details
| Topic | Happiness |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Hepburn, Audrey. (2026, January 17). The most important thing is to enjoy your life - to be happy - it's all that matters. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-most-important-thing-is-to-enjoy-your-life-35128/
Chicago Style
Hepburn, Audrey. "The most important thing is to enjoy your life - to be happy - it's all that matters." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-most-important-thing-is-to-enjoy-your-life-35128/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The most important thing is to enjoy your life - to be happy - it's all that matters." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-most-important-thing-is-to-enjoy-your-life-35128/. Accessed 19 Feb. 2026.












