Not Audrey Hepburn — an anonymous internet passageAnonymous (a MySpace-era “I believe in pink” passage)Circulated online c. 2007–2008 · only later pinned on Hepburn, who died in 1993
This is one clause of the viral “I believe in pink… I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls” passage. Wikiquote files the whole passage under “Misattributed,” tracing it to an unidentified MySpace user around 2007–2008 — documented in Richard Kennedy’s The Disgrace of MySpace (2008) — with no trace of it in Hepburn’s lifetime and nothing in print before 2008. Hepburn died in 1993, so she could not have originated a line that surfaced fifteen years after her death.
“Happy girls are the prettiest” Anonymous — the “I believe in pink” internet passage, c. 2007–2008; misattributed to Audrey Hepburn
⚠ The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Audrey Hepburn. Use the credit shown above instead.
Can you use it?
? We couldn’t verify where this wording comes from, so there’s no rights status to give. Safe to present as an unverified or anonymous line — just don’t assert a specific author or source.
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In context
Evoking the world of Audrey Hepburn — actress & humanitarian · a top magnet for feel-good fake quotes. Theme: "Happy girls are the prettiest". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.
Minimalist
Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "Happy girls are the prettiest". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.
Provenance
Where it actually comes from
Attributed to
Audrey Hepburn (incorrectly)
Real origin
Anonymous “I believe in pink” MySpace passage
First in print
2008 — Richard Kennedy, The Disgrace of MySpace
Status
Misattributed (per Wikiquote)
I believe in manicures. I believe in overdressing. I believe in primping at leisure and wearing lipstick. I believe in pink. I believe that loving is the best calorie-burner. I believe in kissing. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls... and I believe in miracles.
the “I believe in pink” passage
This is the earliest-documented wording (the version in Kennedy’s 2008 book, per Wikiquote); looser variants circulate online. The single line usually shared as an Audrey Hepburn quote is one clause lifted from this longer anonymous passage.
Wikiquote lists the whole “I believe in pink” passage in its Misattributed section, noting it has not been found in print before 2008.
The earliest documented appearance is an anonymous MySpace post, quoted in Richard Kennedy’s The Disgrace of MySpace (2008) — fifteen years after Hepburn’s death.
Quote aggregators such as Goodreads still print the passage under Hepburn’s name with the caveat that community quotes are “not verified.”
The wording has no identifiable author — it is an anonymous internet passage first documented in 2008 — so no copyright or public-domain status can be asserted. It is not in the public domain merely because its author is unknown.
Fact-check
Why this one is misattributed
“Happy girls are the prettiest” is not a stand-alone Hepburn line at all — it is one sentence from the anonymous “I believe in pink” chain-mail passage, retrofitted onto Audrey Hepburn long after she died.
✕
The whole “I believe in pink” passageAudrey Hepburn Misattributed
Wikiquote places the passage under “Misattributed,” noting there is no evidence of it during Hepburn’s lifetime and nothing in print before 2008.
✕
The single line “happy girls are the prettiest”Audrey Hepburn Fabrication / paraphrase
It circulates on Goodreads, Pinterest and quote apps as a solo Hepburn maxim, but it is simply the fifth clause of the anonymous passage — no Hepburn interview, letter or film contains it.
✓The true source is an unidentified MySpace user, c. 2007–2008, first captured in Richard Kennedy’s The Disgrace of MySpace (2008) — not Audrey Hepburn.
Context
How a MySpace post became an Audrey Hepburn quote
The “I believe in pink” passage is a classic internet-age fabrication: an upbeat, girlish credo that reads like a greeting card and asks for a glamorous face to attach to. Audrey Hepburn — long dead, universally beloved, and already the phantom author of the misattributed “For attractive lips…” lines — was the natural magnet.
Small internal tells give it away: a woman born in 1929 is unlikely to have written about laughing being “the best calorie burner,” and researchers have found the text nowhere before its 2007–2008 MySpace appearance, decades after Hepburn’s screen career.
A line that surfaced in 2008 cannot have been coined by someone who died in 1993.
More on Hepburn and fake quotes
Hepburn is repeatedly used as a false author for feel-good text. Even the genuine-sounding “For attractive lips, speak words of kindness…” verse was written by humorist Sam Levenson — Hepburn merely recited it and credited him, which later readers forgot.
Explore
Filed under
More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.
1929–1993 · actress & humanitarian · a top magnet for feel-good fake quotes
Audrey Hepburn was the British-born film star of Roman Holiday, Sabrina and Breakfast at Tiffany’s who spent her later years as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Her image of gentle elegance has made her one of the internet’s favourite hooks for uplifting quotations she never spoke — including the famous “For attractive lips…” lines she always credited to humorist Sam Levenson. The “happy girls are the prettiest” passage is another such case: warmly Hepburn-flavoured, but not hers.
For writers & researchers
Cite this
Earliest documented source
Earliest documented in Richard Kennedy, The Disgrace of MySpace (2008), as an anonymous MySpace post; see “Audrey Hepburn (Misattributed),” Wikiquote.
This verification page
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Happy girls are the prettiest’?” Last verified 8 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/happy-girls-are-the-prettiest