Mae West wrote this line herself — she received sole story, screenplay and all-dialogue credit on I’m No Angel (1933) — and delivered it on screen as the character Tira. The popular wording (“When I’m good, I’m very good. But when I’m bad, I’m better”) matches the film dialogue almost exactly.
“When I'm good, I'm very good. But when I'm bad, I'm better” Mae West, I'm No Angel (1933) · Verbatim: “Well, when I'm good, I'm very good. But when I'm bad, I'm better.”
Image direction — grounded in this quote’s real context; paste into your image tool
In context
Evoking the world of Mae West — American actress, playwright & screenwriter. Theme: "When I'm good, I'm very good. But when I'm bad, I'm better". 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 "When I'm good, I'm very good. But when I'm bad, I'm better". 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
The source
Work
I’m No Angel (1933)
Written by
Mae West — story, screenplay & all dialogue
Spoken by
Tira (Mae West), to Jack Clayton (Cary Grant)
Studio
Paramount Pictures, dir. Wesley Ruggles
Well, when I’m good — I’m very good. But, when I’m bad — I’m better.
Delivered in a romantic scene with Cary Grant — ostensibly about her nerve as a lion-tamer, but plainly about something else entirely.
The line is dialogue from I’m No Angel, first released by Paramount Pictures in 1933 — a work published well after the U.S. public-domain cutoff, so it remains in copyright. Rights sit with the studio holding the film (Paramount’s pre-1950 sound features are now controlled by Universal) and with Mae West’s estate as author of the screenplay.
Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.
Fact-check
Wording & the “spontaneous quip” myth
The attribution to Mae West is correct — the caveats are about wording and origin, not authorship.
✕
Common miswordingMae West variant
A frequently-circulated variant reads “When I’m good I’m very, very good…” (see this doubled-‘very’ version). The film line uses a single “very good.”
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Origin misconceptionMae West context
It is often passed around as one of West’s off-the-cuff real-life witticisms. In fact it is scripted dialogue she wrote herself for a specific film role — arguably a stronger claim to authorship, not a weaker one.
✓Bottom line: really Mae West, and really her own words — written for and spoken in I’m No Angel (1933).
Context
Why it stuck
The line distills West’s whole screen persona into a single breath: unbothered, in command, and franker about desire than the incoming Production Code would soon allow. Because she authored her own dialogue, it reads as autobiography as much as script.
When I’m good I’m very good. But when I’m bad I’m better.
Explore
Filed under
More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.
1893–1980 · American actress, playwright & screenwriter
Mae West (1893–1980) was an American vaudeville star, Broadway playwright and Hollywood actress famous for her double-entendre wit and self-authored material. She wrote her own plays (including the notorious 1926 production Sex) and, at Paramount in the early 1930s, wrote or heavily shaped the dialogue for her own films — making her one of the rare stars of the era who effectively scripted her most-quoted lines.
For writers & researchers
Cite this
Primary source — Chicago
Mae West, I’m No Angel, directed by Wesley Ruggles (Hollywood, CA: Paramount Pictures, 1933).
MLA (9th ed.)
I’m No Angel. Directed by Wesley Ruggles, performance by Mae West, Paramount Pictures, 1933.
APA (7th ed.)
Ruggles, W. (Director). (1933). I’m No Angel [Film]. Paramount Pictures.
This verification page
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘When I'm good, I'm very good. But when I'm bad, I'm better’?” Last verified 8 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/when-im-good-im-very-good-but-when-im-bad-im-better/