Sure, she was married eight times, but theres no denying that Elizabeth Taylor was a woman who knew how to live and love.

With her joie de vivre and insatiable appetite for the opposite sex, Taylor had the kind of love life most of us can only dream about. She lived her best life and in the process, taught us quite a bit about relationships before she died at age 79 in 2011.

In honor of what would have been her 87th birthday, here are nine things we learned about love from Liz, the fiercest old Hollywood dame of all.