Much later in life, though, Gracie made a major contribution to the opera world. She stayed out of it.

I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.

You know you're getting old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces and wonder what else you could do while you're down there.

There's an old saying, 'Life begins at forty.' That's silly. Life begins every morning you wake up.

Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.

First you forget names, then you forget faces. Next you forget to pull your zipper up and finally, you forget to pull it down.

Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair.

I look to the future because that's where I'm going to spend the rest of my life.

It takes only one drink to get me drunk. The trouble is, I can't remember if it's the thirteenth or the fourteenth.

I love to sing, and I love to drink scotch. Most people would rather hear me drink scotch.

I get up every morning and read the obituary column. If my name's not there, I eat breakfast.

An artist should write for himself & not for an audience. If the audience likes it, great. If not, they can keep away.

The two biggest self-deceptions of all are that life has a 'meaning'and each of us is unique.

A lot of people thought this dream must be madness, but we are not crazy.

The force of a language does not consist of rejecting what is foreign but of swallowing it.

A copying artist should get permission or pay the original artist a fee.

A Zen master used to say, It is clear and so it is hard to see. A dunce once searched for a fire with a lighted lantern. Had he known what fire was, he could have cooked his rice much sooner.

I judged about a zillion awards this year so Ive been reading a lot of books that just came out.

The hardest thing to learn in the game of love is when to fold a winning hand.

In civilized societies, we spend our lifetimes trying to become what is socially acceptable. We're dark and we're light. We all have both sides to us.

Fall in love with someone who truly deserves your heart. Not with someone who plays with it.