This is a ruthless world and one must be ruthless to cope with it.

To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain, and play with it!

We might as well die as to go on living like this.

Despair is a narcotic. It lulls the mind into indifference.

I have no further use for America. I wouldn't go back there if Jesus Christ was President.

I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the make-up made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked onto the stage he was fully born.

I don't believe that the public knows what it wants; this is the conclusion that I have drawn from my career.

I do not have much patience with a thing of beauty that must be explained to be understood. If it does need additional interpretation by someone other than the creator, then I question whether it has fulfilled its purpose.

I am for people. I can't help it.

I am at peace with God. My conflict is with Man.

I suppose that's one of the ironies of life doing the wrong thing at the right moment.

Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people.

I thought I would dress in baggy pants, big shoes, a cane and a derby hat. everything a contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes large.

Laughter is the tonic, the relief, the surcease for pain.

All my pictures are built around the idea of getting in trouble and so giving me the chance to be desperately serious in my attempt to appear as a normal little gentleman.