Top 81 Quotes & Sayings by Ethel Merman - Page 2

I wasn't straining at the bit to become a movie star any more than I had plotted to get out of vaudeville and into Broadway musicals

[Cole Porter] sang like a hinge.

My father taught me to read music and play the piano-but not well, even though people have said that I'm a natural musician

I'll admit - I was honored to be on the cover of Time

In my case, things have pretty much been handed to me

I work as often as I want and yet I'm free as a bird

I was lucky enough to have the songs in my first show written by George and Ira Gershwin. Then Cole Porter wrote five shows for me

I mentioned that I was thinking of getting out of the business after Call Me Madam. I thought maybe I should become a homebody.

Cole Porter had a worldwide reputation as a sophisticate and hedonist

I have been ambitious to be a somebody from the time I was 5 years old

I have plenty of invitations to go places, lots to do. If I'm not working, I go to have my hair taken care of and work at needlepoint

Of my four marriages, the one to Bob Levitt is the only one I don't regret

As far as dramas are concerned, it's considered passe for playwrights to turn out anything the average person can understand

Eisenhower was my war hero and the President I admire and respect most

My beloved Mom and Pop always rated tops with each other, and that's the way it will always be

Cole Porter wrote Anything Goes and four more hits for me

The only things I read are gossip columns. If I read three pages of a book, I'm out like a light. When I pick up the book again, I've forgotten what I've read and have to start over again. By page three, even if I've just awakened from a nine -hour nap, I fall asleep again. So if anyone gives me a book, it had better have lots of pictures.

The slapdash way producers used to assemble a show seems a little unbelievable when we talk about them now

I'll pat myself on the back and admit I have talent. Beyond that, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time

You'll never prove you're too good for a job by not doing your best.

Once I had the attention, all I had to do was deliver.