Top 137 Quotes & Sayings by Jerry Lewis - Page 2

My ego and my vanities have nothing to do with comedy.

My dad was a stickler for teaching me the pratfall. There is something magical about taking a good fall, and when it works, when you get that laugh, there's no better feeling in the world.

I'm really not thick-skinned - my wife will tell you that I take sunsets personally - but I know that I've got the belly for whatever comes down the pike. I think it's tenacity. You've been there before, and you just have to recall, 'How did I handle that one?'

I believe when you go out there, you have a responsibility to deliver. I have old-fashioned thinking when I'm out there.

An only child, I always wanted a large hug-house.

My family was as absolute as the work.Family was first always.

I started as a writer. I had the dumb act, but I made my living from writing.

I will do whatever is necessary to make better the stupidity on my part - and therefore go after those who are acting stupid themselves. It's not popular. You don't make friends when you do that. And I couldn't care less.

Most people are embarrassed to admit there's another human being that's in control of them, that your heart beats three times as fast because you've given yourself to someone else.

There's something wonderful about taking a tag off a pair of socks, off a shirt, off a jacket. I really think that it has to do with my wanting to give myself all the perks that there are. It's part of my psychosis.

The beauty of love, as far as I'm concerned, is it makes you better. It makes you stronger. It gives you direction. It gives you understanding of what life is and what we've been given.

If you're an old pro, you know how well you're doing when you're doing it, and your inner government spanks you if you're not doing well.

I think so much in time. I always have. Even at 20, I thought in terms of time, that I don't have a lot of time left. And I want to do so many things.

I dream in color.

Red is uplifting.

I'm sour at times.

I have always said that I cannot allow the child within me to die. It's kept me alive.

What happens at 90 is that I don't walk so good, my eyes are going, I can't hear well, and I'm getting all of the 90s residuals.

I learned from my dad that when you walk in front of an audience, they are the kings and queens, and you're but the jester.

I don't talk about anything negative.

When you're 89, dementia develops. I mean, I've told a story onstage, and I'm telling it with a full heart, and I forgot the damn punch line.

You can't be faulted for being selfish if you're going to get better because of it.

We're leaving the House to people who either were born with a silver spoon in their mouth... or couldn't get better jobs in the first place.

I am probably the most selfish man you will ever meet in your life. No one gets the satisfaction or the joy that I get out of seeing kids realize there is hope.

A lot of people resent that I've been in someone's life for 50 years. Why shouldn't people have an affection for me and what I've done? Didn't I have to be genuine for them to buy into what I did? There are children who grow up today who will not have that when they're 55 years old. With whom will they have it? Name an example for me.

I really am opinionated, but not for long. I have found myself coming off of what I think of something because the guy I'm talking to makes better sense than I am. I have so many points of view, I can't keep track of 'em, because I talk to too many people... I'm not so opinionated that I won't budge.

When you are debilitated, and you're very depressed, and you believe there's no hope, you cannot get a better potpourri of down.

I was once six feet tall, but at 85, I'm now five feet four.

When I arrived in Las Vegas, I felt I was embraced by it.

I can't stand to ask anyone, 'How was that?'

I almost resent being Charley Moviestar. Yeah, I'm grateful. But it takes me away from my kids.

I feel I have been a part of some very wonderful films, and I have had it in mind when I was on the set, every day, that what I am doing has meaning.

The people at Columbia Pictures have been great, but I had to tell them, 'Please don't be nice to me. Just pay me.'

I want to know why the government of this country can't take care of the people who are keeping us safe?

When I get an idea, I start to write like I was electrically motivated.

The connection between pathos and broad comedy is very tight. But you do far more work in a comedy scene than you do in a straight scene. It's much harder.

I will not say anything negative about the president of the United States. I don't do that. And I don't allow my children to do that.

I'm really, basically, nine, and I've always been that. I've never, ever allowed the child within me to die.

I don't ordinarily do television because I don't like some of the things projected on it.

Most performers are used to the highs and the lows. If you can let a low stop you, that would be a sad commentary.

I almost get annoyed at the fact that I'm not going to use all that I got.

You can't hold comedy back, because it needs to be exposed.

I got the 'Max Rose' script, and I fell in love with it. It just hit me. It was something that needed to be made.

I think the movie industry has to pay attention that we need to make good quality films, or we are never going to get the business back.

Being 90 is not simple, but it's interesting, very interesting. Before I was 90, I could walk, I could see well, I could hear terrific, and now, I can't hear or see or walk.

I never tell an audience what they can expect. I never have and I never will. I'm an entertainer for 75 years.

My God, the stage is the only place I know where to go.

A wonderful thing happens over time. You fall in love with the sound of your own voice.

I would not want to do one-episode television - that's just a brief encounter with your audience. The arc takes the actor into an arena where he can really stretch.

Marilyn Monroe was a fabulous dame - fabulous.

I'm shocked to be saying this, but as a child, I never went to a circus. It cost too much.

You see, the people that have a point of view and have an opinion and have some intellect are dangerous in the film community - they're dangerous.

Seeing a woman project the kind of aggression that you have to project as a comic just rubs me wrong.

I like to watch all those shows that shouldn't be on the air - reality shows.

The greatest thing I can remember in my whole career was the Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey clowns asking me to appear with them at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles in 1965.

You think about getting old, but when you get there, it's not what you thought it would be.

I'm an unusual man. I know that.

When I was young, I wasn't disciplined at all.

Getting attention is my business. My whole life's predicated on, 'Hey, look at me!'

I go where the action is.