I didn't really have an act per se - a theatrical performance, as opposed to just: here I am, folks, and you're all supposed to be dead quiet while I sing eight or nine songs, then get off the stage.

Talking money is crass; so I'm not going to tell you what I made last year.

But, in fairness to them, too, the popular song per se is really a pretty shallow medium to perform in.

I'm going to continue to talk to the people, because I do believe that if they get to know you and what you are as a human being, they can more appreciate what you are as a performer.

See, I never wrote arrangements for the band for Judy Garland; I did strictly special material, special lyrics, put together all of her medleys.

As Buddy Rich, for instance, broke into the business at the age of three, I think it was, on drums, so indeed did I break into the business at the age of four as a singer.

To me, nostalgia is nothing more than a mindless plundering of the past for the commonplace.

I want to sing for the broadest possible audience.

Because Chicago was to radio what Hollywood was to films and Broadway was to the theatre: it was the hub of radio.

Whenever I did a good performance, my Dad and my uncles, who were rabid movie fans, took me to the movies. There began my underlying love affair with film.

I got into radio when I was eight, and I was one of the busiest child dramatic actors in America.

Wisdom is the closest to foolishness, a person can become so wise it leads him to become foolish.

I woke up!" he replied, eye twinkling in his haggard face, "and that's reason enough to be happy!

When war is declared, truth is the first casualty

Sometimes one learns too early, as I did, what the world is capable of.

Happy Easter everyone! Jesus dies, comes back from the dead - and we get chocolate eggs. It's like turn-down service from God.

Hearing my songs in public freaks me out a bit. There was one restaurant I really liked in L.A., but I had to stop going there when they started playing my music. It felt kinda awkward.

The witty woman is a tragic figure in American life. Wit destroys eroticism and eroticism destroys wit, so women must choose between taking lovers and taking no prisoners.

An optimist will tell you the glass is half-full; the pessimist, half-empty; and the engineer will tell you the glass is twice the size it needs to be.

I have lived a great life. I am very happy.

What God wants is to reveal himself more fully to us.