I'd rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are; because a could-be is a maybe who is reaching for a star. I'd rather be a has-been than a might-have-been, by far; for a might have-been has never been, but a has was once an are.

I'd rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are; because a could-be is a maybe who is reaching for a star. I'd rather be a has-been than a might-have-been, by far; for a might have-been has never been, but a has was once an are.

I live to laugh, and I laugh to live.

I just filled out my income tax forms. Who says you can't get killed by a blank?

Poverty is not a disgrace, but it's terribly inconvenient.

A committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours.

Anytime a person goes into a delicatessen and orders a pastrami on white bread, somewhere a Jew dies.

Laughter is an instant vacation.

Experience is what you have after you've forgotten her name.

If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?

You can lead a man to Congress, but you can't make him think.

If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door.

I feel like Zsa Zsa Gabor's sixth husband. I know what I'm supposed to do, but I don't know how to make it interesting.

We owe a lot to Thomas Edison - if it wasn't for him, we'd be watching television by candlelight.

The company accountant is shy and retiring. He's shy a quarter of a million dollars. That's why he's retiring.

A good wife always forgives her husband when she's wrong.

I have a file of four million jokes... I have them cross-indexed. Whatever subject you want, I have a joke on it.

I received a lot of complaints from parents who wrote and told me that their kids wouldn't go to sleep until our show was over. So I went on the air and told all the children watching to 'listen to their Uncle Miltie and go to bed right after the show.'

It's amazing how fast later comes when you buy now.

Like every comedian, if I heard a joke that I thought would work, I used it.

Money can't buy you happiness, but it helps you look for it in a lot more places.

My doctor told me that jogging could add years to my life. I think he was right. I feel ten years older already.

Now a 'funnyman' can get a laugh before opening his mouth - looking funny. Lou Costello was one of your great funnymen. Harry Langdon, Larry Semon; they were all funnymen - they looked funny. W.C. Fields was never a comedian. Slim Summerville was a comedian, yet looked funny. Now if you have both attributes, you are in good shape.

People say I owe a lot to television. The fact is I was a star long before television. What TV made me is unemployed.

There's a difference between being a comic and a comedian. A comic is a guy who says funny things, and a comedian is a guy who says things funny, and he has a style and point of view that will last much longer.

They've finally comes up with the perfect office computer. If it makes a mistake, it blames another computer.

The human brain is special. It starts working as soon as you get up and it doesn’t stop until you get to school.

Theyve got plastic Christmas trees now. Theyre hard to tell from the real aluminum ones.

If opportunity doesnt knock build a door.

If evolution really works how come mothers only have two hands

Experience is what you have after youve forgotten her name.

Marriage is a three ring circus. First the engagement ring the the wedding ring then the suffering.

Its always consoling to know that todays Christmas gifts are tomorrows garage sales.

Marriage is one of the few institutions that allow a man to do as his wife pleases.

The problem with life is by the time you can read women like a book your library card has expired.

If you hire relatives, you'll have a payroll that won't quit.

If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.

It's rough to go through life with your contents looking as if they settled during shipping.

Valentine's Day is like Armistice Day--you declare a truce.

Los Angeles is the home of the three little white lies: 'The Ferrari is paid for,' 'The mortgage is assumable,' and 'It's just a cold sore!

Being a boss anywhere is lonely. Being a female boss in a world of mostly men is especially so.

For a lot of filmmakers, their first goal is to be successful and make some money. But once people start doing that, the real goal is then to win an Academy Award. Because when they do, they know that their obit is going to start out, 'Academy Award winner so-and-so.'

The true test of one's mettle is how many times you will try before you give up.

Many artists and scholars have pointed out that ultimately art depends on human nature.

The skit was very successful based on the applause. After that show, the three of us decided to get together and try and come up with some songs that we could all participate in.

Succeeding is not really a life experience that does that much good. Failing is a much more sobering and enlightening experience.

Be humble if thou wouldst attain to wisdom. Be humbler still when wisdom thou hast mastered.

A lot of times in Hollywood you're as good as your last job.

Writing is so humbling; there's no confidence involved.