Nell Carter

I'm not very kind about marriage. I will never get married again.

If I'm with someone for too long, I begin feeling trapped.

I'm at my best when there's distance between me and a man.

'Gimme a Break' ran for six years and gave me the kind of money and freedom that I'd dreamed would make me happy. It didn't.

I've managed to completely reeducate myself into making eating secondary. I used to eat all the time because the food was there. Now I feel like a kid in school who is gaining points for behaving. And I love myself for it.

For me, you can put on something by Bach, and I'll feel better.

I think music and laughter are the two things that can keep you alive. Someone who is really depressed, tell them a joke, and they may come out of it for even just a moment. Or play them something.

You have to put on more faces to pretend who you are.

Of all the unhappiness I went through, you must know I wouldn't live a moment of my life differently for what I have now. Would I do it all again? I wouldn't want to, but if it got me to the same place, yeah, I'd do it. Because I realize now that God would not give more than I could handle.

When I first found out I had diabetes I denied it.

I had to want to lose weight myself.

I was a weirdo to want to be in show business. Most kids wanted to be teachers or nurses.

Being diabetic was not what I thought of as being normal, and I feared the stigma of having to take medicine and having people stick me with a needle.

Most performers don't get a chance to sing in Los Angeles.

It's exciting to sing in the place where you pay your taxes.

You can get by on four hours' sleep, but you're not very exciting.

No one teaches you how to be graceful.

I was never totally into marriage, and I wasn't a very good wife.

Because I've always had a strong personality, I've always thought I knew what was best.

My marriage is very important to me.

No matter what part of the business you want to be in, live performances are the most thrilling.

Rich means you have to stay there to maintain it.

Rich is not better.

I always look forward to getting back East. I miss the cold weather and the Jewish delis.

I wish that people could understand that people need to laugh. They need to sing. They need to create their own joie de vivre.

I searched for answers to life's meaning and, though I was raised a Presbyterian, I converted to Judaism around 1983.