Though it sold very well, I hated The Edge.

I will always love to perform standup comedy.

Incidentally, I'm still looking for acting work, my first love.

I believe it is important for comedians to know who came before them.

I was an actor before becoming a comedian.

My first job was at a Chicago night club called Mr. Kelly's.

I am presently in my thirteenth year of teaching a graduate course at the University of Southern California.

The Steve Allen Sunday night show had the right to two options after my first performance.

I am in the Master of Professional Writing program teaching Humor Writing, Literary and Dramatic.

While you're improvising, you may come up with something which will break him up. As soon as that smile comes out, you know that, hey, we're having fun.

The old problems - love, money, security, status, health, etc. - are still here to plague us or please us.

Though it sold very well, I hated The Edge.

As much experience, education and awareness as one can attain is important for a comedian.

As a culture I see us as presently deprived of subtleties. The music is loud, the anger is elevated, sex seems lacking in sweetness and privacy.

I quit smoking well over twenty years ago.

Outside came in '60. The Edge in '61. All three made Gold, but the biggest seller was Inside.

My whole act is confession.

So that this thing that aired in 1963 would result a few years later in personal bankruptcy, would result in having people be on edge with me, wondering when I'm going to blow up.

Inside was the second LP album of a comedian's performance before an audience.

The most memorable performance was my appearance in concert in Carnegie Hall. The first standup to do so.

I am careful with my material and presentation.

Unquestionably, standup comedy is and has always been an art form.

The old problems love money security status health etc. are still here to plague us or please us.

The older you get, and the more you're in this business, the more you kind of feel like, 'Why don't we just do it my way?'

Any moron with a pack of matches can start a fire. Raining down sulfur takes a huge level of endurance. Mass genocide is the most exhausting activity one can engage in, next to soccer.

As much as you need to know your operations, if you don't understand the finance side and how to do the business, you're never going to be successful. So you might be the best operator or visionary, but if you don't understand the finance side... I'm successful because I know the finance side, but I also know operations; it's not an accident.

He who has gone, so we but cherish his memory, abides with us, more potent, nay, more present than the living man.

Too many countries that do not play by the free trade rules of the World Trade Organization - including, notably mercantilist China and monopolist Saudi Arabia - have been allowed in, to the detriment of both the WTO and the liberal trading environment it is supposed to sponsor.

The ridiculous is more easily retained than the admirable.

Procrastination is the thief of time

Pointing out that overspending on public-employee benefits leads to fiscal instability does not mean that public employees are bad people or that they deserve to fall on hard times; it's just observing a simple truth.

If you live to be a hundred I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.

I believe there's a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride. Even though sometimes we have to be steady, and give up the thing we want most. Even our dreams.

Jeff knew full well what he was walking away from. Again, he needed to deal with this right away.

An action film can have too much action; picture an equaliser on a stereo, with all the knobs pegged at 10. It becomes a cacophony and is, ultimately, quite boring.

I never had a doubt that I would make it to the NBA, even when I wasn't playing.

With drama, especially, it seems like the bigger the budgets and the edgier the characters, the more interesting they are. We're very lucky because 'Modern Family' wouldn't fit on cable: they'd want us to push it more and be edgier and turn it into something that it's not.

You know, be able to do something great in your life, you're gonna have to realize your failures. You're gonna have to embrace them and figure out how to overcome it.

A brilliant design will always benefit from the input of others.

In whatever position you find yourself determine first your objective.

Policy people suffer their own kind of agony, and no wonder. After all, what is the average life of the policy person? You go into government if you are lucky, do your best, aren't appreciated, take all the blame for policies for which you are only partly responsible, leave, realize your reputation has been damaged, maybe permanently.

We were excited when we sold our first 10 records. I always felt that if we could get the music out there, and if people became accustomed to it, then a substantial number of them would enjoy it.

The western mantra is that Israel seeks negotiations without preconditions, while the Palestinians refuse. The opposite is more accurate.

My greatest blessing has been the birth of my son. My next greatest blessing has been my ability to turn people into children of mine.

Show, don't tell, is a mantra repeated by tutors of creative writing courses the world over. As advice for amateurs, it is sound and helps avoid character profiling, unactivated scenes, and broken narrative frames.

Every now and then you get a nice Jewish kid who likes black people and they would come in, and it would be a stream of them, and have black friends and really feel the black struggle on the acting tip and it's a reason why all of us are not dying in the movie.

Fact: From quitting smoking to skiing, we succeed to the degree we try, fail, and learn. Studies show that people who worry about mistakes shut down, but those who are relaxed about doing badly soon learn to do well. Success is built on failure.