“My pain may be the reason for somebody's laugh. But my
laugh must never be the reason for somebody's pain”
“Imagination means nothing without doing”
“Mirror is my best friend because when I cry it never laughs
at me. “
“A day without laughter is a day wasted. “
“We think too much
and feel too little.”
“A man's true
character comes out when he's drunk.”
“Nothing is permanent
in this wicked world - not even our troubles.”
“To truly laugh, you must
be able to take your pain, and play with it!”
“The saddest thing I
can imagine is to get used to luxury.”
“Life is a tragedy
when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.”
“Failure is
unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself.”
“Life could be
wonderful if people would leave you alone.”
“A tramp, a gentleman,
a poet, a dreamer, a lonely fellow, always hopeful of romance and adventure.”
“I am at peace with
God. My conflict is with Man.”
“We all want to help
one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's
happiness, not by each other's misery.”
“Words are cheap. The
biggest thing you can say is 'elephant'.”
“I remain just one
thing, and one thing only, and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher
plane than any politician.”
“What do you want a
meaning for? Life is a desire, not a meaning.”
"Man as an individual is a genius. But men in the mass form
the headless monster, a great, brutish idiot that goes where prodded."
“To help a friend in
need is easy, but to give him your time is not always opportune.”
“I do not have much
patience with a thing of beauty that must be explained to be understood. If it
does need additional interpretation by someone other than the creator, then I
question whether it has fulfilled its purpose.”
“Laughter is the
tonic, the relief, the surcease for pain.”
“I suppose that's one
of the ironies of life doing the wrong thing at the right moment.”
“The hate of men will
pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to
the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.”
“Despair is a
narcotic. It lulls the mind into indifference.”
“All I need to make a
comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.”
“Brunettes are
troublemakers. They're worse than the Jews.”
“I went into the
business for the money, and the art grew out of it. If people are disillusioned
by that remark, I can't help it. It's the truth.”
“Dictators free
themselves, but they enslave the people.”
“I have no further
use for America. I wouldn't go back there if Jesus Christ was President.”
“In the end,
everything is a gag.”
“I thought I would
dress in baggy pants, big shoes, a cane and a derby hat. everything a
contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes
large.”
“I had no idea of the
character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the make-up made me
feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked onto the
stage he was fully born.”
“Remember, you can
always stoop and pick up nothing.”
“We might as well die
as to go on living like this.”
“Actors search for
rejection. If they don't get it they reject themselves.”
“I'd sooner be called
a successful crook than a destitute monarch.”
“I am for people. I
can't help it.”
“I don't believe that
the public knows what it wants; this is the conclusion that I have drawn from
my career.”
“The glamour of it
all! New York! America!”
“Movies are a fad.
Audiences really want to see live actors on a stage.”
“Why should poetry
have to make sense?”
“Only the unloved
hate; the unloved and the unnatural.”
“All my pictures are
built around the idea of getting in trouble and so giving me the chance to be
desperately serious in my attempt to appear as a normal little gentleman.”
“That is why, no
matter how desperate the predicament is, I am always very much in earnest about
clutching my cane, straightening my derby hat and fixing my tie, even though I
have just landed on my head.”
