I joined Count Basie's band to make a little money and to see the world. For two years I didn't see anything but the inside of a Blue Goose bus, and I never got to send home a quarter.

The difficult I'll do right now. The impossible will take a little while.

I can't stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession. If you can, then it ain't music, it's close order drill, or exercise or yodeling or something, not music.

There's no damn business like show business - you have to smile to keep from throwing up.

In this country kings or dukes don't amount to nothing. The greatest man around then was Franklin D. Roosevelt, and he was the President; so I started calling Lester the President. It got shortened to Pres.

God has blessed you when he lets you believe in somebody.

Lust may be in the heart, though it be not seen by others; as guests may be in the house, though they look not out at the windows.