There have been people who have tried to take advantage of me. They want to be linked to me just because I'm Ethel Merman.

I'll pat myself on the back and admit I have talent. Beyond that, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time

I wouldn't trust any man as far as you can throw a piano

Now what kind of an attitude is that, 'These things happen?' They only happen because this whole country is just full of people who, when these things happen, they just say, 'These things happen,' and that's why they happen! We gotta have control of what happens to us.

I wouldn't change one thing about my professional life, and I make it a point not to dwell on my mistakes

I was born in my parents' bedroom on January 16. The World Almanac says it was 1909. I say it was 1912. But what difference does it make as long as I feel 33?

I've made a wonderful living playing that theatrical character - the professional brassy dame