My brothers went to work at 12 and put themselves through school and brought the family out of ruin into food and clothing.

I love spaghetti and sex, sometimes together. My dream of heaven is walking naked through fields of pasta fazool.

If God wanted us to fly, He would have given us tickets.

My movies were not reaping the kind of emotional rewards that I wanted. I wanted them to be appreciated and they weren't. I didn't want the reviews to say, "Mel Brooks has made another movie," and you get the title somewhere in the second paragraph.

The Twelve Chairs is about the same thing. It's all about money or love. We know we need money, we know we have to get money, we know we have to hurt others to get money. But we don't know until maybe it's a little too late in life that love is the most important thing. Love, friendship, affection, bonhomie, whatever. Those are the only things that really count: to love and be loved.

My God, I'd love to smash into the casket of Dostoyevsky, grab that bony hand and scream at the remains, 'Well done, you god-damn genius.'

One day, God said 'Let there be prey.' And he created pigeons, rabbits, lambs and Gene Wilder.