I try to give my work everything I've got, because when you're dead or you're out of the business or you're in an old actors' home somewhere, if you've done a good job, your work will still be 16 years old and dancing and healthy and pirouetting and arabesquing all over the place. And they'll say, "That's who he is! He's not this decaying skeleton."

There's an army story in me, and I think there's a WWII Brooks film somewhere.

Sir, I have seen your film and it is vulgar! Madame, my film rises below vulgarity.

Don’t be stupid, be a smarty / Come and join the Nazi Party!

Critics can't even make music by rubbing their back legs together.

I realised that all one really had to do was just observe. Observe and slightly exaggerate, and you had comedy. Instead of creating a mythical premise for a stupid joke, I found playing off truth got the best result.

As far as songwriters, I've always been a fan of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and George Gershwin; those guys mean a lot to me.