Imitations only better the original.

My talent was the weapon, the power, the way for me to fight. It was the one way I might hope to affect a man's thinking.

Talk about handicap - I'm a one-eyed Negro Jew.

Being a star has made it possible for me to get insulted in places where the average Negro could never hope to get insulted.

There are lines that I know are going to get a belly laugh, but after a few shows I get sick of hearing myself say them so I drop them.

My home has always been show business.

Most orgies that you go to, I have found, most of it is sad. All that wildness, all those laughs were like the shining silver and gold paper on packages, but there was nothing inside.