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.

If you want to be the best, baby, you've got to work harder than anybody else.

Real success is not on the stage, but off the stage as a human being, and how you get along with your fellow man.

I bought a house in the Hollywood Hills and brought my grandmother from Harlem to live in it with me.

To appear on the stage drunk, to have them leave there and remember me making drunken mistakes, that was death.

I have a respect for Elvis and my friendship. It ain't my business what he did in private. The only thing I want to know is, 'Was he my friend?', 'Did I enjoy him as a performer?', 'Did he give the world of entertainment something?' - and the answer is YES on all accounts. The other jazz just don't matter.

Once I get outside my house in the morning, I'm on.