Quotations and phrases

A single prop that does not look real to an audience can louse you up. The same is true of the smallest flaw in setting up the motivation in a story line.
-- Desi Arnaz

Al Jolson was one of the greatest entertainers who ever lived.
-- Desi Arnaz

American people have the ability to laugh at themselves. It is one of the things that makes this country the great country that it is.
-- Desi Arnaz

An actor who is good at comedy can also be very good at drama, but not necessarily vice versa.
-- Desi Arnaz

An audience is so important. I would never have had the guts to dub in that big a laugh.
-- Desi Arnaz

At times we were criticized for doing too much slapstick. I don't believe in mild comedy, and neither does Lucy.
-- Desi Arnaz

Drinking intensifies all your pressures and your needs.
-- Desi Arnaz

Everyone seemed to be doing well except me and my career. And my accent was no helping me any.
-- Desi Arnaz

Failure is the most terrible thing in our business. When we fail, the whole world knows about it.
-- Desi Arnaz

Good things do not come easy. The road is lined with pitfalls.
-- Desi Arnaz

I don't think anyone can tell you what it is that makes you a star.
-- Desi Arnaz

I had started calling her Lucy shortly after we met; I didn't like the name Lucille. That's how our television show was called I Love Lucy, not Lucille.
-- Desi Arnaz

I learned a lot from Xavier Cugat.
-- Desi Arnaz

I learned a lot in those first years in Miami, while struggling just for survival, by observing my father's fortitude.
-- Desi Arnaz

I went to high school with Al Capone.
-- Desi Arnaz

Joe McCarthy and his Senate hearings were like witch-hunts.
-- Desi Arnaz

Lucy and I would love furiously and fight furiously.
-- Desi Arnaz

Lucy is such a perfectionist.
-- Desi Arnaz

Making a television show is not like making Coca-Cola or Bacardi rum. The human element in our business prevents us from finding a successful formula every time.
-- Desi Arnaz

Motion-picture studio floors used to be all wooden and not smooth at all. This was difficult when moving a camera around on a dolly.
-- Desi Arnaz

My Latin temper blows up pretty fast, but it goes down just as fast. Maybe that's why you seldom hear of ulcers in Latin America.
-- Desi Arnaz

Nobody bats 500. We all make mistakes.
-- Desi Arnaz

One of my biggest problems with comedy was that I did not understand some of the jokes.
-- Desi Arnaz

Since I was very young I have always worked hard at whatever I have had to do.
-- Desi Arnaz

The success of I Love Lucy is something that happens only once in a lifetime, if you are fortunate enough to have it happen at all.
-- Desi Arnaz

The thing I remember about New York was how little I felt. I arrived with one small bag and $15.
-- Desi Arnaz

The way the Army does things is sometimes a little strange.
-- Desi Arnaz

When we got married, nobody gave it more than two weeks. There were bets all over the country, with astronomical odds against us.
-- Desi Arnaz

All quotations and phrases said by Desi Arnaz including famous quotes