Perfect love is the most beautiful of all frustrations because it is more than one can express.
You'll never find a rainbow if you're looking down
Nothing is permanent in this wicked world, not even our troubles.
To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain, and play with it.
In the end, everything is a gag.
A man's true character comes out when he's drunk.
I don't think the real America is in New York or on the Pacific Coast; personally, I like the Middle West much better, places like North and South Dakota, Minneapolis and Saint Paul. There, I think, are the true Americans
My faith is in the unknown, in all that we do not understand by reason; I believe that what is beyond our comprehension is a simple fact in other dimensions, and that in the realm of the unknown there is an infinite power for good.
I do not have much patience with a thing of beauty that must be explained to be understood. If it does need additional interpretation by someone other than the creator, then I question whether it has fulfilled its purpose.
Movies are a fad. Audiences really want to see live actors on a stage.
I thought I would dress in baggy pants, big shoes, a cane and a derby hat. everything a contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes large.
Words are cheap. The biggest thing you can say is 'elephant'.
I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the make-up made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked onto the stage he was fully born.
That is why, no matter how desperate the predicament is, I am always very much in earnest about clutching my cane, straightening my derby hat and fixing my tie, even though I have just landed on my head.
Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.
I remain just one thing, and one thing only, and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician.
All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.
I don't believe that the public knows what it wants; this is the conclusion that I have drawn from my career.
This is a ruthless world and one must be ruthless to cope with it.
I'd sooner be called a successful crook than a destitute monarch.
