Ethel Merman Quotes
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I mentioned that I was thinking of getting out of the business after Call Me Madam. I thought maybe I should become a homebody.
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I can never remember being afraid of an audience. If the audience could do better, they'd be up here on stage and I'd be out there watching them.
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I'll pat myself on the back and admit I have talent. Beyond that, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
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I work as often as I want and yet I'm free as a bird.
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When I'm asked how to succeed in show business, I always say I haven't the foggiest.
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Mom claimed that I could carry a tune at 2 or 3 years of age. Maybe she was a little prejudiced.
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I remember Tallulah (Bankhead) telling of going into a public ladies' room and discovering there was no toilet tissue. She looked underneath the booth and said to the lady in the next stall, 'I beg your pardon, do you happen to have any toilet tissue in there?' The lady said no. So Tallulah said, 'Well, then, dahling, do you have two fives for a ten?'
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I attend surprisingly few shows. The type of theater that is popular today just doesn't appeal to me.
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I wouldn't trust any man as far as you can throw a piano.
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I wouldn't change one thing about my professional life, and I make it a point not to dwell on my mistakes.
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I preferred delivering my performance in person. I liked to be in control. You couldn't be in films.
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I have plenty of invitations to go places, lots to do. If I'm not working, I go to have my hair taken care of and work at needlepoint.
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Always give them the old fire, even when you feel like a squashed cake of ice.
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I wasn't straining at the bit to become a movie star any more than I had plotted to get out of vaudeville and into Broadway musicals.
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My father taught me to read music and play the piano-but not well, even though people have said that I'm a natural musician.
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I take a breath when I have to.
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Of my four marriages, the one to Bob Levitt is the only one I don't regret.
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When you are in deep conflict about something, sometimes the most trivial thing can tip the scales.
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There have been people who have tried to take advantage of me. They want to be linked to me just because I'm Ethel Merman.
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At a flea market I always head for the junk jewelry table first.
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I have been ambitious to be a somebody from the time I was 5 years old.
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Broadway has been very good to me. But then, I've been very good to broadway.
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Once I had the attention, all I had to do was deliver.
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Eisenhower was my war hero and the President I admire and respect most.