Ethel Merman Quotes
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I was lucky enough to have the songs in my first show written by George and Ira Gershwin. Then Cole Porter wrote five shows for me.
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I wouldn't trust any man as far as you can throw a piano.
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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 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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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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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 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 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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Mom and Pop were proud of my popularity, but from their point of view, show business was no way to make a living.
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The slapdash way producers used to assemble a show seems a little unbelievable when we talk about them now.
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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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Always give them the old fire, even when you feel like a squashed cake of ice.
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I have been ambitious to be a somebody from the time I was 5 years old.
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Eisenhower was my war hero and the President I admire and respect most.
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You'll never prove you're too good for a job by not doing your best.
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I work as often as I want and yet I'm free as a bird.
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Now what kind of an attitude is that, 'These things happen?' They only happen because this whole country is just full of people who, when these things happen, they just say, 'These things happen,' and that's why they happen! We gotta have control of what happens to us.
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I am known to be able to take care of myself when I become angry. I don't mince words.
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Broadway has been very good to me. But then, I've been very good to broadway.
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Any audience that gets a laugh out of me gets it while I'm facing them.
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At one time I smoked, but in 1959 I couldn't think of anything else to give up for Lent so I stopped - and I haven't had a cigarette since.