Carroll O'Connor

“I do talk less now because the sound of my voice saying over and over the things I said years ago embarrasses and depresses me. Why do I say the same things over and over?”

“Millions of people thought Archie was a happy hero.”

“Conventional show-biz savvy held that Americans hated to be the objects of satire.”

“We don't really need reviewers, just first-night reporters who will tell us faithfully whether or not the audience liked the show.”

“Vulgar and obscene, the papers run rumors daily about people in show business, tales of wicked ways and witless affairs.”

“Even a true artist does not always produce art.”

“I enjoyed in every way my 12 years of playing Archie, and I wasn't personally sad about finishing a long job.”

“One irreducible residual of 38 years in the business is the number of lasting, loving friendships I have made.”

“It was a lack of system that made the '30s Depression as inevitable as all others previously suffered.”

“I have heard show business characterized as a refuge for childlike persons in flight from all things harsh and real.”

“Some people thought we were presenting Archie as a false character. President Nixon thought we were making a fool out of a good man.”

“Sheer flattery got me into the theater. Flattery always works with me, particularly the flattery of women.”

“In a capitalist society, persons who create capital, like Michael Eisner, are given the staggering rewards.”

“All in the Family was intellectual; it was art.”

“It seems that entertainment is what most excites us and what we value above everything else.”

“Nations have come under the control of haters and fools.”

“I'm lucky. Lord, I'm lucky.”

“Not all celebrities are dunces.”

“The reviewer is a singularly detested enemy because he is, unlike the hapless artist, invulnerable.”

“I hate pride, but if I were going to be proud of anything it would have to be something I'd done myself. Race pride is kind of stupid.”