Jerry Lewis

“I expect people that come to the studio to work to come with the same energy I come with. If I see less than that, I get very strong about, if you want to do this, come with a sense of pride, come with eagerness and anxiety.”

“I make sure that I take good care of me.”

“I have a loyalty that runs in my bloodstream, when I lock into someone or something, you can't get me away from it because I commit that thoroughly. That's in friendship, that's a deal, that's a commitment. Don't give me paper - I can get the same lawyer who drew it up to break it. But if you shake my hand, that's for life.”

“The beauty of love, as far as I'm concerned, is it makes you better. It makes you stronger. It gives you direction. It gives you understanding of what life is and what we've been given.”

“Adrenaline is wonderful. It covers pain. It covers dementia. It covers everything.”

“I dream in color.”

“Nothing can stop anyone who has a love and passion about their work.”

“To ask a pratfall comedian, a dishes-in-the-face comic like me, to lay back and bring none of that stuff to the script because it doesn't call for it? That's tough.”

“I will not say anything negative about the president of the United States. I don't do that. And I don't allow my children to do that.”

“There's nothing more dramatic than the comedy I've done. Because the comedy I've done is to get to the audience, get them to feel it, or they won't laugh.”

“I have always said that I cannot allow the child within me to die. It's kept me alive.”

“I don't ordinarily do television because I don't like some of the things projected on it.”

“An only child, I always wanted a large hug-house.”

“I need the applause.”

“I think the cartoons that they're children are watching, particularly 'The Simpsons,' they're OK. I think that the adult audience is making much too much of the danger that they imply. That's not the case. The danger for children today, honey, is the news. Keep them away from news on television.”

“I will do whatever is necessary to make better the stupidity on my part - and therefore go after those who are acting stupid themselves. It's not popular. You don't make friends when you do that. And I couldn't care less.”

“I never stop working.”

“People hate me because I am a multifaceted, talented, wealthy, internationally famous genius.”

“I would not want to do one-episode television - that's just a brief encounter with your audience. The arc takes the actor into an arena where he can really stretch.”

“We're leaving the House to people who either were born with a silver spoon in their mouth... or couldn't get better jobs in the first place.”