Mel Brooks Quotes

Hope for the Best. Expect the worst. Life is a play. We're unrehearsed.

Tragedy is when I stub my toe. Comedy is when you fall into an open manhole and die.

If you're quiet, you're not living. You've got to be noisy and colorful and lively.

We held our breaths for a month and a half until we got word from the Red Cross that he was alive and a prisoner of war. The Red Cross went to prisoners of war and they did a lovely thing, they recorded them saying or singing things and they sent those recordings to their loved ones back home. Lenny loved to sing so he recorded a song called “Miss You.” My mother would put that little cardboard record on every night and cry. Every single night! Finally I said, “Mom, maybe just hold the record? Maybe don’t put it on so much? I mean he’s alive, but it’s depressing hearing him sing every night!” Even though we loved him dearly, truth is he was slightly off-key. —

Sheriff Bart [waking up a drunk Jim in jail]: Are we awake?
Jim "The Waco Kid": We're not sure. Are we...black?
Sheriff Bart: Yes, we are.
Jim "The Waco Kid": Then we're awake, but we're very puzzled.

Failure is vital. It is an incredibly important quotient in the equation of a career. After you wipe away your tears, it’s not a bad experience and under the right circumstances it will make you better, both as a person and as an artist. I think it’s important to fail, especially between the ages of twenty and thirty. Success is like sugar. It’s too good. It’s too sweet. It’s too wonderful and it burns up very quickly. Failure is like corned beef hash. It takes a while to eat. It takes a while to digest. But it stays with you.

I’ve worked with many great people in my life, but there will never be another Carl Reiner.

No! You don't wear a hat on your gentles! You wear a hat on your head where you're supposed to wear a hat!

[on ancient poetry] Nog Nog! Mkellen bebog! V'luch Matuch Maluch M'tog!

In every classic comedy duo, from Laurel and Hardy to Abbott and Costello to Martin and Lewis, in order for the exchange to work, the quality of the straight man had to be as dynamic as that of the funny guy. Carl was the best at this. I could use a single question as a springboard to unplanned exposition and tangents that would be as much of a surprise to Carl as they were to the audience. Carl was a gifted partner: While he deferred the punch lines to me, he knew me well enough to follow along and cross paths enough to set me up for more opportunities. He also knew he could throw me a complete curveball and I’d swing for the fences. We were a great ad-libbed high-wire act, and like the best high-wire acts, ours was dependent upon complete trust and respect for each other. Carl once said, “A brilliant mind in panic is a wonderful thing to behold.

They make us live in the crap, and now they're taking the crap away? No!

Comedy is a weird but very beautiful thing. Even though it seems foolish and silly and crazy, comedy has the most to say about the human condition. Because if you can laugh, you can get by. You can survive when things are bad if you have a sense of humor.

Will Scarlet Blinkin, fix your boobs, you look like a bleeding Picasso.

Jim "The Waco Kid": My name is Jim, but most people call me...Jim.

Comedy is a very powerful component in life. It has the most to say about the human condition because if you laugh you can get by. You can struggle when things are bad if you have a s sense of humor. Laughter is a protest scream against death, against the long good bye. Its a defense against unhappiness and depression.