Love, Lucy Quotes
"People are always asking me if Ball is my real name. As a young model, I tried being Diane Belmont for a while, but that kind of phony elegance wasn’t for me."
"I’m known among comediennes as a stunt girl who will do anything."
"I do know that if an actress has the slightest aversion to pie in the face or pratfalls, the camera will pick it up instantly."
"The hardest thing for me was getting used to the idea that I deserved it."
"I remember feeling jealous about Freddy. But it, of course, wasn’t his fault—he was a calm and levelheaded little boy, cooperative and hardworking."
"Actors and actresses all strive for affection. We get up on a stage because we want to be loved."
"The important thing is to develop as a woman first, and a performer second."
"When I stopped being prisoner to what I worried was others’ opinions of me, I became more confident and free."
"Keep your head up, keep your shoulders back, keep your self-respect, be nice, be smart."
"The truth was, nobody really gave a damn."
"You don’t have to start a savings account with a thousand dollars, you can start with one dollar."
"I enjoyed pedaling through the rosy dawn, past the little white bungalows, each with its garden of pink camellias and purple bougainvillea."
"I worked long, hard hours without complaint, but some nights after hours of dance rehearsals my legs would really ache."
"One of my few extravagances was to telephone DeDe in New York. I’d say hello and then start to bawl."
"I decided to forget about romance and to concentrate on my career."
"I probably had a 103-degree temperature as well. Somebody handed me some cough syrup and I gulped down half the bottle, unaware of its codeine content."
"In Hollywood, of course, I was still an unknown, but in Jamestown the newspapers made a big thing out of the premiere of Roman Scandals."
"I told him how much his encouragement years before had meant to me."
"We often worked past midnight. I did whatever was asked of me."
"I consider myself lucky to be paid while learning a business I adored."
"When I saw them, the roots had been cut, the sod neatly turned back for the operation and then replaced."
"I knew what it was like to lose a beloved father early in life; no child was going to be put through that torture because of me."
"You have to learn to roll with the punches, and not take them personally."
"I believe that we’re as happy in life as we make up our minds to be."
"I could believe wholeheartedly almost any zany scene my writers dream up."
"One day I got up enough courage to ask her advice about fixing up our little rented house."
"I was sitting before a makeup table one morning when the head makeup man, Mel Burns, rudely told me to get out; Katharine Hepburn was on her way down."
"He was skinny, balding, and treated girls like a kindly uncle."
"I was a nobody on the lot, yet she took the time to come over."
"When one of their films was finally in the can, Fred would sail to Europe to recuperate for six months; Ginger would start a new movie within twenty-four hours."
"Love only gives you a one-room apartment, two chins, and a long washline."
"Lucille Ball gives one of the best portrayals of her career."
"Lucille Ball’s performance is superb—the girl can really act."
"For your own good, you should get up the gumption to leave."
"I chose MGM because they were tops in musicals."
"Louis B. Mayer had more top actors, writers, directors, and other craftsmen than any other studio."
"When MGM was grooming you, you felt that you were in the second line of the harem."
"I was changed the minute I got over there."
"I’ve always thought Red, one of the world’s great talents, is basically a very sad clown."
"I don’t see any pictures of me in this book and this is your third year of marriage—quit kiddin’!"
"I knew I had the ability, and I set myself to learn a difficult and demanding craft."
"It was tremendously exciting to be in a picture with Hepburn."
"Lucille Ball throws wisecracks like baseballs."
Once, when our ranch was seriously threatened by a raging fire, Desi didn’t hesitate to answer: "My American citizenship papers!"
"Desi can’t even buy a house in a conventional way."
"MGM made overworked, spoiled idols out of Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, and Elizabeth Taylor."
"My agent had little regard for me as a person or a performer."
"I closed my eyes, put blinders on, and ignored what was too painful to think about."
"Desi was away rounding up a new band, so I sat home alone and cried."
"I was of a mind to try and do something that would please Daddy."
"Lucy has never been a Communist—not now—and never will be."
"Feeling as stiff as an iron poker, I walked out into the limelight."
"My years of rigid self-discipline paid off that night."
"Walter Winchell knew I was pregnant before I did."
"If our sponsor had canceled our contract, it was entirely likely that no sponsor or network would have been willing to carry us."
"In Hollywood, we learn about life from each other's pictures."
"When you’re a movie star, your public image can still be vague."
"The I Love Lucy show was love personified."
"For ten hot minutes you’re such a great celebrity."
"The minute we hit a little bit of success we are liable to run from it."
"I don’t deserve all this love and adulation."
"Our professional achievements are secondary; the important thing in life is our relationship with other human beings."
"He gave me many steadying words to think about."
"He learned to be tough but he didn’t really enjoy it."
"We’re so used to failure, to being hurt and rebuffed, that we can easily come unhinged by success."
"You have to learn to live with recognition and fame."
"I felt more like myself than I had in months."
"It was tremendously exciting building a new company."
"Could we turn our backs on them and sail away?"
"We learn about life from each other's pictures."
"We couldn’t keep little Lucie out of the theater."
"It's not what we set out to get, but how we go about the daily task of living."
"I realized Gary had the natural humor of someone who loves to laugh and wants everyone to laugh with him."
"It's like living on top of a volcano; you never knew when it would erupt or why."
"My only to-die moments in life have been when I’ve lost my self-respect."
"I had lost my good humor and sense of proportion."
"When enough aggravation accumulated, he’d blow his stack at home."
"We sat there talking until we noticed a little hubbub of voices."
"This was the shocker of all time, as far as Desi and I were concerned."
"They had to hold the curtain. This was the shocker of all time."
"I was particularly pleased to be able to be a moneymaker for Pandro Berman."
"For there’s a lot of masochism in the acting profession."
"We’re willing to take a lot of punishment."
"I realized for the first time how the strain of our snowballing empire was eating away at him."
"I was glad for our children’s sake that they now have two happy homes rather than one miserable, unhappy one."