I was trying to find an original style that didn't sound like Tony Bennett or anyone else. So I prayed about it, woke up with this high voice, and by 1954, I was going to amateur nights and winning.
I always wanted to be a big star.
I don't believe in birth control.
The biggest blunder in the history of this country was when President Truman pulled General MacArthur out of China.
I remember in '37 when trolley cars were so big in New York. It was five cents for a ride... There used to be open-air buses, and you could go up a spiral staircase and sit up on top. Those were great, great days.
If the club was empty, I sang to the chairs.
If the cap ain't on my Crest, if it's squeezed from the middle and not the bottom, there's a problem.
I think they should give me a spot on 'Dallas' or 'Dynasty' or one of those shows.
Night after night in the '50s, I traveled all over New York City. The promoter had 10 acts, and the winner each night would get five dollars; second place would get three dollars, and third place would get two dollars. He always put the best acts on last so the people wouldn't walk out, and the worst acts went on first. He always put me on first.
I believe that President Nixon was right in what he did at Watergate. Lack of respect for authority and things like socialism are turning this into a weak, effeminate country.
As long as you're recording and they pay the fee, it's like a lottery ticket. You never stop trying.
As long as those pretty girls notice me, I don't care if they say, 'Ghastly, horrible'... I live for the beautiful angels.
I always love the smell of a bat and a glove, or a hockey puck in the winter time.
We hear about the Gershwins, the Kerns, and the Berlins, but there were some great little writers like Theodore Morse, Charles K. Harris, and Ernest R. Ball, who wrote 'Let the Rest of the World Go By.'
Remember, it's better to be a has-been than a never-was.
I'm the first has-been star singer ever to sing with the circus. I mean, Presley sang with the circus, but that was before he became a star.
I want to get a hit record, and I know I can be good in horror movies.
The only thing I think of is the next hit record.
In this business, you're as good as your last hit record, and mine was more than 26 years ago.
I don't want people to think lm hypocritical.
