243 Quotes by Mel Brooks

Any man's greatness is a tribute to the nobility of all mankind, so when we celebrate the genius of [Leo] Tolstoy, we say, "Look! One of our boys made it! Look what we're capable of!"

Tolstoy was the most gifted writer who ever lived. It's like he stuck a pen in his heart and it didn't even go through his mind on its way to the page.

Some critics are emotionally desiccated, personally about as attractive as a year-old peach in a single girl's refrigerator.

I don't think in terms of results at all. I think: what next insanity can I shock the world with?

I try to give my work everything I've got, because when you're dead or you're out of the business or you're in an old actors' home somewhere, if you've done a good job, your work will still be 16 years old and dancing and healthy and pirouetting and arabesquing all over the place. And they'll say, "That's who he is! He's not this decaying skeleton."

Being short never bothered me for three seconds. The rest of the time I wanted to commit suicide.

If Ivan the Terrible had been kissed and loved between zero and three, he probably would have become Ivan Not So Terrible. If you're Jewish, you have a small smile on your face. Because you know the rest are wrong and you don't want to hurt their feelings.

He who hesitates is poor.

Creative people should always be striving, they should always be hungry, they should be looking for the next place to go.