Don Rickles

I don't practice or write stuff down - everything I do onstage was just made up before I went on. ”

Being in the Navy, when I came home, it changed your whole life. You're 18, you go away for two and a half years, you come home - boy, you're a different person. ”

When I got out of high school, I wanted to be an actor but was getting a lot of rejections. I was getting rejected by life. My mother, God rest her soul, told me not to quit. ”

Show business is my life. When I was a kid I sold insurance, but nobody laughed. ”

I exaggerate all our selves, our beings. I make fun of everything: of our life and what we are. But I don't tell jokes, really. I just exaggerate life, and it comes out funny. ”

An 'insult comic' is the title I was given. What I do is exaggeration. I make fun of people, at life, of myself and my surroundings. ”

My life was in Montreal years ago. Best food in the world. ”

My wife came into my life, and my mother still wanted to be the boss. ”

To me, the stand up part in my life is great. I know I can do that. When I get an acting chance, I'm really thrilled. ”

Johnny Carson was a big influence on me - all of those shows I did with him over the years, like, 100 of them, they made a bit of a name for me at the time, so that part of my life was very good. ”