“Mom claimed that I could carry a tune at 2 or 3 years of age. Maybe she was a little prejudiced.”
― Ethel Merman
“When you are in deep conflict about something, sometimes the most trivial thing can tip the scales.”
― Ethel Merman
“Always give them the old fire, even when you feel like a squashed cake of ice.”
― Ethel Merman
“I wouldn’t change one thing about my professional life, and I make it a point not to dwell on my mistakes.”
― Ethel Merman
“Everything’s coming up roses – for me.”
― Ethel Merman
“I can never remember being afraid of an audience. If the audience could do better, they’d be up here on stage and I’d be out there watching them.”
― Ethel Merman
“Cole Porter had a worldwide reputation as a sophisticate and hedonist.”
― Ethel Merman
“I was born in my parents’ bedroom on January 16. The World Almanac says it was 1909. I say it was 1912. But what difference does it make as long as I feel 33?”
― Ethel Merman
“Any audience that gets a laugh out of me gets it while I’m facing them.”
― Ethel Merman
“I can hold a note as long as the Chase National Bank.”
― Ethel Merman
“Broadway has been very good to me. But then, I’ve been very good to broadway.”
― Ethel Merman
“You gotta have a gimmick.”
― Ethel Merman
“Who’s happy these days?”
― Ethel Merman
“When I’m asked how to succeed in show business, I always say I haven’t the foggiest.”
― Ethel Merman
“There’s such a thing as theater discipline. One player doesn’t appropriate another’s inventions.”
― Ethel Merman
“There have been people who have tried to take advantage of me. They want to be linked to me just because I’m Ethel Merman.”
― Ethel Merman
“The slapdash way producers used to assemble a show seems a little unbelievable when we talk about them now.”
― Ethel Merman
“Once I had all the attention, all I had to do was deliver.”
― Ethel Merman
“Of my four marriages, the one to Bob Levitt is the only one I don’t regret.”
― Ethel Merman
“My father taught me to read music and play the piano-but not well, even though people have said that I’m a natural musician.”
― Ethel Merman
“My career at Warner Brothers consisted of one musical short subject. I was running around in a bear skin. Very chic.”
― Ethel Merman
“My beloved Mom and Pop always rated tops with each other, and that’s the way it will always be.”
― Ethel Merman
“Music, in the past few years… anything singable or understandable is square.”
― Ethel Merman
“Mom and Pop were proud of my popularity, but from their point of view, show business was no way to make a living.”
― Ethel Merman
“Legend has it that when God created me, he gave me a big distinctive voice, a lot of boldness and no heart.”
― Ethel Merman
“In my case, things have pretty much been handed to me.”
― Ethel Merman
“If I feel in need of sleep, I just open a book or turn on the television. Both are better than any sleeping pill.”
― Ethel Merman
“I’ve never suffered stage fright. That fascinates people.”
― Ethel Merman
“I’ve never cooked. I can’t do much more in the kitchen than make a cup of tea and some toast.”
― Ethel Merman
“I’ve made a wonderful living playing that theatrical character – the professional brassy dame.”
― Ethel Merman
“I’ll pat myself on the back and admit I have talent. Beyond that, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”
― Ethel Merman
“I’ll admit – I was honored to be on the cover of Time.”
― Ethel Merman
“I wouldn’t trust any man as far as you can throw a piano.”
― Ethel Merman
“I work as often as I want and yet I’m free as a bird.”
― Ethel Merman
“I wasn’t straining at the bit to become a movie star any more than I had plotted to get out of vaudeville and into Broadway musicals.”
― Ethel Merman
“I was lucky enough to have the songs in my first show written by George and Ira Gershwin. Then Cole Porter wrote five shows for me.”
― Ethel Merman
“I preferred delivering my performance in person. I liked to be in control. You couldn’t be in films.”
― Ethel Merman
“I have plenty of invitations to go places, lots to do. If I’m not working, I go to have my hair taken care of and work at needlepoint.”
― Ethel Merman
“I have been ambitious to be a somebody from the time I was 5 years old.”
― Ethel Merman
“I Got Rhythm really put me on the map.”
― Ethel Merman
“I don’t like to read. The only things I read are gossip columns. If someone gives me a book, it had better have lots of pictures.”
― Ethel Merman
“I attend surprisingly few shows. The type of theater that is popular today just doesn’t appeal to me.”
― Ethel Merman
“I am known to be able to take care of myself when I become angry. I don’t mince words.”
― Ethel Merman
“Eisenhower was my war hero and the President I admire and respect most.”
― Ethel Merman
“Cole Porter wrote Anything Goes and four more hits for me.”
― Ethel Merman
“Christmas carols always brought tears to my eyes. I also cry at weddings. I should have cried at a couple of my own.”
― Ethel Merman
“At one time I smoked, but in 1959 I couldn’t think of anything else to give up for Lent so I stopped – and I haven’t had a cigarette since.”
― Ethel Merman
“At a flea market I always head for the junk jewelry table first.”
― Ethel Merman
“As far as dramas are concerned, it’s considered passe for playwrights to turn out anything the average person can understand.”
― Ethel Merman
“I take a breath when I have to.”
― Ethel Merman
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