The author O. Henry taught me about the value of the unexpected. He once wrote about the noise of flowers and the smell of birds – the birds were chickens and the flowers dried sunflowers rattling against a wall.
There is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is the willingness to think.
The only time a wife listens to her husband is when he’s asleep.
When critics sit in judgment it is hard to tell where justice leaves off and vengeance begins.
Censorship, I believe, is the most dangerous enemy to all human communication, and piety of intention is probably the most dangerous, the most virulent and the most self-satisfying.
Comedy is unusual people in real situations; farce is real people in unusual situations.
Human beings will line up for miles to buy a bucket of catastrophes, but don’t try selling sunshine and light – you’ll go broke.
A lion’s work hours are only when he’s hungry; once he’s satisfied, the predator and prey live peacefully together.
If you make a fool of yourself in front of a cat, he will sneer at you, if you are sober; he will leave the room if you are drunk. If you make a fool of yourself in front a dog, he will make a fool of himself, too.
Comedy is a very, very, very stringent business.
Disney was not a good animator, he didn’t draw well at all, but he was always a great idea man, and a good writer.
I have come to know Bugs so well that I no longer have to think about what he is doing in any situation. I let the part of me that is Bugs come to the surface, knowing, with regret, that I can never match his marvelous confidence.
The road is better than the end.
You’ve got a million bad drawings in you; you better get started.
Jackie Gleason said that comedy is the most exacting form of dramatic art, because it has an instant critic: laughter.
If you want a midget to look like a baby, don’t put a cigar in his mouth.
Mark Twain’s Roughing It is a book that many people don’t know about, but I highly recommend to anybody at any age.
The older I get, the more individuality I find in animals and the less I find in humans.
A comedian is not a person who opens a funny door – he’s the person who opens a door funny.
Well, directing is doing the key drawings, not the key animation, mind you.
You have a coyote inside you and you have to get it out.