Lucille Ball

Knowing what you can not do is more important than knowing what you can do. In fact, that's good taste.

Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an iconic American comedian, actress and star of the landmark sitcom I Love Lucy, and charter member of the Television Hall of Fame.

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• Knowing what you can not do is more important than knowing what you can do. In fact, that's good taste.
  • Quoted in Eleanor Harris, The Real Story of Lucille Ball, ch. 1 (1954)

• You see much more of your children once they leave home.
  • Quoted in Carolyn Warner, The Last Word, ch. 16 (1992)

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• The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.

I think knowing what you cannot do is more important than knowing what you can do. In fact, that's good taste.

One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore faith in yourself.

I don't know anything about luck. I've never banked on it, and I'm afraid of people who do. Luck to me is something else: hard work and realizing what is opportunity and what isn't.

The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.

I'm not funny. What I am is brave.

Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead.

I'd rather regret the things that I have done than the things that I have not.

A man who correctly guesses a woman's age may be smart, but he's not very bright.

In life, all good things come hard, but wisdom is the hardest to come by.

[About her meeting Desi Arnaz for the first time]: It wasn't love at first sight. It took a full five minutes.

Desi (Desi Arnaz) was the great love of my life. I will miss him until the day I die. But I don't regret divorcing him. I just couldn't take it anymore.

[About Edith Head]: Edie knew the truth about all of us. She knew who had flat fannies and who didn't -- but she never told.

[on Liza Minnelli] She's a great trooper, Liza, I wish I had her talent. If anybody's going to take over from me, it's her. She's got a mind like a trip hammer and huge vitality. She's great.

[on Bob Hope] You spell Bob Hope C-L-A-S-S.

[on Audrey Hepburn] She's a tomboy and a fine comedienne. You'd never think of her being able to do my type of comedy. But she can. She has great energy, frail as she looks. But, well, she's so beautiful, so ethereal, it would be sacrilege to put her through it.

You were taken in charge and trained. They have none of that today any place. I regret the passing of the studio system. I was very appreciative of it because I had no talent. Believe me. What could I do? I couldn't dance. I couldn't sing. I could talk. I could barely walk. I had no flair. I wasn't a beauty, that's for sure.

[on Julie Andrews] I mean, you in Britain have some of the best comediennes. Julie Andrews is a comedienne -- oh yes she is!

[on Buster Keaton] He taught me most of what I know about timing, how to fall and how to handle pros and animals.

External links

• Official website
• Lucille Ball on IMDb
• Lucille Ball at the Notable Names Database
• Lucille Ball at the Internet Broadway Database
• Lucille Ball at the Museum of Broadcast Communications
• New York Times obituary
• Lucille Ball biography on TVLand.com