Desi Arnaz Quotes

#1. I didn't know anything about acting, much less about acting in a comedy.

Desi Arnaz

#2. I learned a lot from Xavier Cugat.

Desi Arnaz

#3. The straw hat is the typical hat Cubans use. It's cool and keeps the sun away from your face.

Desi Arnaz

#4. Since I was very young I have always worked hard at whatever I have had to do.

Desi Arnaz

#5. The custom of my grandfather's day is still going strong in Latin America. American girls do not seem to understand it.

Desi Arnaz

#6. In 1934 there were very few Cubans in Miami.

Desi Arnaz

#7. It's really amazing that two people from such different backgrounds and geographical origins ever got together. That was perhaps part of the attraction.

Desi Arnaz

#8. Al Jolson was one of the greatest entertainers who ever lived.

Desi Arnaz

#9. The Spanish and Cuban people have the same kind of wakes the Irish do. They go on for two or three days and drink a lot of booze and eat a lot of food.

Desi Arnaz

#10. Lucy is such a perfectionist.

Desi Arnaz

#11. Lucy and I would love furiously and fight furiously.

Desi Arnaz

#12. The thing I remember about New York was how little I felt. I arrived with one small bag and $15.

Desi Arnaz

#13. It was easy for viewers to identify with our show. The characters were believable.

Desi Arnaz

#14. I learned a lot in those first years in Miami, while struggling just for survival, by observing my father's fortitude.

Desi Arnaz

#15. I received my Greetings from Uncle Sam in May 1943. I applied for the Air Force.

Desi Arnaz

#16. An audience is so important. I would never have had the guts to dub in that big a laugh.

Desi Arnaz

#17. I don't think anyone can tell you what it is that makes you a star.

Desi Arnaz

#18. I went to high school with Al Capone.

Desi Arnaz

#19. An actor who is good at comedy can also be very good at drama, but not necessarily vice versa.

Desi Arnaz

#20. Drinking intensifies all your pressures and your needs.

Desi Arnaz

#21. Joe McCarthy and his Senate hearings were like witch-hunts.

Desi Arnaz

#22. One of my biggest problems with comedy was that I did not understand some of the jokes.

Desi Arnaz

#23. I could have stayed home and been kept by my wife.

Desi Arnaz

#24. Real intellectuals like to escape once in a while from their world of intellect.

Desi Arnaz

#25. No one could ever argue with me about people in show business being kind of nice.

Desi Arnaz

#26. Motion-picture studio floors used to be all wooden and not smooth at all. This was difficult when moving a camera around on a dolly.

Desi Arnaz

#27. Nobody bats 500. We all make mistakes.

Desi Arnaz

#28. American people have the ability to laugh at themselves. It is one of the things that makes this country the great country that it is.

Desi Arnaz

#29. At times we were criticized for doing too much slapstick. I don't believe in mild comedy, and neither does Lucy.

Desi Arnaz

#30. Good things do not come easy. The road is lined with pitfalls.

Desi Arnaz

#31. Failure is the most terrible thing in our business. When we fail, the whole world knows about it.

Desi Arnaz

#32. Everyone seemed to be doing well except me and my career. And my accent was no helping me any.

Desi Arnaz

#33. I had started calling her Lucy shortly after we met; I didn't like the name Lucille. That's how our television show was called I Love Lucy, not Lucille.

Desi Arnaz

#34. My Latin temper blows up pretty fast, but it goes down just as fast. Maybe that's why you seldom hear of ulcers in Latin America.

Desi Arnaz

#35. When we got married, nobody gave it more than two weeks. There were bets all over the country, with astronomical odds against us.

Desi Arnaz

#36. Making a television show is not like making Coca-Cola or Bacardi rum. The human element in our business prevents us from finding a successful formula every time.

Desi Arnaz

#37. When I get in the sun I get very tanned. You can't tell me from the native fishermen in Hawaii or Mexico.

Desi Arnaz

#38. If you don't know what to do, don't do anything.

Desi Arnaz

#39. I was the only male of the Arnaz family in my generation.

Desi Arnaz

#40. The success of I Love Lucy is something that happens only once in a lifetime, if you are fortunate enough to have it happen at all.

Desi Arnaz

#41. Mother came to New York to keep house for me.

Desi Arnaz

#42. The way the Army does things is sometimes a little strange.

Desi Arnaz

#43. I was an only child, but I did have a hell of a lot of cousins.

Desi Arnaz

#44. A single prop that does not look real to an audience can louse you up. The same is true of the smallest flaw in setting up the motivation in a story line.

Desi Arnaz