Sammy Davis, Jr. Quotes

Ten million dollars after I'd become a star I was deeply in debt... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

The civil rights movement wasn't easy for anybody... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

The manic pursuit of success cost me everything I could love: my wife, my three children, some friends I would have liked to grow old with... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

The one thing you don't want is that stale sound when you've done a line so much you can't find a fresh approach to it. Drop it... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

The success of the Rat Pack or the Clan was due to the camaraderie, the three guys who work together and kid each other and love each other... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

The ultimate mystery is one's own self... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

There are certain romances that belong in certain cities, in a certain atmosphere, in a certain time... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

There are lines that I know are going to get a belly laugh, but after a few shows I get sick of hearing myself say them so I drop them... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

There's nothing that can match Broadway for stature and dignity... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

Though I love the luxury of the Waldorf Towers, room service there doesn't do soul food... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

You don't swing where you sleep... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

We can't answer King's assassination with violence. That would be the worst tribute we could pay him... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

When Liza Minelli was a child, she used to sit on my lap and call me Uncle Sammy... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

With an ocean between you and your European friends, you have to keep them in your heart... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

Would it be better if I'd married a Negro woman? Would they treat my child any better? Erect fewer barriers?.. view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

You always have two choices: your commitment versus your fear... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

You can be in this business 50 years and still not know anything about it... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

Sober up, and you see and hear everything you'd been able to avoid hearing before... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

What have I got? No looks, no money, no education. Just talent... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

To appear on the stage drunk, to have them leave there and remember me making drunken mistakes, that was death... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

I don't have many easy songs... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

Reality is never as bad as a nightmare, as the mental tortures we inflict on ourselves... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

A man is not complete until he has seen the baby he has made... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

Alcohol gives you infinite patience for stupidity... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

All I really had was my talent. Without that I wouldn't be welcome at the White House... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

Being a star has made it possible for me to get insulted in places where the average Negro could never hope to go and get insulted... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

Being in public with May and the children was too heavy. I was irreversibly tuned in to everyone around us... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

Bogart could have been color blind. He got to know a man before he decided if he liked him or not... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

During three decades, along all the highways of my youth, Frank had always been there for me... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

Everything Michael Jackson does on stage is exactly right... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

Fame comes with its own standard. A guy who twitches his lips is just another guy with a lip twitch - unless he's Humphrey Bogart... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

I believed in Bobby Kennedy. Campaigning for him was an attempt to give back something to this country that has given me so much... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

When you lose a lover it's like getting a bad haircut. It grows back in time... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

I didn't hate being 60 as much as I had 50... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

I go to temple a lot less than I would like because when I do, people still look at me as if they think it's a publicity stunt... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

Marilyn and I were rumored to be an item. We were friends. Nothing more. Marilyn was one of the sweetest creatures that ever lived... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

Real success is not on the stage, but off the stage as a human being, and how you get along with your fellow man... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

Part of show business is magic. You don't know how it happens... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

My home has always been show business... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

I bought a house in the Hollywood Hills and brought my grandmother from Harlem to live in it with me... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

May was young and beautiful, we were legally married, but she was caught in the prison of my skin... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.

I had more clothes than I had closets, more cars than garage space, but no money... view

By: Sammy Davis, Jr.