Quote

If Ivan the Terrible had been kissed and loved between zero and three, he probably would have become Ivan Not So Terrible. If you're Jewish, you have a small smile on your face. Because you know the rest are wrong and you don't want to hurt their feelings.

Mel Brooks

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Mel Brooks
Age: 98
Born: 1926
Born: June 28
Actor
Composer
Film Actor
Film Director
Film Producer
Journalist
Librettist
Lyricist
Screenwriter
Soldier
Songwriter
Stage Actor
Brooklyn
New York
Melvin Brooks
Melvin Kaminsky
Small
Jewish
Face
Zero
Wrong
Smile
Faces
Terrible
Feelings
Rest
Loved
Three
Probably
Ivan
Become
Hurt
Kissed
Would

More quotes by Mel Brooks

Image
That's it baby, if you've got it, flaunt it.
Mel Brooks
Image
Humor is just another defense against the universe.
Mel Brooks
Image
The brilliance of Max Brooks is that he always quotes authorities at the back of his books that never existed. Like a Russian professor he made up that validates a story or character.
Mel Brooks
Image
My brothers went to work at 12 and put themselves through school and brought the family out of ruin into food and clothing.
Mel Brooks
Image
Woody Allen is a genius. His films are wonderful. He's poetic, but he's also a critic. He artfully steps back from a social setting and criticizes it without - I suspect - without letting himself be vulnerable to it.
Mel Brooks
Image
You're always a little disappointing in person because you can't be the edited essence of yourself.
Mel Brooks
Image
Being short never bothered me for three seconds. The rest of the time I wanted to commit suicide.
Mel Brooks
Image
One day, God said 'Let there be prey.' And he created pigeons, rabbits, lambs and Gene Wilder.
Mel Brooks
Image
Immortality is a by-product of good work.
Mel Brooks
Image
My favorite expression is: When you go up to the bell, ring it ? or don't go up to the bell.
Mel Brooks
Image
I was adored [as a kid]. I was always in the air, hurled up and kissed and thrown in the air again. Until I was six, my feet didn't touch the ground. Look at those eyes! That nose! Those lips! That tooth! Get that child away from me, quick! I'll eat him! Giving that up was very difficult later on in life.
Mel Brooks
Image
Not only should we laugh about Hitler. We must laugh about him. Especially in Berlin.
Mel Brooks
Image
All short women have a delayed fuse. Marry a taller woman: My wife was an inch or two taller than me it's a sign of security.
Mel Brooks
Image
Well, you know, 'Spaceballs' is a weird combination, because it's a simple, sweet little fairytale, and it's crazy and out-there and making fun of and taking apart sci-fi, 'Star Wars', and 'Star Trek'.
Mel Brooks
Image
I'll accept bad taste in a minute, as long as there's some great comedy minds and performances.
Mel Brooks
Image
Be interested in everything. You don't have to adore it. I don't adore hip-hop, I don't think it's great music, but I'm interested, I listen. I watch a lot of new films, I see everything. I still read, I like books, whether they are old books, new books. I'm interested - you gotta stay interested!
Mel Brooks
Image
I love [Nikolai] Gogol's great eye for idiot behavior. Gogol said that life is so tragic, so stupendously sad that we'd better laugh a lot and enjoy ourselves. You either get a sense of humor going or you go under.
Mel Brooks
Image
Immortality is a by-product of good work. Masterpieces are not for artists, they're for critics. Critics can't even make music by rubbing their back legs together. My message to the world is 'Let's swing, sing, shout, make noise! Let's not mimic death before our time comes! Let's be wet and noisy!'
Mel Brooks
Image
My liveliness is based on an incredible fear of death. In order to keep death at bay, I do a lot of Yah! Yah! Yah! And death says, All right. He's too noisy and busy. I'll wait for someone who's sitting quietly, half asleep.
Mel Brooks
Image
I like people with big talents and small neuroses - not always an easy combination to find. I've discovered that if the neurosis is too big, it diminishes the talent and you wind up working too hard for what you get.
Mel Brooks