Desi Arnaz quotes:

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.

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

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

I went to high school with Al Capone.

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.

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.

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

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.

Nobody bats 500. We all make mistakes.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Lucy and I would love furiously and fight furiously.

Lucy is such a perfectionist.

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

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

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

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

I learned a lot from Xavier Cugat.

Drinking intensifies all your pressures and your needs.

Mother came to New York to keep house for me.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

In 1934 there were very few Cubans in Miami.

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

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

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

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

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