“I don't think the real America is in New York or on the Pacific Coast; personally, I like the Middle West much better, places like North and South Dakota, Minneapolis and Saint Paul. There, I think, are the true Americans”

“I always like walking in the rain, so no one can see me crying.”

“You'll find that life is still worthwhile, if you just smile.”

“All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman, and a pretty girl.”

“I'm in the back of a limousine with Charlie Chaplin and it’s 1928. Charlie is beautiful; his body language seems to skip, and reel and rhyme, heartbreaking and witty at the same time. It seems to promise a better world.”

“Happiness does not create humor. There's nothing funny about being happy. Sadness creates humor. Krazy Kat getting hit on the head by a brick from Ignatz Mouse is funny. All the sad things happening to Charlie Chaplin are funny. It's funny because it's not happening to us.”

“Life could be wonderful if people would leave you alone.”

“Why should poetry have to make sense?”

“A tramp, a gentleman, a poet, a dreamer, a lonely fellow, always hopeful of romance and adventure.”

“Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.”

“The saddest thing I can imagine is to get used to luxury.”