Charles Nelson Reilly

“You learn very little from victory. You learn everything from defeat.”

“Now it's high-fashion, it's 'in.' When I was a kid, it was called 'sissy.'”

“I never had a problem with being gay. I never felt any shame. I just thought it was another color in the crayon box.”

“If you can't be good, be colorful.”

“I lived in a Bronx tenement, and I think I'm still there. I'm just visiting here.”

“My mother said to me, 'You're a character.' I said, 'A character? What's a character?' She said, 'Well, you're not a leading man.'”

“I had a review that said, 'He's not a star, he's a novelty.' And I thought, 'Well, that's better than nothing.'”

“You can't be a comedian and be sensitive. You've got to be a little bit of a pig.”

“When I was a kid, I wanted to be an opera singer... I had a little voice. So my teacher said, 'You're not going to be an opera singer. You're going to be a character actor.'”