110+ Carol Burnett Quotes (Comedic, Charismatic And Enduring)

Carol Burnett was an American actress, comedian, singer, and writer. She was best known for her long-running TV variety show, The Carol Burnett Show, which won 25 Emmy Awards. She was also known for her roles in television and film, including her portrayal of Miss Hannigan in the movie version of Annie.

Top 10 Carol Burnett Quotes

1. Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.
2. When you have a dream, you've got to grab it and never let go.
3. Before you go to bed, write down three 'gratefuls' for the day and three 'did wells' (they can even include something as simple as doing the laundry)-the results can be amazing!
4. If someone tells you that you cannot do something and you believe it, they are right.
5. It's also selfish because it makes you feel good when you help others. I've been helped by acts of kindness from strangers. That's why we're here, after all, to help others.
6. It costs a lot to sue a magazine, and it's too bad that we don't have a system where the losing team has to pay the winning team's lawyers.
7. Comedy is a tragedy plus time.
8. No one ever said life was fair. Just Eventful.
9. I had a good loud voice and I wasn't afraid to be goofy or zany.
10. We don't stop going to school when we graduate.

Carol Burnett Image Quotes

When you have a dream, you've got to grab it and never let go. — Carol Burnett

Carol Burnett Short Quotes

• Giving birth is like taking your lower lip and forcing it over your head.
• Adolescence is just one big walking pimple.
• Because nobody goes through life without a scar.
• Well, I don't know how astute I am, but I did want to be a journalist when I was growing up.
• The audience is never wrong.
• I think we're here for each other.
• My grandmother and I saw an average of eight movies a week, double features, second run.
• Celebrity was a long time in coming; it will go away. Everything goes away.
• When things are a disappointment, try not to be so discouraged.
• I don't eat much meat, fish, or poultry.

Carol Burnett Famous Quotes And Sayings

When you have a dream, you've got to grab it and never let go. — Carol Burnett

If you want to know the feeling [of labor pain], just take your bottom lip and pull it over your head. — Carol Burnett

But I don't begrudge anybody, because I know how hard it is to have that dream and to make it happen, whether or not it's just to put a roof over your head and food on the table. — Carol Burnett

I wish my mother had left me something about how she felt growing up. I wish my grandmother had done the same. I wanted my girls to know me. — Carol Burnett

I have always grown from my problems and challenges, from the things that don't work out, that's when I've really learned. — Carol Burnett

I love the writing. I love the idea of typing and seeing it on the computer and printing it out myself and, you know, moving sentences around. I like that. — Carol Burnett

People invite me to dinner not because I can cook, but because I like to clean up. I get immediate gratification from windex. Yes, I do windows. — Carol Burnett

When someone who is known for being comedic does something straight, it's always "a big breakthrough" or a "radical departure." Why is is no one ever says that if a straight actor does comedy? Are they presuming comedy is easier? — Carol Burnett

My grandmother and I followed my mother here, to a house a block north of Hollywood Boulevard but a million miles away from Hollywood, if you know what I mean. We would hang out behind the ropes and look at the movie stars arriving at the premieres. — Carol Burnett

You know, one wonderful thing that came out of my Enquirer experience is that, in my case, it was ruled tabloids are magazines. Which means they didn't have the protection that a newspaper has. — Carol Burnett

No matter what, when you major in theater arts whether you want to write or be a director or design scenery or whatever, when you are a freshman at UCLA then - I guess it's still the same way - you had to take an acting class. — Carol Burnett

I always had a weak chin because we couldn't afford to correct my bite, which could have been corrected with braces. So the chin was always weak. And I always was - kind of hated my profile. And I thought wouldn't it be nice someday to feel the rain on your chin without having to look up. — Carol Burnett

I never regretted turning down anything, I never regretted losing a job because I always felt something else was out there. — Carol Burnett

I have a great memory. — Carol Burnett

I was once asked to do my Tarzan yell at Bergdorf Goodman, and a guard burst in with a gun! Now I only do it under controlled circumstances. — Carol Burnett

I think the hardest thing to do in the world, show-business-wise, is write comedy. — Carol Burnett

I was kind of shy as a kid. I was a pretty good student. I was a wallflower, or nerd, if you will. — Carol Burnett

I'm not always optimistic. You wouldn't have all cylinders cooking if you were always like Mary Poppins. — Carol Burnett

I liked myself better when I wasn't me. — Carol Burnett

Have you noticed that all you need to grow healthy, vigorous grass is a crack in your sidewalk? Having a baby is like taking your lower lip and forcing it over your head. — Carol Burnett

I am not a joke-teller. Stand-up, I couldn't do. — Carol Burnett

I don't have false teeth. Do you think I'd buy teeth like these? — Carol Burnett

My grandmother and I would go see movies, and we'd come back to the apartment - we had a one-room apartment in Hollywood - and I would kind of lock myself in this little dressing room area with a cracked mirror on the door and act out what I had just seen. — Carol Burnett

You have to have faith that there is a reason you go through certain things. I can't say I'm glad to go through pain, but in a way one must, in order to gain courage and really feel joy. — Carol Burnett

I think the reason I was successful is that I was never cynical. — Carol Burnett

I'm hooked on Glenn Close in 'Damages.' — Carol Burnett

I can't tell a joke to save my soul. It's just not my thing, though I love to listen to jokes. — Carol Burnett

As far as sitcoms go, I thought Jenna Elfman in 'Dharma and Greg' was a wonderful physical comedienne who had great timing. — Carol Burnett

It's not a bad thing to be able to do many things onstage. If you're an entertainer, you should be able to entertain. I'm proud to say that I'm not a one-trick pony. — Carol Burnett

I'm really not that funny in real life! But I am the best audience one could find. I love to laugh. — Carol Burnett

When I left 'The Garry Moore Show,' I signed a 10-year contract with CBS. — Carol Burnett

My interesting diet tips are eat early and don't nosh between meals. I mean, I can pack it away. — Carol Burnett

What I like to write about is stuff I know. I don't think I could write a novel. I don't think I have it in me to come up with those kinds of characters. — Carol Burnett

I have an iPhone, and I can text, and I can use the phone, and I can even take pictures with it. — Carol Burnett

I loved doing 'The Family' with Eunice and Mama. They were very interesting because there were no jokes written into those sketches. It was all character-driven. And sometimes it got a little heavy. — Carol Burnett

I do think there are some great female comics: Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph. They're the whole ball of wax. — Carol Burnett

My favorite is doing the television show, as a variety show, every week. If the show wasn't that great one week, we could always come back and apologize, you know? — Carol Burnett

Just scream! You vent, and the body just feels good after a good old yell. — Carol Burnett

Steve Martin in 'All of Me,' when he did that whole thing where he was possessed by the spirit in his body? It was brilliant. — Carol Burnett

I love 'Modern Family.' And I love 'Glee' - the singing, the music - Jane Lynch just kills me. — Carol Burnett

The first time someone said, 'What are your measurements?' I answered, '37, 24, 38 - but not necessarily in that order.' — Carol Burnett

On the good days, my mother would haul out the ukulele and we'd sit around the kitchen table - it was a cardboard table with a linoleum top - and sing. — Carol Burnett

I was in California, and I was going to UCLA, and I knew I certainly didn't have movie star looks. I remember seeing pictures and photos of Ethel Merman and Mary Martin, who were kind of average looking. I said, 'Well, that's for me, then, to go back to New York and try to be in musical comedy on Broadway.' — Carol Burnett

I'm glad I was born when I was. My time was the golden age of variety. If I were starting out again now, maybe things would happen for me, but it certainly would not be on a variety show with 28 musicians, 12 dancers, two major guest stars, 50 costumes a week by Bob Mackie. The networks just wouldn't spend the money today. — Carol Burnett

I'm into 'House of Cards.' 'Breaking Bad' - my God, did I binge on that! — Carol Burnett

Everybody I know who is funny, it's in them. You can teach timing, or some people are able to tell a joke, though I don't like to tell jokes. But I think you have to be born with a sense of humor and a sense of timing. — Carol Burnett

I've always been able to recount things, and I have a really good memory about dialog and what people have said before and this and that. — Carol Burnett

I do the 'New York Times' crossword puzzle every morning to keep the old grey matter ticking. — Carol Burnett

I come from Texas, and my grandmother and mother were born in Arkansas. — Carol Burnett

You do have to love your kids enough to let them hate you. But it's the disease that's hating you, not them. — Carol Burnett

I don't remember a time when I wasn't waiting for a scab either to grow or to fall off my knee. — Carol Burnett

I couldn't get the laughter out of my head. It wasn't career. It wasn't even a choice. It was a calling. — Carol Burnett

We all get where we're going by circuitous journeys, and some of the setbacks are warranted. — Carol Burnett

I am not a person who yells at all, but I realized that I have always felt so good after doing the Tarzan yell, after doing Charo, or screaming as Eunice. — Carol Burnett

I eat very well, and I do Pilates. — Carol Burnett

I really enjoy connecting with the audience. — Carol Burnett

Edgy is fine - I'm not a prude by any stretch of the imagination - but what's wrong with a good ol' belly laugh? I miss that. — Carol Burnett

In '57, I got a job at the Blue Angel nightclub, and a gentleman named Ken Welch wrote all my material for me. I lived at a place called the Rehearsal Club that was actually the basis for a play called Stage Door. — Carol Burnett

If you see a kid in school, who is a little shy ... that's when you should reach out. When you do, you are going to open up a flower and discover something wonderful. — Carol Burnett

When I went to New York to try and make it, I never thought it wouldn't happen. — Carol Burnett

My mother was very funny. My dad had a great sense of humor. My grandmother, too. — Carol Burnett

I was raised going to the movies with my grandmother as a kid. And then I'd come home, and my best friend and I would act out the films that we saw. — Carol Burnett

Originally, I came from Texas, and we lived on - I guess you'd call it welfare, what we called relief. — Carol Burnett

I always preferred working with somebody so I could look into their eyeballs and play tennis. — Carol Burnett

Because of YouTube, I'm getting fan mail from 10-year-olds and teenagers and college kids. — Carol Burnett

I struggled for a while, but when I was cast in an Off Broadway show called 'Once Upon a Mattress,' that kind of put me on the map. — Carol Burnett

Comedy = tragedy + time. — Carol Burnett

I prefer doing TV, where it can be different every time. — Carol Burnett

Jimmy Stewart and Lucille Ball were so unique. — Carol Burnett

My favourite comedian, of course, is Tim Conway. He has a way about him - being that belly-laugh kind of funny, and he has the improvisational skills, too. I've never seen anybody better. — Carol Burnett

I very much enjoyed doing 'Law & Order,' playing a killer - that was fun, and they had a family feel around the set, so it was a happy show to do even though the subject matter was quite the opposite. — Carol Burnett

I didn't really get comfortable until I got to UCLA, and I had to take an acting course because I was studying theater arts. — Carol Burnett

I love Maya Rudolph. She's very multitalented herself. — Carol Burnett

I love to write. I have always loved writing. That was my first love. — Carol Burnett

I always felt that I was more of an actress than a - I can't tell a joke to save my soul, but that I was a comedic actress. — Carol Burnett

Daddy, when he drank, just became sweeter. There wasn't a mean thought in his body. I've always said he was like a drunk Jimmy Stewart. — Carol Burnett

I had always been quiet and studious in school. I was the high school editor of the newspaper. — Carol Burnett

When I was starting out in this business, that was the norm. You did it all. You looked around, and entertainers could dance, sing, play the piano, act, make you laugh. — Carol Burnett

I never felt cynical, and I never felt that I couldn't do what I wanted to do. — Carol Burnett

You have to really want it, and don't take it personally if you don't get a job. Because sometimes you're not the type. And sometimes it's somebody else's turn. — Carol Burnett

You have to go through the falling down in order to learn to walk. It helps to know that you can survive it. That's an education in itself. — Carol Burnett

My first book was an open letter to my three daughters. — Carol Burnett

I wanted to be on Broadway, but in musical comedy. — Carol Burnett

I had it in my contract with CBS, a very weird clause that was never written before and certainly not since, that if I wanted to do a variety show within the first five years of the contract, CBS would have to put it on for 30 shows. — Carol Burnett

I'm like your mother, your sister, whatever. — Carol Burnett

there were times when I was more at home in front of millions of people than I was at home. — Carol Burnett

It's almost impossible to be funnier than the people in Washington. — Carol Burnett

When I was in college at UCLA, I took a playwriting course. I was all set to be a writer. But I had to take this acting class as a theater arts major. I had to do this scene in a one-act comedy. I just said this line, and then... this laugh happened. I thought, 'Whoa. This is a really good feeling. What have I been missing?' — Carol Burnett

Funny is funny. I dare anyone to look at Tim Conway and Harvey Korman doing the dentist sketch, which is more than 40 years old, and not scream with laughter. — Carol Burnett

It all happened the way it was supposed to. I wouldn't change anything. I had such a great run. — Carol Burnett

I'm not a person who likes to confront. — Carol Burnett

Life Lessons by Carol Burnett

1. Life is full of ups and downs, and it is important to remain resilient and maintain a positive attitude no matter what. Carol Burnett is a great example of this, as she has faced many challenges throughout her career but has always remained optimistic and persevered.
2. It is important to take risks and be courageous in order to achieve success. Carol Burnett is an example of this, as she has taken risks throughout her career and has been rewarded for it.
3. It is important to be kind and generous, as Carol Burnett has demonstrated throughout her career by giving back to her community and supporting causes she believes in.