“I have never known stage-fright at any time.”

“I have personally believed in every product I have ever advertised.”

“I just can't read music.”

“I know I'm fat and I know my hair is straight, but I can sing.”

“I learn my songs by ear.”

“I must work hard to make my singing above reproach; there must be no faults which hard work would take care of.”

“I shall always respect the composer. If I embellish, it is his idea I am embellishing.”

“I sometimes get that wonderful sympathy between me and the audience, telling me I've reached their hearts. And when I do, the thrill is mine.”

“I vowed that whenever my family needed me, I would give up everything to go to them, no matter what. The show must go on was meaningless to me.”

“I was always daydreaming about singing in big productions on Broadway.”

“Ice cream was my undoing, and six chocolate milk shakes in a row were nothing to me at one time.”

“If rock-and-roll is well done, there's nothing so terribly wrong with that kind of music. But the lyrics are another story.”

“In 29 years, I had recorded over 2,200 songs. I was amazed.”

“In nearly all ballads, the words set the mood and meaning, while the music intensifies or enhances them.”

“Intelligent analysis of the composer's intention and strict adherence to it automatically ensures sincerity.”

“It became obvious in 1957 that I was endangering my health by carrying so much weight.”

“It is important that the audience should understand every syllable of every word, for only then can they grasp the meaning of the song.”

“It's up to the audience. It always has been.”

“Many people submit to excessive appetites without realizing that they do not need to eat so much food.”

“Middle-aged women have greater stability, they are more loyal, and their capacity for steady work is greater than that of younger women.”

“Most of the people who act and sing do so for their own pleasure and that of their friends and family.”

“My singing is part of me, like my stoutness, or my light hair, or my poor eyesight.”

“Public and employer opinion often defeat society's best interests with a prejudice against middle-aged women.”

“Since I have been singing for so many years, I don't always need to approach a song quite so laboriously and meticulously.”

“There's no second chance on stage, and I was trained to make the most of my first chance.”

“This nation loves singing and loves acting.”