Lucille Ball

Ability is of little account without opportunity. 

How I Love Lucy was born? We decided that instead of divorce lawyers profiting from our mistakes, we'd profit from them.  

I am a real ham. I love an audience. I work better with an audience. I am dead, in fact, without one. 

I hate failure and that divorce was a Number One failure in my eyes. It was the worst period of my life. Neither Desi nor I have been the same since, physically or mentally. 

I have an everyday religion that works for me. Love yourself first, and everything else falls into line. 

I regret the passing of the studio system. I was very appreciative of it because I had no talent. 

I think knowing what you cannot do is more important than knowing what you can.

I will never do another TV series. It couldn't top I Love Lucy, and I'd be foolish to try. In this business, you have to know when to get off.

I'd rather regret the things I've done than regret the things I haven't done.

I'm happy that I have brought laughter because I have been shown by many the value of it in so many lives, in so many ways.

I'm not funny. What I am is brave.If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it. The more things you do, the more you can do. 

In life, all good things come hard, but wisdom is the hardest to come by. 

It's a helluva start, being able to recognize what makes you happy. 

Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world. 

Luck? I don't know anything about luck. I've never banked on it and I'm afraid of people who do. Luck to me is something else: Hard work - and realizing what is opportunity and what isn't.

Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead.

One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn' t pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.