A collection of quotes and thoughts by Sammy Davis, Jr on self, time, patience, alcohol, wisdom, fear, comedy, humor, reality, love, money, romantic and success.
55 Top Sammy Davis Jr. Quotes That Will Make You Smirk
Quick Facts
Born In:
Harlem, New York City, New York, USA
Sammy Davis Jr. was one of the most famous entertainers, popularly known as ‘Mister Show Business’. He was a renowned American actor, dancer, singer, comedian and impressionist. Sammy starred in seven Broadway shows, twenty three films including, ‘Ocean’s 11’ and numerous television shows. He survived an accident in which he lost one of his eyes. However, this did not deter his spirit and he continued giving commercially successful and critically acclaimed albums. During 1966, Sammy hosted television series including, ‘Sammy Davis, Jr. Show’ and ‘Sammy and Company’. He was also active in politics and was an activist of ‘Civil Rights Movement’ in 1963. We bring to you a treasure trove of his thoughts, views, tirades, one liner and rants. Go through the collection of quotes and sayings by Sammy Davis, Jr.
Savor the moments that are warm and special and giggly.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
You always have two choices: your commitment versus your fear.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Alcohol gives you infinite patience for stupidity.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
The ultimate mystery is one's own self.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
When you lose a lover it's like getting a bad haircut. It grows back in time.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
I bought a house in the Hollywood Hills and brought my grandmother from Harlem to live in it with me.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
We can’t answer King’s assassination with violence. That would be the worst tribute we could pay him.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
May was young and beautiful, we were legally married, but she was caught in the prison of my skin.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
I go to temple a lot less than I would like because when I do, people still look at me as if they think it's a publicity stunt.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
I don't have many easy songs.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
There are lines that I know are going to get a belly laugh, but after a few shows I get sick of hearing myself say them so I drop them.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
I hadn't been in Vegas 20 minutes when I got word that the bookmakers were offering three to one that Frank wouldn't show for my wedding.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
I had traveled 10 states and played over 50 cities by the time I was 4.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Would it be better if I'd married a Negro woman? Would they treat my child any better? Erect fewer barriers?
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Being a star has made it possible for me to get insulted in places where the average Negro could never hope to go and get insulted.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Reality is never as bad as a nightmare, as the mental tortures we inflict on ourselves.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
My home has always been show business.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
The manic pursuit of success cost me everything I could love: my wife, my three children, some friends I would have liked to grow old with.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
I didn't hate being 60 as much as I had 50.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
When Liza Minelli was a child, she used to sit on my lap and call me Uncle Sammy.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
You don't swing where you sleep.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
I was so opposed to the war in Vietnam that I initially refused President Nixon's urgings for me to go there.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
I believed in Bobby Kennedy. Campaigning for him was an attempt to give back something to this country that has given me so much.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Marilyn and I were rumored to be an item. We were friends. Nothing more. Marilyn was one of the sweetest creatures that ever lived.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
The civil rights movement wasn't easy for anybody.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Ten million dollars after I'd become a star I was deeply in debt.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
The one thing you don't want is that stale sound when you've done a line so much you can't find a fresh approach to it. Drop it.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
You can be in this business 50 years and still not know anything about it.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
A man is not complete until he has seen the baby he has made.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Bogart could have been color blind. He got to know a man before he decided if he liked him or not.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
I'd learned a lot in the Army. I knew that above all things in the world I had to become so big, so strong that people and their hatred could never touch me.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
There's nothing that can match Broadway for stature and dignity.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Fame comes with its own standard. A guy who twitches his lips is just another guy with a lip twitch - unless he's Humphrey Bogart.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
If you want to get known as a singer you hire five sexy chicks and let them fight over you onstage and for the cameras. That's publicity, man.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
During three decades, along all the highways of my youth, Frank had always been there for me.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
All I really had was my talent. Without that I wouldn't be welcome at the White House.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
We can't answer King's assassination with violence. That would be the worst tribute we could pay him.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
To appear on the stage drunk, to have them leave there and remember me making drunken mistakes, that was death.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
With an ocean between you and your European friends, you have to keep them in your heart.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Though I love the luxury of the Waldorf Towers, room service there doesn't do soul food.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Everything Michael Jackson does on stage is exactly right.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Being in public with May and the children was too heavy. I was irreversibly tuned in to everyone around us.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Real success is not on the stage, but off the stage as a human being, and how you get along with your fellow man.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
There are certain romances that belong in certain cities, in a certain atmosphere, in a certain time.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
I had more clothes than I had closets, more cars than garage space, but no money.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
What have I got? No looks, no money, no education. Just talent.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
The success of the Rat Pack or the Clan was due to the camaraderie, the three guys who work together and kid each other and love each other.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Sober up, and you see and hear everything you'd been able to avoid hearing before.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
I saw that my image was changing or fading. One of the reasons for taking a break from clubs was to be missed-not forgotten.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
I wasn't anything special as a father. But I loved them and they knew it.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
I have to be a star like another man has to breathe.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
I wasn’t anything special as a father. But I loved them and they knew it.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Part of show business is magic. You don’t know how it happens.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
The civil rights movement wasn’t easy for anybody.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
You don’t swing where you sleep.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
