Quotes from Dick Van Dyke

In my seventies, I exercised to stay ambulatory. In my eighties, I exercise to avoid assisted living.

Everyone should dance. And everyone should sing. People say, 'Well, I can't sing.' Everybody can sing. That you do it badly is no reason not to sing.

I can't work with my brother without laughing.

I'm the Steven Spielberg of Malibu.

I was 5 years old when the stock market crashed; I lost everything.

My maternal grandfather owned a grocery store that also sold kosher meat. He did well.

All that nipping and tucking doesn't make you look younger - only stranger.

I never had a lot of confidence in myself.

Somebody sent me a British magazine listing the 20 worst dialects ever done in movies. I was No. 2, with the worst Cockney accent ever done. No. 1 was Sean Connery, because he uses his Scottish brogue no matter what he's playing.

My work is just a hobby. No, I wouldn't want to do it professionally. It's too hard. Deadlines are no fun. But I can sit and tweak all night and not worry about time.

I found doing that kind of comedy without an audience is just... for me, it's almost impossible. You need the audience to do their half of the work.

There's a lot of very funny people I'd love to work with that I've never met, of course. I love Steve Martin and Jim Carrey.

The American people hit the streets and did something that the government wouldn't do: the Civil Rights Act. It didn't go down well with the corporate world.

I think most people will tell you that. They can go along and, while they're denying that they are addicted, say it's stress this, it's this, it's that. But I - it's - I think - I really believe there is a gene. Some people become addicted and others don't.

I don't think we've got much of a chance to tell you the truth. But our main problem is our audience skews a little older than most shows, and I don't think our people can stay up that late. I certainly can't.

You have to be able to laugh at yourself. Attitude is almost more important than what happens to you.

I think, the 'Van Dyke Show' and 'Mary Poppins' are two of the best periods of my life. I had so much fun, I didn't want it to end.

'The Dick Van Dyke Show' was the most fun I ever had and the most creative period of my life.

But once we got on the air, everybody except Morey Amsterdam pretty much stuck to the script.

My son Barry, of course, has been on from the beginning. And his son Shane is playing now a med student regularly on the show. And at one point or another, I've had all four of his kids on the show.

As for my studies in school, I was a solid student. I was strong in English and Latin, but I got lost anytime the subject included math. I wish I had paid more attention to biology and science in general, subjects that came to interest me as an adult. I could have gotten better marks, but I never took a book home, never did homework.

I married somebody half my age, and everybody thought I was crazy, but she is just an absolute angel.

When I was a kid, I had ambitions for being a television announcer, which was before television took off, you know, in the late '40s.

There are no sure answers, only better questions.