Quotes from Mickey Rooney

I didn't want to be short. I've tried to pretend that being a short guy didn't matter. I tried to make up for being short by affecting a strut, by adopting the voice of a much bigger man, by spending more money than I made, by tipping double or triple at bars and restaurants, by dating tall, beautiful women.

I was about six years old when I did 'Orchids and Ermine.' They dressed me in a suit, put a mustache under my nose, a cigar in my mouth, a cane in my hand, and a hat on my head.

Meadowlark Lemon is one very clever man, unique and truly one of a kind.

I keep going because if you stop, you stop. Why retire? Inspire.

God bless the universe, God bless Japanese, Chinese, Indians, all of them and let's have peace.

All the muddy waters of my life cleared up when I gave myself to Christ.

This is the kind of world I was born in, one in which I had only one reason for existence: pleasing others.

I just want to make sure that I give the animators everything they need, so they have plenty of choices to match their animation.

Love wears off too quickly.

I was born in Brooklyn, delivered by a Chinese doctor on a table in a boarding house on Sept. 23, 1920.

I tried to make up for being 5 ft. 3 in. by affecting a strut and adopting the voice of a much bigger man... dating tall, beautiful women... But nothing I could do, after Ava had left me, would add a single inch to my height.

Look, I come from vaudeville, I come from burlesque, I come from heartaches, I come from sadness, I come from gladness, I come from work and sweat and respect for the craft.

Joe Louis was one of my closest friends.... I'm a great boxing fan. I used to go to the American Legion Stadium in Hollywood, every Friday night for 15 years. Down the aisle would come Lupe Velez, Johnny Weismuller, Mae West. All at ringside.

I didn't ask to be short. I didn't want to be short. I've tried to pretend that being a short guy didn't matter.

Life is an infiltration course. We all try and get through it. We all try and get through it unscathed - maybe not hurt, not bruised. No bones broken, maybe a few hearts here and there.

Someone once asked me what I want on my epitaph when I pass away. Just the words 'I tried.' That's what this game of life is all about. Trying. There's the tryers, the criers, and the liars.

Now. Now is the most important time of all of your young lives. And what does now stand for - N-O-W? No Other Way. That's the only time - NOW!

I just want to be a professional. I couldn't live without acting.

You always pass failure on the way to success.

On Hollywood turning its back on him: I wasn't in the club. You see, I'm not going to be a stroker. I never have been all my life.

I came from a poor family. My father was from Glasgow, Scotland; my mother's brothers were brakemen on the railroad. We didn't have anything but mush for breakfast.

I was a thirteen-year-old boy for thirty years.

I belong to the public. The public made me. The public can break me. I owe them my life.

I've been short all my life. And if anyone wonders what my dying wish will be, they can stop wondering. That will be easy. I'll just tell them, 'I'll have a short bier.'