"I have never had anything that I can remember in the business - and that includes all the movies and the stage shows and everything - that I didn't enjoy. I didn't like some of the small-time vaudeville, because we weren't going on and getting better. Aside from that, I didn't dislike anything." On modern movies: "They tend to overdo the vulgarity. I'm not embarrassed by the language itself, but it's embarrassing to be listening to it, sitting next to perfect strangers." "Of course, Ginger was able to accomplish sex through dance. We told more through our movements instead of the big clinch. We did it all in the dance." "I had some ballet training but didn't like it. It was like a game to me." "People think I was born in top hat and tails." "The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any." "It's nice that all the composers have said that nobody interprets a lyric like Fred Astaire. But when it comes to selling records I was never worth anything particularly except as a collector's item." [On his screen partnership with Ginger Rogers] "Ginger was brilliantly effective. She made everything work for her. Actually, she made things very fine for the both of us and she deserves most of the credit for our success". "I suppose I made it look easy, but gee whiz, did I work and worry." "Dancing is a sweat job." [To Jack Lemmon] "You're at a level where you can only afford one mistake. The higher up you go, the more mistakes you're allowed. Right at the top, if you make enough of them, it's considered to be your style". "I don't want to be the oldest performer in captivity... I don't want to look like a little old man dancing out there."