"Drinking removes warts and pimples. Not from me. But from those I look at." "How sweet it is!" [trademark line] "I'm no alcoholic. I'm a drunkard. There's a difference. A drunkard doesn't like to go to meetings." "The worst thing you can do with money is save it." On what inspired him to became a "mood music" legend, via a series of successful albums: "Every time I ever watched Clark Gable do a love scene in the movies, I'd hear this really pretty music, real romantic, come up behind him and help set the mood. So I'm figuring that if Clark Gable needs that kinda help, then a guy in Canarsie has gotta be dyin' for something like this."