Joan Rivers Quotes

I am never honored. My career is hilarious to me. I am either under the radar or over the radar.

- Joan Rivers

Career, Over, Am, Hilarious

Fat jokes aren't relevant, but they're hilarious when you find them.

- Joan Rivers

Fat, Find, Relevant, Hilarious

Part of my act is meant to shake you up. It looks like I'm being funny, but I'm reminding you of other things. Life is tough, darling. Life is hard. And we better laugh at everything; otherwise, we're going down the tube.

- Joan Rivers

Other, Shake, Part, Darling

Put me up against Sarah Silverman and I could take her.

- Joan Rivers

Her, Against, Take, Sarah

My obstetrician was so dumb that when I gave birth he forgot to cut the cord. For a year that kid followed me everywhere. It was like having a dog on a leash.

- Joan Rivers

Year, Cut, Having, Forgot

A man can sleep around, no questions asked, but if a woman makes nineteen or twenty mistakes she's a tramp.

- Joan Rivers

Woman, Questions, Nineteen, Asked

I hate housework! You make the beds, you do the dishes and six months later you have to start all over again.

- Joan Rivers

Funny, Over, Six, Dishes

My routines come out of total unhappiness. My audiences are my group therapy.

- Joan Rivers

Therapy, Total, Audiences, Unhappiness

I hate reality shows that are not reality.

- Joan Rivers

Hate, Reality, Shows, Reality Shows

Life goes by fast. Enjoy it. Calm down. It's all funny. Next. Everyone gets so upset about the wrong things.

- Joan Rivers

Next, Upset, Everyone, Calm Down

Never floss with a stranger.

- Joan Rivers

Funny, Never, Stranger

Nobody wants to hear that you met Harry Truman... I met Harry Truman... But you know what I mean? Nobody's interested. They want to know you met Rihanna. And that kills me.

- Joan Rivers

Want, Harry, Rihanna, Truman

Diets, like clothes, should be tailored to you.

- Joan Rivers

Diet, Like, Tailored, Diets

It's feast or famine in showbiz.

- Joan Rivers

Feast, Showbiz, Famine

You've gotta understand - when you interview someone, it's not an interrogation. It's not the Nuremberg Trials.

- Joan Rivers

Someone, Gotta, Nuremberg, Trials

With plastic surgery, the general anesthetic is like a black-velvety sleep, and that's what death is - without waking up to someone clapping and going, 'Joan, wake up, it's all over and you're looking pretty'.

- Joan Rivers

Death, Plastic Surgery, Joan, Anesthetic

Any comic is a very good actor. Look at Don Rickles. He is saying the same joke every night for 20 years and making it look like he just thought of it.

- Joan Rivers

Thought, Making, Very, Joke

We don't apologize for a joke. We are comics. We are here to make you laugh. If you don't get it, then don't watch us.

- Joan Rivers

Here, Comics, Then, Joke

Prince Charles is so funny. So, so funny.

- Joan Rivers

Funny, Prince, Charles, None

I have flabby thighs, but fortunately my stomach covers them.

- Joan Rivers

Thighs, Stomach, Flabby, Fortunately

I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw that my bath toys were a toaster and a radio.

- Joan Rivers

Funny, Toys, Were, Bath

I don't think there'd be a Tina Fey now if I hadn't tried to look good in the beginning.

- Joan Rivers

Beginning, Think, Tina Fey, Tina

I've learned from my dealings with Johnny Carson that no matter what kind of friendship you think you have with people you're working with, when the chips are down, it's all about business.

- Joan Rivers

Friendship, Think, Chips, Johnny

The ideal beauty is a fugitive which is never found.

- Joan Rivers

Never, Ideal, Which, Fugitive

Every comedian is furious. Age makes me angry. I'm unhappy at not being able to open packages anymore. I'm angry that libraries have gone. I hate children on planes. I'm very shallow, so they tend to be little things. To be honest, I think I was probably angry the day I was born, you know, about diapers or something.

- Joan Rivers

I Think, Very, About, Shallow

Elizabeth Taylor has more chins than the Chinese telephone directory.

- Joan Rivers

Chinese, Elizabeth, Taylor, None

Is Elizabeth Taylor fat? Her favorite food is seconds.

- Joan Rivers

Food, Elizabeth, Taylor, None

People say that money is not the key to happiness, but I always figured if you have enough money, you can have a key made.

- Joan Rivers

Say, Always, Made, Enough Money

I hate old people, I hate children. I think any celebrity that adopts a child from a third world country is a fool.

- Joan Rivers

Think, Celebrity, Country, Old People

I am a huge 'Downton Abbey' fan - huge!

- Joan Rivers

I Am, Fan, Downton Abbey, Abbey

My eyes opened, and the first thing I thought of when I could put thoughts together was I want to be in show business. Never wanted anything else. I used to sneak in the costume room at my nursery school and smell the costumes.

- Joan Rivers

Thought, Used, Show, Nursery

I had a friend who was a plastic surgeon, so he would do little things. I never had, like, a full thing. So I would go in maybe once every two or three years, and he'd do a little here, a little there; tweak you, like you tweak your car. Then I became the plastic surgery poster girl.

- Joan Rivers

Here, Maybe, Became, Tweak

I blame my mother for my poor sex life. All she told me was 'the man goes on top and the woman underneath.' For three years my husband and I slept in bunk beds.

- Joan Rivers

Woman, Sex, Goes, Underneath

I do a lot of lectures on survival. I always say you can't change what happened, so have a little wallow, feel very sorry for yourself, and then get up and move forward. You can't change what happened.

- Joan Rivers

Always, Move, Very, Lectures

I walk on a stage, and I know if it's been a good show or not. You know when it's been a good interview. No one has to tell you. You know it. You feel it. You can feel the air. You can feel everything about it when it's a good show. And you know when you've messed up.

- Joan Rivers

Messed Up, Tell, Been, Interview

I live very well, but I support a lot of relatives.

- Joan Rivers

Well, Very, Lot, Relatives

I made so many jokes about poor Russell Crowe, he once knocked on my dressing room door, and told me he wanted to go out on this chat show we were on to laugh with me. Now he's ruined it. I can't make another joke about him.

- Joan Rivers

Door, Another, About, Ruined

I've never thought of it consciously... I say exactly what I think, and very often it's totally politically incorrect. I get, always, chastised for it. So it's not shtick. But I think I'm the one who says, 'The emperor has no clothes.'

- Joan Rivers

Thought, I Think, Very, Emperor

My mother loved entertaining, and I've followed suit, so we have big celebrations for New Year, Passover, Thanksgiving and birthdays.

- Joan Rivers

New, Big, Entertaining, Celebrations

Don't tell your kids you had an easy birth or they won't respect you. For years I used to wake up my daughter and say, 'Melissa you ripped me to shreds. Now go back to sleep.'.

- Joan Rivers

Wake Up, Back, Tell, Melissa

As comedians, we are all laughing because life is so horrible. Life is so difficult, and I cope with it by making jokes about absolutely everything.

- Joan Rivers

Difficult, Making, About, Cope

Being Jewish has always been important to me. I now have 6M tattooed on the inside of my left arm. It's only a half-inch, but every time anyone sees it, they're reminded of the six million who perished, and so am I.

- Joan Rivers

Jewish, Inside, Been, Arm

I could pull my living in and live OK, but I don't want to live OK. I'm very happy to live in my penthouse, very happy I can pick up a check, very happy to have a great life and be able to spread my wealth a little bit.

- Joan Rivers

Happy, Very, Bit, OK

I am for anyone that will give me lower taxes, stop all this stupid spending. Whoever promises me that gets this chicken's vote.

- Joan Rivers

Stupid, Chicken, Give, Promises

Our natures are a lot like oil, mix us with anything else, and we strive to swim on top.

- Joan Rivers

Like, Natures, Anything Else, Mix

Reading should be a pleasure, not a chore.

- Joan Rivers

Reading, Pleasure, Should, Chore

I've had so much plastic surgery, when I die they will donate my body to Tupperware.

- Joan Rivers

Die, Plastic Surgery, Will, Donate

I've learned you don't always listen to your agents and managers. Sometimes they know nothing.

- Joan Rivers

Sometimes, Always, Learned, Agents

The worst thing that ever happened to me on stage is someone ran forward to tell me they loved me and projectile vomited all over the stage. It was horrible.

- Joan Rivers

Forward, Over, Worst Thing, Ran

I love Katy Perry! She's very charming.

- Joan Rivers

Love, She, Very, None

I adore my apartment in New York. It was a ballroom that I remade, so it's like a loft but done by Louis the Fifteenth.

- Joan Rivers

New, Loft, Remade, Louis

All my way through college, I worked my way as a window dresser for Lord & Taylor, so I always liked fashion. I always loved fashion and I love that we can do it and not take it seriously.

- Joan Rivers

College, Through, Always, Dresser

Sure I do a lot of jokes about Anne Frank. But when you do those jokes, it makes people remember what happened to her. That process of bringing her story back doesn't have to be a serious one. What I say is all nonsense, but it helps to keep her memory alive.

- Joan Rivers

Memory, Alive, Frank, Jokes

Everyone forgets comedians are actors. There's no question about it. A Robin Williams cannot say the same line every night for 40 weeks and make it sound fresh unless he's doing an acting job.

- Joan Rivers

Doing, Line, Weeks, Fresh

I truly think comedy is - being funny is DNA. My dad was a doctor, a wonderful doctor, and people still come up to me today, 'Your father helped my mother die.' You know what I'm saying? He made her laugh 'til she died. My father was always very funny.

- Joan Rivers

Die, Very, Dad, Laugh

Life is very tough. If you don't laugh, it's tough.

- Joan Rivers

Life, Tough, Very, Laugh

I love Vines. You make this 6.4-second drama, and you can reach 6 million viewer, and make people laugh. I find it so fabulous.

- Joan Rivers

Love, Reach, Viewer, Laugh

What makes me laugh is, of course, the absurd, the horror - anything that upsets me.

- Joan Rivers

Horror, Absurd, Makes, Laugh

Thank God we're living in a country where the sky's the limit, the stores are open late and you can shop in bed thanks to television.

- Joan Rivers

Thankful, Sky, Bed, Open

I get butterflies before I go out to say hello at a party.

- Joan Rivers

Butterflies, Get, Before, Party

I'm always shocked when I get an invitation. People are always shocked when they see me at a party.

- Joan Rivers

See, Invitation, Always, Party

My best birth control now is just to leave the lights on.

- Joan Rivers

Now, Leave, Birth Control, Lights

I'm in nobody's circle, I've always been an outsider.

- Joan Rivers

Nobody, Always, Been, Outsider

I enjoy life when things are happening. I don't care if it's good things or bad things. That means you're alive.

- Joan Rivers

Alive, Bad, Means, Good Things

I was not an attractive child. When I didn't use my Girl Scouts uniform as a uniform, I used it as a tent.

- Joan Rivers

Attractive, Tent, Use, Scouts

Your child is never not your child. You can be 90 and your mother 120, but your mother is still worried about you.

- Joan Rivers

Mother, Never, Still, Worried

My husband wanted to be cremated. I told him I'd scatter his ashes at Neiman Marcus - that way, I'd visit him every day.

- Joan Rivers

Husband, Every Day, Ashes, Visit

You hear things about certain people. When you hear someone was mean to a limo driver or a wardrobe lady, or someone was rotten to a fan, somewhere in your brain it gets stuck.

- Joan Rivers

Brain, About, Your, Stuck

I wish I had a twin, so I could know what I'd look like without plastic surgery.

- Joan Rivers

I Wish, Like, Could, Surgery

I never dwell on what happened. You can't change it. Move forward. Don't waste your energy on being angry at something that somebody did six months ago or a year ago. It's over. Done. Move forward.

- Joan Rivers

Dwell, Year, Your, Energy

I have a wonderful psychiatrist that I see maybe once a year, because I don't need it. It all comes out onstage.

- Joan Rivers

Year, Need, Maybe, Once A Year

All my friends are dying. That's why I always wear black.

- Joan Rivers

Dying, Always, Wear, All My Friends

When I turn down work, I feel guilty, I feel terrible; I don't know where the next job is going to come from.

- Joan Rivers

Work, Next, Going, Terrible

If God wanted us to bend over he'd put diamonds on the floor.

- Joan Rivers

Funny, Diamonds, Over, Floor

I don't excercise. If God had wanted me to bend over, he would have put diamonds on the floor.

- Joan Rivers

Diamonds, Over, Had, Floor

I'm Jewish. I don't work out. If God had wanted us to bend over, He would have put diamonds on the floor.

- Joan Rivers

Work, Diamonds, Over, Floor

She doesn't understand the concept of Roman numerals. She thought we just fought in world war eleven.

- Joan Rivers

Thought, Concept, Fought, Eleven

I would not want to live if I could not perform. It's in my will. I am not to be revived unless I can do an hour of stand-up.

- Joan Rivers

Want, Will, Could, If I Could

I think I was the third person in the world to get a Kindle, and I hated it from the minute I got it.

- Joan Rivers

World, Think, I Think, Kindle

I've learned from doing my own show with Fox that people are not your partners if they're signing the checks. Whoever signs your paycheck is the boss - no matter what they tell you.

- Joan Rivers

Boss, Doing, Learned, Checks

Acting is my true love. I would like to have been a serious actor, and I plan to in the next life. I'm gonna be Meryl Streep Rivers.

- Joan Rivers

Love, Rivers, Next, True Love

Trust me, there's not one night a week I'm not in a theater somewhere. I adore theater, and I go out with friends, so I do have some nights off.

- Joan Rivers

Trust, Some, One Night, Nights

Before we make love my husband takes a pain killer.

- Joan Rivers

Love, Pain, Before, Killer

There is not one female comic who was beautiful as a little girl.

- Joan Rivers

Beautiful, Girl, Comic, Female

When I am on E! for the 'Fashion Police,' I only care about being a critic. It loses me many friends.

- Joan Rivers

About, Being, Am, Loses

You can find my book at your favorite bookstore, and if it isn't there, find a new favorite.

- Joan Rivers

Book, New, Find, Bookstore

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is God's gift, that's why we call it the present.

- Joan Rivers

Wisdom, Gift, Yesterday, Present

Forty for you, sixty for me. And equal partners we will be.

- Joan Rivers

Funny, Sixty, Equal, Partners

When you whisper about something, it's too big, and you can't get it under control and take control of it.

- Joan Rivers

Control, Big, About, Whisper

I just get such a connection from an audience. You play with them. I get mad at them. I yell at them. They yell at me. It's just fun.

- Joan Rivers

Play, Audience, Them, Connection

Comedy is a very rough beat. It's no holds barred, as it should be.

- Joan Rivers

Comedy, Very, Rough, Holds

I succeeded by saying what everyone else is thinking.

- Joan Rivers

Everyone, Everyone Else, Saying

It's so long since I've had sex I've forgotten who ties up who.

- Joan Rivers

Sex, Forgotten, Had, Ties

It's been so long since I've had sex I've forgotten who ties up whom.

- Joan Rivers

Sex, Been, Had, Ties

Anyone that says looks don't count is lying. Of course they do. Even babies go to the attractive face. It's the way humans work.

- Joan Rivers

Work, Count, Attractive, Lying

I didn't want to do 'Fashion Police' because I thought, 'This is stupid, this is beneath me, who wants to talk about fashion?' It has taken off. We are the number one show in England on E! Who knew?

- Joan Rivers

Stupid, England, Beneath, Fashion

I'm a New York girl. I come out of New York theater.

- Joan Rivers

New York, New, Theater, York

I was a Brownie Scout mother.

- Joan Rivers

Mother, Scout

I think any celebrity that adopts a child from a third world country is a fool.

- Joan Rivers

Think, Celebrity, Country, Third World

Show business is - you're there by somebody's fluke. And as long as somebody likes you, and the show is going well, you're fine. I'd do anything. There's so much I want to do.

- Joan Rivers

Business, Want, Going, Likes

I'm grateful for every day I'm still alive. Everything is still working. I attribute it to eating a lot of processed foods. I think it's the preservatives that keep me going. That, and I eat as much chocolate as I can get my hands on.

- Joan Rivers

Hands, Alive, I Think, Chocolate

Comedy is learning to be funny, and you learn to be funny in small rooms with young audiences.

- Joan Rivers

Small, Learn, Rooms, Audiences

My audiences get younger all the time.

- Joan Rivers

Time, Younger, Get, Audiences

The first time I see a jogger smiling, I'll consider it.

- Joan Rivers

Fitness, Smiling, See, Consider

I told my mother-in-law that my house was her house, and she said, 'Get the hell off my property.'

- Joan Rivers

Home, She, Her, Mother-In-Law

Both of my parents got to see me host Carson, thank God. That's all anyone wants: to have their parents see they're going to be all right in life.

- Joan Rivers

Right, Going, Got, Host

Boy George is all England needs - another queen who can't dress.

- Joan Rivers

Dress, England, Needs, George

I've always been salaried; I've never owned anything. I've done very well, lived very well.

- Joan Rivers

Never, Always, Very, Owned

I was smart enough to go through any door that opened.

- Joan Rivers

Door, Go, Through, Smart

I love the Internet, and I love that you can say whatever you want.

- Joan Rivers

Love, Want, I Love, Internet

If you're saying the same line 10 times and making it look like you just came up with it, that's acting.

- Joan Rivers

Making, Line, Like, Acting

I just love acting.

- Joan Rivers

Love, Just, Acting

What are people going to do? Fire me? I've been fired before. Not book me? I've been out of work before. I don't care.

- Joan Rivers

Fired, Going, Been, Fire

I always like a charity with people who don't speak English because I get them to do all kinds of things around my house.

- Joan Rivers

Always, Like, Them, Speak

Every television show you go on is a choice.

- Joan Rivers

Television, Go, Show, Choice

I have no methods; all I do is accept people as they are.

- Joan Rivers

People, Methods, Accept

Comediennes are the lucky ones, because if you're funny, you can be 125 years old and they will still accept you.

- Joan Rivers

Lucky, Will, Still, Accept

Don't follow any advice, no matter how good, until you feel as deeply in your spirit as you think in your mind that the counsel is wise.

- Joan Rivers

Wisdom, Mind, Think, Counsel

I will only praise someone who can't take anything away from me.

- Joan Rivers

Someone, Away, Take, Praise

I lived to be on stage, and I'm terrified. Terrified before every show.

- Joan Rivers

Stage, Before, Terrified, Lived

Yeah, I read history. But it doesn't make you nice. Hitler read history, too.

- Joan Rivers

History, Read, Too, Yeah

I am furious about everything.

- Joan Rivers

I Am, About, Am, Furious

My career is as an actress. I am an actress playing a comedienne.

- Joan Rivers

I Am, Career, Playing, Actress

I think I'm in a business where you have to look good, and it's totally youth-oriented.

- Joan Rivers

Business, Think, I Think, Totally

Life does not measure up to performing... Performing is perfect.

- Joan Rivers

Measure, Perfect, Does, Performing

I could be the Greta Garbo of comedy, very secluded, but Garbo had a man who was beyond rich to support her.

- Joan Rivers

Rich, Could, Very, Comedy

I think anyone who's perfectly happy isn't particularly funny.

- Joan Rivers

Think, I Think, Perfectly, Anyone

The thing is, I'm happiest when I'm on stage.

- Joan Rivers

Stage, Thing, Happiest

I have no line. If I think it's funny, it's funny.

- Joan Rivers

Funny, Think, I Think, Line

It's like, God, I'm in my 80s. Nobody, when I die, is going to say, 'How young?' They're going to say she had a great ride.

- Joan Rivers

Die, Like, Going, Ride

I was not an attractive child.

- Joan Rivers

Child, Attractive

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