Don Rickles

My grandchildren just know me now as Mr. Potato Head.

I was 28 when my father died, and I was an only child.

Alan King, a comedian I adored, was considered society, and I was considered the Jewish kid from the neighborhood.

It's good to like yourself, and that only comes from hard work, from doing. But vanity is dangerous; it can trip you badly.

Another thing that freaks me out is time. Time is like a book. You have a beginning, a middle and an end. It's just a cycle.

I wanted to be a teacher, but I was a lousy student, one of the slowest readers. It was a tremendous struggle. But I'm lucky I had some teachers who saw something in me.