Jonathan Winters quotes

Jonathan Winters was an American comedian and actor celebrated for his improvisational genius and influential style. His quick wit and character-driven humor inspired generations of comedians and shaped modern comedy. He left a lasting legacy through his groundbreaking work on television, stand-up, and voice acting. Here are 19 of his quotes:

I couldn't wait for success, so I went ahead without it. (Jonathan Winters)

If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to meet it.

Jonathan Winters

Nothing is impossible. Some things are just less likely than others.

Jonathan Winters

Something I'll always remember - when I was a kid, I shook hands with Orville Wright. Forty years later, I shook hands with Neil Armstrong. The guy that invented the airplane and the guy that walked on the moon. In a lifetime, that's kinda wild when you think about it.

Jonathan Winters

I know you can be funny without being filthy.

Jonathan Winters

My paintings and comedy have a lot in common. They are both improvisations based on observation.

Jonathan Winters

Well, the most terrible fear that anybody should have is not war, is not a disease, not cancer or heart problems or food poisoning - it's a man or a woman without a sense of humor.

Jonathan Winters

I've done for the most part pretty much what I intended - I ended up doing comedy, writing and painting. I've had a ball. And as I get older, I just become an older kid.

Jonathan Winters

I was always an observer, even as a child. I could be satisfied to sit in a car for 3 hours and just look at the street go by while my mother went shopping.

Jonathan Winters

I have never pretended to be any kind of super-religious kind of man, but I feel very strongly that you can be funny without being dirty.

Jonathan Winters

As a kid, I always wanted to be lots of things. I was a Walter Mitty type. I wanted to be in the French Foreign Legion, a detective, a doctor, a test pilot with a scarf, a fisherman who hauled in a tremendous marlin after a 12-hour fight. (Jonathan Winters)

I began painting well before I started doing comedy. In fact, when I came out of the war in 1946, I enrolled in art school in Dayton, Ohio. I painted for three years, and then show business took hold.

Jonathan Winters

My mother had a radio show - a Barbara Walters type of gal and was very successful for about 20-some years on a radio station.

Jonathan Winters

I don't do jokes. The characters are my jokes.

Jonathan Winters

You've got to be an observer. And you've got to take time to listen to people, talk, to watch what they do.

Jonathan Winters

I find painting a much slower process than comedy, where you can go a mile a minute verbally and hope to God that some of the people out there understand you.

Jonathan Winters

Discipline is tough for a guy who is a rebel.

Jonathan Winters

I love improvisation. You can't blame it on the writers. You can't blame it on direction. You can't blame it on the camera guy... It's you. You're on. You've got to do it, and you either sink or swim with what you've got.

Jonathan Winters

I don't paint every day. I'm not that motivated. I don't do anything the same every day.

Jonathan Winters

Jonathan Winters

Jonathan Winters - Image

Occupation: American Comedian
Born: November 11, 1925
Died: April 11, 2013
Quotes count: 19
Wikipedia: Jonathan Winters

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