Carol Burnett (born April 26, 1933) is a multifaceted American entertainer who works as a comedian, actress, vocalist, and author. She has taken on both serious and humorous roles in theater and film. Her awards include five Golden Globes, a Grammy, seven Primetime Emmys, twelve People’s Choice Awards, two Peabody Awards, and others.
Burnett grew up in San Antonio, Texas, before her family relocated to Hollywood. She graduated from Hollywood High School and pursued theater and musical comedy at UCLA. After moving to New York City and performing in local nightclubs, she broke through on Broadway in 1959 with a Tony-nominated performance in Once Upon a Mattress. She then transitioned to television, becoming a regular on The Garry Moore Show for three years, which earned her a first Emmy in 1962.
Returning to Los Angeles, Burnett went on to headline the CBS sketch-variety program The Carol Burnett Show for eleven seasons between 1967 and 1978. She was the first woman to front a comedy-variety series, developed a wide array of iconic characters, and both she and the program collected numerous Emmy and Golden Globe wins.
Below we list some words of wisdom from Carol Burnette.
“No one ever said life was fair. Just Eventful.”
“It’s almost impossible to be funnier than the people in Washington.”
“If someone tells you that you cannot do something and you believe it, they are right.”
“When you have a dream, you’ve got to grab it and never let go.”
“Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.”
“You have to have faith that there is a reason you go through certain things. I can’t say I’m glad to go through pain, but in a way one must, in order to gain courage and really feel joy.”
“You have to go through the falling down in order to learn to walk. It helps to know that you can survive it. That’s an education in itself.”
“Words, once they are printed, have a life of their own.”
“Comedy is tragedy plus time.”
“We don’t stop going to school when we graduate.”
“I have always grown from my problems and challenges, from the things that don’t work out, that’s when I’ve really learned.”
“It’s also selfish because it makes you feel good when you help others. I’ve been helped by acts of kindness from strangers. That’s why we’re here, after all, to help others.”
“If you see a kid in school, who is a little shy … that’s when you should reach out. When you do, you are going to open up a flower and discover something wonderful.”
“I couldn’t get the laughter out of my head. It wasn’t career. It wasn’t even a choice. It was a calling.”
“You do have to love your kids enough to let them hate you. But it’s the disease that’s hating you, not them.”
“I had a good loud voice and I wasn’t afraid to be goofy or zany.”
“I never regretted turning down anything, I never regretted losing a job because I always felt something else was out there.”
“The audience is never wrong.”
“I’m really not that funny in real life. But I am the best audience one could find. I love to laugh.”
“But I don’t begrudge anybody, because I know how hard it is to have that dream and to make it happen, whether or not it’s just to put a roof over your head and food on the table.”
“Celebrity was a long time in coming; it will go away. Everything goes away.”
“I love to write. I have always loved writing. That was my first love.”
“But I didn’t ask to have somebody nose around in my private life. I didn’t even ask to be famous. All I asked was to be able to earn a living making people laugh.”
“There were times when I was more at home in front of millions of people than I was at home.”
“I’ve always been able to recount things and I have a really good memory about dialog and what people have said before and this and that.”
“I’m glad I was born when I was. My time was the golden age of variety. If I were starting out again now, maybe things would happen for me, but it certainly would not be on a variety show with 28 musicians, 12 dancers, two major guest stars, 50 costumes a week by Bob Mackie – the networks just wouldn’t spend the money today.”
“I always had a weak chin because we couldn’t afford to correct my bite, which could have been corrected with braces. So the chin was always weak. And I always was – kind of hated my profile. And I thought wouldn’t it be nice someday to feel the rain on your chin without having to look up.”
Copyright © 2026 Stephen Petullo, Scott Petullo
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