All about Me!: My Remarkable Life in Show Business

by Mel Brooks

If I cut my finger, that’s tragedy. Comedy is if you walk into an open sewer and die.

I think it’s important to fail, especially between the ages of twenty and thirty. Success is like sugar. It’s too good. It’s too sweet. It’s too wonderful and it burns up very quickly. Failure is like corned beef hash. It takes a while to eat. It takes a while to digest. But it stays with you. Failure may not feel good when it happens, but it will always sharpen your mind.