'Years ago, I tried to top everybody, but I don't anymore. I realized it was killing conversation. When you're always trying for a topper you aren't really listening.'

'I succeeded by saying what everyone else is thinking.'

- Comedian Joan Rivers (1933-2014)

'After you make a fool of yourself a few hundred times, you learn what works.'

- Musician Gwen Stefani (1969-present)

'I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.'

-Comedian George Burns (1896-1996)

'Life is like a ten speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use.'

- "Peanuts" cartoonist Charles M. Schulz (1922-2000)

'You can't be that kid standing at the top of the waterslide, overthinking it. You have to go down the chute.'

- Actress and comedian Tina Fey (1970-present)

'Unfortunately, many people do not consider fun an important item on their daily agenda. For me, that was always a high priority in whatever I was doing.'

-Chuck Yeager, the first pilot to break the sound barrier (1923-2020)

'Adults ask questions as a child does. When you stop wondering, you might as well put your rocker on the front porch and call it a day.'

- Comedian and late night host Johnny Carson (1925–2005)

'You only go around once, but if you play your cards right, once is enough.'

- Frank Sinatra (1915–1998)

'Pioneering is never done in front of cheerleaders urging on a roaring grandstand of popular approval.'

- "Star Trek" actor George Takei (1937-present)

'There's a hell of a distance between wise-cracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wise-cracking is simply calisthenics with words.'

- Writer Dorothy Parker (1893-1967)

Listen to an interview with Martha Graham from 1974

This interview, from the "Bernard Gabriel Views the Music Scene" program, features a candid conversation in which Graham discusses how her career did not take off until her 30s and how she learned to ignore criticism.

Some of the 'Jeopardy!' host Alex Trebek's best quotes

"The secret to happiness, of course, is not getting what you want; it's wanting what you get."

'The minute you start talking about what you're going to do if you lose, you have lost.'

- Diplomat George Shultz (1920–2021)

'Be silent, if you choose; but when it is necessary, speak—and speak in such a way that people will remember it.'

- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

Bob Newhart was the first comedian to have a chart-topping album

In 1960, “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart” reached the top of the Billboard charts and stayed there for 14 weeks. A few months later, a sequel, “The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back!,” was released. Both records occupied the top two spots for 30 weeks, a record that stood until 1991, when Guns ‘n’ Roses released their “Use Your Illusion” albums.

'A lion never roars after a kill.'

-Coaching legend Dean Smith (1931-2015)

The story behind the greatest outburst in sports history

It's a line that's still perplexing all these years later: "Who do you think you are? I am!" Those words were uttered by Pete Weber, an iconic bowler who was somewhere between John McEnroe and Happy Gilmore. This oral history from the Ringer provides some context for the bizarre insult and a backstory that turns what appears to be a non sequitur into a triumphant celebration.

'Everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt and control them. The best readers come to fiction to be free of all that noise.'

- Author Philip Roth (1933-2018)

‘The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved’ signaled the birth of Gonzo Journalism

The 1970 essay opens with a crude conversation between Hunter S. Thompson, the author, and a man at an airport bar. Thompson’s first-person account places him as an active participant. Instead of focusing on the race itself, Thompson paints vivid details of his experience with the hedonistic scene surrounding it.

A collection of Prince's hilarious encounters with comedians

Charlie Murphy's story about Prince on "Chappelle's Show" became an oft-quoted touchstone in the 2000s, but it's not the only funny story a comedian has about the Purple One. This article collects some of the best from Conan O'Brien, David Alan Grier, and, yes, Charlie Murphy.

Picasso’s legacy is often intertwined with his personal relationships

Family revelations and quotes show the legendary artist as both tender and cruel, and his fame and romantic advances sometimes had disastrous effects on those around him.

Toasting goes back to at least ancient Greece

The Greeks regularly held symposia featuring wine, food, music, entertainment, and intellectual conversation, hosted by a symposiarch, who acted as emcee. The wine was often drunk in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine and ritual madness, which often led to excess.

GZA of Wu-Tang Clan says chess taught him strategy in life and music

In a VICE interview, rapper GZA revealed how speed chess sharpened his mind on tour and shaped his creative strategy. Chess, for him, is more than a game—it’s his framework for life.

Michaels doesn’t care when people say ‘SNL’ was funnier when they were younger

"Generally when people talk about the best cast I think, 'Well, that's when they were in high school,'" Michaels told "Today" in 2015. "Because in high school you have the least amount of power you're ever gonna have. ... Staying up with friends later on a Saturday is great, and people attach to a cast."

New York mayor Ed Koch railed against graffiti in the '70s and '80s

Koch was outspoken in his hatred of the form and, during his three terms, launched an anti-graffiti campaign with the help of several New York celebrities. This 1984 BBC report documents some of the scorn graffiti artists had attracted, including from Grace Glueck, the New York Times' art critic, who said, "I don't consider it an art form on canvas at all."

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

American short story writer Flannery O'Connor raised 40 peacocks, which became potent symbols for her fiction's elegant violence

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

US intelligence allegedly pursued more than 600 schemes to assassinate Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.

Watch a 1934 short film starring jazz legend Cab Calloway, a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance's music scene

Comedy legend Catherine O'Hara, star of 'Schitt's Creek' and 'Home Alone,' quit 'Saturday Night Live' after just one week to return to her old job.

See a ranking of the best (and worst) Federal Reserve Chairs since 1914 out of the 16 men and women who have held the office since.

Apeirophobia is an overwhelming fear of living forever, perhaps stemming from the brain's inability to conceptualize an infinite life.

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

Watch how algorithms can be designed to train themselves and self-improve without human input, to the point where the optimized code is too complex for programmers to understand.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

Volcanoes 'die' when their supply of magma runs out, if they are shifted away from their underlying magma reservoir, or if they get clogged by collapsing or their magma cooling back into rock.

A pickleball's loud 'pop' sound can reach 120 decibels, which is equivalent to a hammer hitting a nail