"Strip away the phony tinsel of Hollywood and you'll find the real tinsel underneath." - Oscar Levant
"The strength and beauty of his musical accomplishment has long been overshadowed by his public personna. For Oscar Levant, his own music has been silenced by his presumed character: the acerbic crank on the Jack Paar Show; the Broadway showman and Hollywood star; the author of preposterously acute and funny books; the radio and television ringmaster; the concert pianist and Gershwin specialist. No kaleidoscope could serve these many split images." -
ClassicalMusic.netDescribed by the InternetMovieDatabase as a "Pianist, composer and bizarre wit in movies, radio and TV."
"Oscar Levant's mercurial personality can be summed up by two of his most oft-repeated witticisms: the self-aggrandizing "In some moments I was difficult, in odd moments impossible, in rare moments loathsome, but at my best unapproachably great;" and the self-deprecating 'I am the world's oldest child prodigy.' " -
BarnesandNoble.comSome quotes by Levant
"My psychiatrist once said to me, 'Maybe life isn't for everyone'."
"I am no more humble than my talents require."
"The only difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is that the Democrats allow the poor to be corrupt, too."
"There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line."