I was convinced there as only one actor to play Templeton the Rat, and that was Tony Randall. – Joseph Barbera
While I have never been a regular churchgoer, I’m anything but immune to the power and the majesty of the religious experience. – Joseph Barbera
In those days, boxing was very glamorous and romantic. You listened to fights on the radio, and a good announcer made it seem like a contest between gladiators. – Joseph Barbera
I hope we don’t get to the point where we have to have the cat stop chasing the mouse to teach him glassblowing and basket weaving. – Joseph Barbera
There is no law that says a man who earned a hundred million dollars in his first half-dozen years on the job has to be a decent human being, but Mike Eisner is that and more. – Joseph Barbera
Parents look at me like I’m somebody pretty important, and say, We were raised on your characters, and now we’re enjoying them all over again with our children. – Joseph Barbera
One of the most attractive things about writing your autobiography is that you’re not dead. – Joseph Barbera
Los Angeles was an impression of failure, of disappointment, of despair, and of oddly makeshift lives. This is California? I thought. – Joseph Barbera
Ted Turner sailed into the meeting, and I mean sailed. He holds himself as if he were at the helm of his sailboat, in the process of winning the race. – Joseph Barbera
What the real world of 1941 needed most was the release and relief provided by laughter. – Joseph Barbera
I hate fishing, and I can’t imagine why anyone would want to hike when you can get in the car and drive. – Joseph Barbera
Faced with the choice of enduring a bad toothache or going to the dentist, we generally tried to ride out the bad tooth. – Joseph Barbera
I learned long ago to accept the fact that not everything I create will see the light of day. – Joseph Barbera
My biggest kick comes from the individual fans I run into. Middle-aged men ask me when we’re going to do more Johnny Quest cartoons. – Joseph Barbera
What about Mickey Mouse? Disney tried very hard to make him a star. But Mickey Mouse is more of a symbol than a real character. – Joseph Barbera
My marriage had been impulsive. That marriage should have been short-lived instead of the 23 years it spanned. – Joseph Barbera
That’s what keeps me going: dreaming, inventing, then hoping and dreaming some more in order to keep dreaming. – Joseph Barbera
Making cartoons means very hard work at every step of the way, but creating a successful cartoon character is the hardest work of all. – Joseph Barbera
I was 82 years old before Who’s Who thought I was enough of a big shot to do a piece on me. – Joseph Barbera
Publicity gets more than a little tiring. You want it, you need it, you crave it, and you’re scared as hell when it stops. – Joseph Barbera
I never got tired of Tom and Jerry, but I did have a dream of doing more with my life than making cartoons. – Joseph Barbera
