Oh Lucy Ricardo. How we loved you. I Love Lucy quickly became an iconic series of an era, with younger generations quoting the series without ever knowing the source. To be fair, the series (and Lucy Ricardo herself) are both highly quotable. And provide plenty of room for laugher. That’s what she was best at, after all.
Sometimes it’s difficult to find ten brilliant quotes from a person. But then there’s Lucy Ricardo, where the problem flips around. It’s hard to decide what the ten best quotes are from her, because there are so many! But the ten funniest quotes are slightly easier (albeit not by much). We hope these quotes make you laugh as much as we did.
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Old Sayings
Ricky Ricardo: Lucy, you remember that old saying, ‘birds of a feather smell the same’?
Lucy Ricardo: You mean ‘a rose by any other name flocks together’?
Admit it, we’ve all had that moment where we’ve mixed up an idiom or old saying. But we’ve probably never done it as comically as Ricky and Lucy. These two are perhaps not the best people for trying to remember and repeat any classic phrase. Ever. Between Ricky’s language barrier and Lucy being well…Lucy it’s not an ideal situation. But we love them for it.
She’s Psychopathic
“This is Madam Ethel Mertzola. She’ll be our medium tonight. She’s psychopathic.”
We think that Lucy might have gotten the work wrong here. You know, just maybe. But in all seriousness, only Lucy could get herself into so many weird situations. Or say the wrong thing in such a way that is so insanely funny. This is classic Lucy Ricardo humor, and it is shining bright in this quote. You don’t even need to know the rest of the scene to find it hilarious.
Ever Since We Said I Do
“Ever since we said ‘I do’, there have been so many things that we don’t.”
Once again, Lucy is doing what she does best. She’s making us laugh. And all while summing up some basic facts of life. Such as the inevitable changes that occur when one gets married. Though in this case it’s probably more accurate to say that Ricky is probably making sure Lucy stays out of trouble (well, he’s doing his best!), and that’s probably a good thing.
He’s Put His Foot Down
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz as Lucy and Ricky in I Love Lucy
“He’s put his foot down so many times, I feel like I’m married to a Cuban centipede.”
Oh Lucy! You really don’t give your husband much credit, do you? Though to be fair, Ricky does have a bad tendency of putting his foot down about something, only for it to be completely ignored. You’d think he’d learn. Or that Lucy would learn. But apparently not. And Again, that is what makes this duo so amazingly funny.
All This Talent Bottled Up
“Here I am with all of this talent bottled up inside of me and you’re always sitting on the cork.”
Leave it to Lucy to sum up a serious problem in the most comical of ways. Nobody ever wants to feel like they’re being stifled in life, and that is a feeling Lucy is expressing here. But she’s done it in a way that just makes us want to burst out laughing. Perhaps it’s because she’s comparing herself to a bottle of campaign (what else would she be?). And it adds a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘put a cork in it.’
Don’t Ask Questions!
“Don’t ask questions, just get a knife and a for and a bottle of ketchup and follow me to the biggest barbecue in the whole world.”
One thing you never want to hear from a chaotic source in your life is ‘don’t ask questions.’ You just know that whatever is going to follow that statement is something that is either going to get you in a lot of trouble, or give you one heck of a headache.
And since this is Lucy Ricardo we’re talking about, go ahead and combine that assumption. It’ll get you into trouble AND give you a headache. And that’s if you’re lucky.
We Can Be Nastier Than That
“Think harder, we can be nastier than that.”
Oh Lucy, never change. We love this quote not because Lucy is a nasty person, but because her comments run so close to the surface. You always know how she feels about a person – because she’ll tell you. Likewise she’s not really the type of person to do something truly nasty. Well, not on purpose at least. Well, not anything that could cause permanent damage. Probably.
Our point is, we love Lucy and her little quotes like this. Even without context, they make us laugh. And only partially because we can easily picture the face she’d make while saying this.
What Do You Want Me To Do?
Ricky Ricardo: What do you want me to do, starve to death?
Lucy Ricardo: Would you, please?
The relationship between Lucy and Ricky is an amusing and interesting one. They clearly love each other – there’s not doubt about that. But they also have no problem sassing the heck out of each other.
In this quote, Lucy has no interest in catering to Ricky’s complaints. After all, he’s a grown manand he could go ahead and feed himself. Or he could starve, which is apparently Lucy’s preference at this given moment. And we kind of get her sentiment here.
My Mother Told Me
“My mother told me never to talk to strange men…whoever she is.”
Lucy is one of a kind. Only she could turn a statement of common sense (not talking to strangers) and totally flip it on it’s head. This quote made us laugh more than we’d like to admit. And we’re hoping it cheers you up a little bit as well.
He’s Pushing 23 Alright
Peggy: Ricky’s middle aged. He must be pushing 23.
Lucy Ricardo: Yeah he’s pushing 23 alright. He’s pushed it all the way to 35.
Once again Lucy isn’t giving her husband any credit. But in this case, he sort of deserves all the ribbing. We know that people out there pretend that they’re younger than they are, and thus they tend to celebrate the same birthday again and again. But typically one’s spouse doesn’t call them out on that fact. But not Lucy! She’ll happily remind him – and everyone around him – of his age. And that’s just hilarious.
