As long as I can sing halfway decent, I`d rather sing than act. There`s nothing like being in good voice, feeling good, having good numbers to do and having a fine orchestra.

[on Kathryn Grayson] She`s a beautiful woman. A good friend. Fun to be around.

God has been kind. I haven`t got any great talent but everyone has a certain amount and it`s what you do with it that counts. I was blessed with a voice and I used it.

[about retirement] I`m just having too much fun. As long as I can sing well, I`ll keep at it. The minute I feel that the voice is getting down, the minute I feel that I can`t cut the mustard, I`ll quit.

Success can be harder to take than failure in a lot of ways. It brings with it a responsibility. You have to learn that all the highs don`t last forever. For every high, there`s a corresponding low. It`s why young kids often go to pieces. When they get so popular they can`t go out of their hotel rooms, that`s when they turn to drugs. Success can be very dangerous, very heady.

[about his job on "Dallas" (1978)] When I was offered the role of Farlow, I was thrilled. It meant I could be home every night with my family.

You get your ups and downs but you just don`t fall apart. You take another shot at it.

[about his work on "Dallas" (1978)][ I started out a long time ago, and now the younger generation knows who I am. My daughter is a part of that younger generation, and I owe it to her not to act like an old man.

When I found out that I could carry a tune, well, I came to realize that I had a gift, that it was a kind of a blessing. And I think if you`re given something special, you ought to try and give that something back. If you don`t, it`s a sin. No question.

I`m not a religious man. As a matter of fact, I think religion is one of the biggest evils in this world. Think of the world`s wars, almost all of them have started because of religion. I have my own attitude to this life. Hell, you can`t look up at the sky and not think there`s some superhuman force at work. But I don`t know what it is.

The only way to enjoy golf is to be a masochist. Go out and beat yourself to death.

You should never envy anyone. One day you might be in that person`s position and it might not be so nice.

If I had my ups and downs, that`s tough. If everything in life always went smoothly, it would be a bloody bore. You know, people say, "Wait and go to heaven". Well, if heaven`s like they claim it is, I don`t want to go. I`d get bored. Besides, I think heaven`s right here, in your mind. You make your own heaven and hell, I think. All this nonsense about heaven: "Be good so you can go up there." I say be good because you should be good, because you don`t want to hurt people.

Once somebody said to me, "How can you stand to work in a tent?" Well, people are people wherever you go, and a performance is a performance. It`s your job and it`s not fair to let an audience down. I will not relax the standards of what I feel should be done.

Any time you get in an area that takes a great deal of skill, you`ll find that the tendrils are much more sensitive. People talk about actors being temperamental, but that sort of thing is everywhere.

[about his choice to go ahead with open heart surgery in January, 1986, despite the risk of losing his job on "Dallas" (1978)] There is always another part. But there is only one life!

[about his heart surgery] One person who has really been an inspiration for me in this is my good friend Barbara Bel Geddes, who underwent coronary bypass surgery herself about three years ago. I`ve learned some things from Barbara. One thing I learned is that you don`t accomplish anything by sitting around the house after something like this - except to get yourself good and bored. I was one of those that encouraged her to come back to the show, and I`ve never seen Barbara looking happier or more healthy looking than since she returned to "Dallas" (1978). Seeing her return has been a real inspiration. It shows how you can come back from heart surgery.

[about filming dinner scenes on "Dallas" (1978)] The continuity girl goes crazy. The poor dear, my gosh! Because you take a bite, you gotta remember when you took the bite, what words, that sort of thing. If you sit down with Patrick Duffy, who plays Bobby, and [Larry Hagman] at a meal like that, it`s like sitting down with two of the worst brats in the neighborhood! They pull more shtick at that table. They send the scripts up. It is pandemonium! It`s a minor miracle that anything gets done.