Quote Of The Day By Carl Reiner: 'Every Morning I Pick Up My...'

As an actor, writer, director, and plenty more besides, Carl Reiner's influence on TV and movies is unlike any other. Reiner was born in the Bronx in 1922 and started his career in the theatre. After that, his work changed Hollywood. From creating "The Dick Van Dyke Show" to making films like "The Jerk," "Fatal Instinct," and "Where's Poppa?" to name just a few, Reiner had an amazing, decades-spanning career that earned him 11 Emmy Awards. 

Reiner also received a Grammy for his comedy album with fellow icon Mel Brooks, "The 2,000 Year Old Man." It's no secret that Reiner knew how to make people laugh, and this is largely what helped make his legendary career what it was. It's also clear that laughter was one of the things that shaped his philosophy. As such, some of Reiner's humor was full of life lessons, which is why the comedian's unique take on life is The List's quote of the day.

"Every morning I pick up my newspaper, get the obituary section, see if I'm listed, and if not, I have my breakfast." This cheeky sentiment was a running joke Carl Reiner had, which inspired the name of the 2017 HBO documentary, "If You're Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast." In a 2018 interview with Deadline, he explained, "Every morning I would actually look at the obituaries before I had breakfast. And as a joke I said if I was not in it, I would have the breakfast." 

The legendary comic added, "But one day [in 2014] I read the obituaries, and there was a picture of me and Polly Bergen. She had passed away and it looked like we had both passed away. I wondered why they used that picture... I did one little show with her." Reiner, of course, seemed to have a good sense of humor about everything. And, while this quote was obviously a joke, it still has a lot of meaning. After all, as long as you're still alive, you can still enjoy your life.

Every new day is just that: A brand new opportunity. This means that while you're alive, you can always start fresh, embark on something new, or even just enjoy something you love. Basically, as the old adage goes, "It ain't over 'til it's over." Clearly this joke was one Carl Reiner told a lot before it ever inspired the documentary title. When the film finally came out, the Emmy winner was in his nineties. Just a few years later, Reiner appeared on the web series "Dispatches From Quarantine" during the COVID-19 lockdown. His episode aired on Jun 22, 2020, just a week before his death. 

Reiner confirmed, "I wrote a book about two months ago called 'How to Live Forever.'" He elaborated, "The first line of the first chapter goes like this: When you wake in the morning, start a new project. Work on it. Improve it. When you approve of its improvements, start a new project. Work on it. Improve it. It's 271 pages of that one line." While he was clearly, once again, being playful, it seems that this really was Reiner's philosophy. The actor lived to be 98 years old, and he was notably as lively as ever right until the end of his life. In his eyes, every new day was a new opportunity to live life.

• "The key to longevity is to interact with other people."
• "If you write, write about what you do and who you are, and you can't be wrong. Don't lie about anything. You are very similar to everybody else in the world. You love, you hate, you have friends, you have enemies. Be who you are."
• "You can get the best out of people if they're happy and not worried or not frightened that they're going to make a mistake."
• "Lust is easy, Love is hard, Like is the most important."
• "Inviting people to laugh with you while you are laughing at yourself is a good thing to do. You may be a fool but you're the fool in charge."