Harvey Fierstein Quotations

Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.

I do believe we're all connected. I do believe in positive energy. I do believe in the power of prayer. I do believe in putting good out into the world. And I believe in taking care of each other.

What looks absolutely fabulous in rehearsal can fall flat in front of an audience. The audience dictates what you do or don't change.

You may feel powerless as a child, but the world will one day be yours. And you're responsible for it. So, seize the day and take charge of it.

Beware of anyone who says they know. Trust me, they don't, or they wouldn't have to say they did.

It's a wonderful world. You can't go backwards. You're always moving forward. It's the wonderful part about life. And that's terrific.

Art has the power to transform, to illuminate, to educate, inspire and motivate.

Anyone with a smart phone is a potential eyewitness cameraman capturing and transmitting stories at speeds that turn Reuter photos and traditional reporting into, well... yesterday's news.

Nothing binds a people to their leader like a common enemy. Voters don't change governments during war.

The great thing about suicide is that it's not one of those things you have to do now or you lose your chance. I mean, you can always do it later.

So, did I work with Warhol? I worked with him less on that play then I did on other things. He actually did a portrait of my rabbit and some other stuff. Warhol was definitely... Warhol.

To me, if a heterosexual has a right to do it, then I have a right to do it. And if it's important to the gay youth - who are now setting the agenda - then its important to me.

While we dance in the streets and pat ourselves on the back for being a nation great enough to reach beyond racial divides to elect our first African-American president, let us not forget that we remain a nation still proudly practicing prejudice.

When a politician like Marco Rubio is willing to sacrifice his career defining immigration reform legislation solely to insure that gays and lesbians are denied equal protection under the law, we have to admit that we're under attack. This is not pragmatic politics at work. These are the policies of bias, exclusion and unfairness.

A child's kiss is magic. Why else would they be so stingy with them?

If you deny yourself commitment, what can you do with your life?

Well, I always looked at Mulan as a movie about a lesbian coming out.

In London they don't like you if you're still alive.

But actually just yesterday we raised the key of one of my songs two steps up, so my voice is obviously responding. It's a muscle, and the more you use it, the more you use it right, the more you should get out of it. So yes, I sing.

I have a lot of faith in President Obama. The thing that seems to be true of him is that he doesn't speak when you would expect him to speak. He's very measured in his response to things. He likes to get all the facts first before he shoots his mouth off. It makes me crazy; it makes a lot of people crazy.

Always admit when you're wrong. You'll save thousands in therapy... and a few friendships too.

How often are the perpetrators of hate-crimes discovered to be self-loathing? Valued individuals do not strike out against strangers.

I really am a theater person. That means you put something out there, and you let it go. Tomorrow night is a new performance.

Time will tell us what we did and didn't do.

I got a lovely check today from being a writer that I earned by sitting at home. That's rewarding.

Actually, I think the average voice is like 70 percent tone and 30 percent noise. My voice is 95 percent noise.

To work all the time is to be incredibly lucky.

The world is full of more interesting things than my voice.

Also, if you want to reach people, theatre is not always the best way to do it.

It would be nice to redefine ourselves - at the moment we are drowning in diversity. That's not a bad thing, its just going to take a while before we refocus.

I often say that if you want to really want to understand the contract of marriage, just ask anyone who has been divorced. The marriage contract is one of property rights. Or maybe you can look in the Bible to see what Adam had to say about divorce, since Eve was his second wife.

State-sanctioned marriage is a civil contract, period. A contract is not a judgment of moral value. It is a legal agreement between two parties that testifies to a meeting of minds between those consenting entities. It is not a religious act or rite and so has nothing to do with Adam and Eve or Steve or even Harvey.

But I'm not adverse to the idea of Torch Song as a musical. It would just be different. Because the play will always be there exactly as it was, and in a musical you could tell a lot of the story through songs.

I got the regular call, that they were doing a Broadway musical of Hairspray, and would I come and audition. I was familiar with the movie, because at the time it came out my lover wrote for Premiere magazine, and we had to see everything.

I have the world's worst taste in men, so now I simply have wonderful relationships of the friend kind, but trying to settle down with somebody? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm beyond that.

When I went into 'Fiddler,' I wondered about the response I'd get - the backlash because I'm openly gay. There was none. I toured Canada and America, and not one single review suggested that I played the role gay or that I seemed anything but Tevye.

My father was brought up in an orphanage in the Catskills. He was a factory worker. And because his family wasn't there for him, family was everything. We could disagree inside the house, but outside the house it was us against the world. So when I became a drag actor, he looked sideways but said okay.

I have to work really hard, eight shows a week, to get a nice check as an actor. But when I write a play, and it's a - knock wood - hit, the checks come in for many years.

I was exposed to a mix of cultures, lots of different religions and beliefs. I was a spiritual kid and went to Indian powwows and Buddhist temples. But over a period of time, with reading and thinking, I started to feel it was all so absurd: The whole idea of life after death is ridiculous.

I actually pray everyday, but I don't believe in God.

Theater is my temple and my religion and my act of faith. Strangers sit in a room together and believe together.

A musical takes two to five years. You have to love it to put in the years.

I am thrilled - I can't stress that enough - thrilled when I see kids getting active.

I don't believe in the afterlife, so I do think when somebody passes, it's worthy of note.

I have great faith in the United States. It's the only country I would ever live in.

I just don't like politics. My rule is if I can put a spotlight on something, I'll do that.

It's through sheer will that I can sing.

Movies are all about plot. Theater, even if it's story heavy, it's about ideas.

Movies are all about plot. Theater, even if it's story heavy, it's about ideas. Theater has to resonate in your heart in a way that movies don't.

Theater has to resonate in your heart in a way that movies don't.

There are times when I don't take roles because I don't want to be perceived a certain way.

I burned out on AIDS and did no AIDS work for a couple of years. I was so angry that people were still getting this disease that nobody can give you - you have to go out and get it!

When I write stuff and I help cast it, I turn away good people all the time. I may turn them down because this one's too tall and that one doesn't have a high enough voice or this one looks to old to match up with that one - there's a billion reasons not to hire somebody.

I actually may do a musical next year... not one that I've written; one that I may star in. Plus my concert and other people's work and all of a sudden you've got a very full life.

I'm sure there's going to be some material from This Is Not Going To Be Pretty. I usually use that song to just introduce myself to the audience, although the patter in between the song is always different.

In Torch Song, I did that character almost non-stop from 1978 until I made the movie in 1987. Then I had some failure, which also colors how you react to doing other things.

You know, I always got offered other stuff. Not the romantic leads, obviously. But very often it's a role that's underwritten, where the character has no personality at all. And they need a character actor who can fill it in.

You really, really, really have to love what you are going to do in theater because it is an unmerciful life. It's six days a week. It's eight performances a week. And that's doing the exact same thing over and over and over again.

As soon as I started writing, other writers stopped wanting me acting in their shows - maybe they thought I was going to rewrite them.

My play Safe Sex was picked apart because critics thought it was untrue. It was a play in which no one had AIDS, but the characters talked about how it was going to change their lives.

How time files when you's doin' all the talking.

It's a lot of fun to play someone you don't normally think of yourself as.

And I believe that you never be limited in what you do, so I like to do movies, I like to do television.

I've been dating since I was 15 years old, and I just don't seem to do it well.

Pork was in 1971, and I stopped hanging out at The Factory by like 1973.

Maybe when you need the perfect gift for John Waters,

I didn't want to be part of a touring company they dropped off.

I don't believe we need to take millions and millions of dollars and build churches and stuff... I think we could build houses instead.

Last season, there were 27 gay roles on television - and not one was played by a gay person. So I'm a little sensitive to that stuff.

With her understanding of 'Fiddler's' important place in theatrical history, I am positive she will uphold that tradition excitingly.

Deco, ... I have one at home, I used it for a toilet paper holder.

You really, really, really have to love what you are going to do in theatre because it is an unmerciful life. It's six days a week. It's eight performances a week. And that's doing the exact same thing over and over and over again.

The audience here seems a lot more relaxed, a lot more in the mood just to have a great time.

As a 20-year friend of Rosie's, I couldn't be happier that we will finally share a stage together, ... With her understanding of 'Fiddler's' important place in theatrical history, I am positive she will uphold that tradition excitingly.

In 1961 you had the American dream at its most fully realized. Tract homes, all of that culture was at its height. It was a peaceful time. Then you look at '62. ... It's the bubbling pot. By 1964 you had cities burning.

In this Duplex picture it's a role where it looks like I have nothing to do with the plot, and then there's a twist, so it's fun.

Political movements always belong to the young.

Change your mind as often as possible. Just because you thought something yesterday doesn't mean you have to think it today. Don't ever become a prisoner of your own opinion

Is a gay play a play that has sex with other plays?

In no way be bullied into silence. Hardly ever permit on your own to become made a sufferer. Acknowledge no one's definition of one's lifetime; define oneself

The next time you feel you have to say, "I love you" to someone, say it to yourself - and see if you believe it.

Never be bullied into silence.

As the book writer for one big smash and one big smelly flop, I always wondered if anyone knows just what goes into making a great musical. When a show is a hit, the critics trip over themselves not knowing who to laud and applaud the loudest. It's that marvelous score, those urbane lyrics, that irreplaceable star. But only when a show is a flop, does anyone notice the book writer. And then it's always our fault.

A thing of beauty is a joy till sunrise.

Please, people, do not f- with depression. It's merciless. All it wants is to get you in a room alone and kill you. Take care of yourself.

I guess a drag queen's like an oil painting: You gotta stand back from it to get the full effect.

CBS really wants me on TV. That's their aim. My aim is to have an all-gay sitcom someday, with heterosexuals as token guest stars. Let them be the next-door neighbors for a change.

There's nothing I need from anyone except love and respect, and anyone who can't give me those two things has no place in my life.

There are easier things in life than being a drag queen. But I ain't got no choice. Try as I may, I just can't walk in flats.

To make positive change requires lasting commitment, lasting commitment requires measurable targets, measurable targets requires detailed action plans, detailed action plans requires a goal you desire, desire requires a positive attitude to change your life, and the option to change your life requires WORK. Byron Pulsifer, from Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained If you deny yourself commitment, what can you do with your life?

How time flies when you're doin all the talking.

The real point is that you cannot harbor malice toward others and then cry foul when someone displays intolerance against you. Prejudice tolerated is intolerance encouraged. Rise up in righteousness when you witness the words and deeds of hate, but only if you are willing to rise up against them all, including your own. Otherwise suffer the slings and arrows of disrespect silently.

I just want to be loved, is that so wrong?!

Of course people are afraid. But honestly facing that fear, seeing it for what it is, is the only way of putting it to rest.

Somebody should talk to Dan Quayle and tell him natural blondes don't have dark grey stripes on the sides.

With Russia about to hold the Winter Games in Sochi, the country is open to pressure. American and world leaders must speak out against Mr. Putin's attacks and the violence they foster. The Olympic Committee must demand the retraction of these laws under threat of boycott.

Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.