Harvey Fierstein Quotes
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.
Quotes to Explore
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On a personal level, there are many people who have meant a great deal to me. My father and mother were certainly of vital importance, not only in themselves but because they created a world for me to revolt against.
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Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad, and that's why I call you dad, because you are so special to me. You taught me the game and you taught me how to play it right.
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I felt that Balanchine was my father towards me. He was the person I most admired and looked up to.
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My father always said I have a face for radio, and 'Cloverfield' was one of my finest pieces of work.
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Going to the movies was a big event in my youth. My father would be the initiator – he'd have me put on a jacket to see a film.
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I never hated my father. I would have named my child Usher regardless. I never hated myself because I carried his name, because I made it mean what I wanted it to mean.
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When I first started, I worked with my father, Alex 'Little Bill' Wallace; he was a guitarist like B.B. King. I was around 13 when I started, and I learned a lot by looking and listening. I learned how to be a bandleader from watching that band work.
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I have learned a great deal in my life, and DeMolay helped me to learn that character and integrity should be cornerstones in your life. As a Senior DeMolay, as a father, the best advice I could ever give would be to take the high road in life, and you will be able to build trusting relationships.
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My mother was physically and emotionally abusive. My father was an extremely cold man.
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My father has been the real anchor of the family. He's the one who has always encouraged my mother, my brother and me.
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I know it sounds trite but I wanted to make a difference. Political debates with my father had been fraught because he was uncompromising and explosive but if he taught me one thing it was to air my views.
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Father or stepfather – those are just titles to me. They don't mean anything.
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My mother and my father were teachers. My grandmother and my grandfather were teachers. This is something I really know about. Even when I was a kid, it was a profession my father couldn't stay in, because he couldn't make enough money.
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Women have been such an important part of my life. I try, every day, to be a better father to my daughters and a better husband.
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My father had inklings of my cultural aspirations. He would take me to the library, things like that. But he wasn't one of those dads who had read George Orwell and was a member of the Communist party. We had no books at home.
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My very shy Punjabi father never taught me about the birds and bees. So shy was he that he may have thought he would get arrested for even talking about it.
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I grew up not really having a father figure, and it didn't bother me, because he wasn't there in the first place. But then he started other families, and I was jealous. It was like he was happy without our family.
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What I'm trying to do is fulfill what my father said, which is, 'We have to find a way to live together as brothers and sisters, or together we're going to perish as fools.'
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My father and mother were not that compatible. I don't think they had a good wedding night, and I was the product of that. We weren't close.
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There are a million roles I haven't played yet that I would love to play!
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The most important thing is to just do it. If I work at a higher level I have responsibility to do better than what I've done before. Sometimes the best happens - beyond possibility. Just do it. Can't worry about it.
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I've failed way more than I've succeeded.
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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.
