Harvey Fierstein Quotes
-
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.
-
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.
-
Well, I always looked at Mulan as a movie about a lesbian coming out.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Movies are all about plot. Theater, even if it's story heavy, it's about ideas.
-
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
-
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 don't like politics. My rule is if I can put a spotlight on something, I'll do that.
-
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.
-
I actually pray everyday, but I don't believe in God.
-
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 guess a drag queen's like an oil painting: You gotta stand back from it to get the full effect.
-
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.
-
It's a lot of fun to play someone you don't normally think of yourself as.
-
In London they don't like you if you're still alive.
-
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.
-
A child's kiss is magic. Why else would they be so stingy with them?
-
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.
-
As soon as I started writing, other writers stopped wanting me acting in their shows - maybe they thought I was going to rewrite them.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.