144 Quotes by Barbra Streisand

We have a president who stole the presidency through family ties, arrogance and intimidation, employing Republican operatives to exercise the tactics of voter fraud by disenfranchising thousands of blacks, elderly Jews and other minorities.

I was a personality before I became a person - I am simple, complex, generous, selfish, unattractive, beautiful, lazy and driven.

You have got to discover you, what you do, and trust it. (Meaning)

The idea of a liberal media bias is simply a myth. If only it were true, we might have a more humane, open-minded, and ultimately effective public debate on the issues facing the country.

I don't like the word 'superstar'. It has ridiculous implications. These words - star, stupor, superstar, stupid star - they're misleading. It's a myth.

I am also very proud to be a liberal. Why is that so terrible these days? The liberals were liberatorsthey fought slavery, fought for women to have the right to vote, fought against Hitler, Stalin, fought to end segregation, fought to end apartheid. Liberals put an end to child labor and they gave us the five day work week! What's to be ashamed of?

Oh God, don't envy me, I have my own pains.

When they tried me out as a host on TV, I found that I just couldn't be that gregarious person. I was stranger than that.

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Just imagine how boring life would be if we were all the same. My idea of a perfect world is one in which we really appreciated each other's differences: Short, tall; Democrat, Republican; black, white; gay, straight-a world in which all of us are equal, but definitely not the same.

Stay true to yourself. People respond to authenticity.

A human being is only interesting if he's in contact with himself. I learned you have to trust yourself, be what you are, and do what you ought to do the way you should do it. You have got to discover you, what you do, and trust it.

Doubt can motivate you, so don't be afraid of it. Confidence and doubt are at two ends of the scale, and you need both. They balance each other out.

The dream - you never achieve it. The excitement of life lies in the hope, in the striving for something rather than the attainment.

Art does not exist only to entertain, but also to challenge one to think, to provoke, even to disturb, in a constant search for truth.

Art finds a way to be constructive. It becomes heat in cold places; it becomes light in dark places.

There's a part of you that always remains a child, no matter how mature you get, how sophisticated or weary.

How I wish we lived in a time when laws were not necessary to safeguard us from discrimination.

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Life's too short. Start with Dessert!

What is exciting is not for one person to be stronger than the other... but for two people to have met their match and yet they are equally as stubborn, as obstinate, as passionate, as crazy as the other.

For me, one of the most disturbing elements of the right wing's political agenda is that it believes that there is one correct spiritual and moral path for all people to follow. The danger inherent in this is its explicit refusal to accept anyone who happens to lead a different lifestyle, and the condemnation of those who differ.

Part of our society kills what it loves, despises what it's created. It really hates success.

The moral immune system of this country has been weakened and attacked, and the AIDS virus is the perfect metaphor for it. The malignant neglect of the last twelve years has led to breakdown of our country's immune system, environmentally, culturally, politically, spiritually and physically.

A man is commanding - a woman is demanding. A man is forceful - a woman is pushy. A man is uncompromising - a woman is a ball-breaker. A man is a perfectionist - a woman's a pain in the ass. He's assertive - she's aggressive. He strategizes - she manipulates. He shows leadership - she's controlling. He's committed - she's obsessed. He's persevering - she's relentless. He sticks to his guns - she's stubborn. If a man wants to get it right, he's looked up to and respected. If a woman wants to get it right, she's difficult and impossible.

Why is it people who want the truth never believe it when they hear it?

My biggest nightmare is I'm driving home and get sick and go to hospital. I say: 'Please help me.' And the people say: 'Hey, you look like...' And I'm dying while they're wondering whether I'm Barbra Streisand.

I'm not weird, just different from people who aren't different.

I've been called many names like perfectionist, difficult and obsessive. I think it takes obsession, takes searching for the details for any artist to be good.

I can take any truth; just don't lie to me.

. . . it is true, even people with painful childhoods. . . grow up to be more interesting people. So, there's always a positive to a negative.

I wish I could be like Shaw who once read a bad review of one of his plays, called the critic and said: 'I have your review in front of me and soon it will be behind me.'

I was a personality before I became a person.

I must have got my detailed, obsessive streak from my father, who was an English teacher, because my mother wasn't like me at all.

One thing's for sure: now when I look at Funny Girl, I think I was gorgeous. I was too beautiful to play Fanny Brice.

I want the best product for my audience, and if I don't care 100%, who will? It's my name, my likeness that goes out there.

I just don't want to be hampered by my own limitations.

What reaches an audience is honesty. If you're saying something truthful that's supposed to be a funny line, it's going to be funny. And if it's supposed to be a serious line, it's going to be serious. But, I don't think there's a distinction between how you play drama or comedy, if it's based in the truth.

Why does a woman work ten years to change a man's habits and then complain that he's not the man she married?

How can we accept a situation in which there are no longer orchestras, choruses, libraries or art classes to nourish our children? We need more support for the arts, not less -- particularly to make this rich world available to young people whose vision is choked by a stark reality. How many children, who have no other outlet in their lives for their grief, have found solace in an instrument to play or a canvas to paint on? When you take into consideration the development of the human heart, soul and imagination, don't the arts take on just as much importance as math or science?

I believe in love and lust and sex and romance. I don't want everything to add up to some perfect equation. I want mess and chaos. I want someone to go crazy out of his mind for me. I want to feel passion and heat and sweat and madness. I want valenties and cupids and all of that crap. I want it all.

Why is it men are permitted to be obsessed about their work, but women are only permitted to be obsessed about men?

Sometimes, when you work with mediocre talents, they feel entitled. They act like stars. Genuinely talented people don't.

I arrived in Hollywood without having my nose fixed, my teeth capped, or my name changed. That is very gratifying to me.

I tell you what I envy about people in love - I'd love it if someone knew me I mean really knew me. What I like what I'm afraid of what kind of toothpaste I use." - Rose Morgan

Myths are a waste of time. They prevent progression.

They're called 'angels' because they're in heaven until the reviews come out.

If a man wants to get it right, he's looked up to and respected. If a woman wants to get it right, she's difficult or impossible. If he acts, produces and directs, he's called multitalented. If she does the same thing, she's called vain and egotistical.

There is nothing more important in life than love.

Love comes from the most unexpected places.

A human being is only interesting if he's in contact with himself.

I also have intense relationships with furniture... probably because we practically had none when I was growing up.

I'm not that ambitious any more. I just like my privacy. I wish I really wasn't talked about at all.

I go by instinct - I don't worry about experience.

The audience is the best judge of anything. They cannot be lied to. Truth brings them closer. A moment that lags - they're gonna cough.

Believe in the power of your voice! Be yourself. Everyone is unique.

I only began to sing because I couldn't get a job as an actress.

I think, is wonderful about growing older, is appreciation for the miracle of existence, of life. I thank God every day. I also do believe that belief and imagination manifests reality. And therefore, even though it took twenty-five years, I did find the house, eventually, and the man I could live with.

I can say, 'I am terribly frightened and fear is terrible and awful and it makes me uncomfortable, so I won't do that because it makes me uncomfortable.' Or I could say, 'Get used to being uncomfortable. It is uncomfortable doing something that's risky. But so what? Do you want to stagnate and just be comfortable?'

What does it mean when people applaud? Should I give 'em money? Say thank you? Lift my dress? The lack of applause - that I can respond to.

Marlon Brando. The finest actor who ever lived. He was my idol when I was 13. He's done enough work to last two lifetimes. Everything I do, I think: Can Brando play this with me?

I've considered having my nose fixed. But I didn't trust anyone enough. If I could do it myself with a mirror.

I don't enjoy public performances and being up on a stage. I don't enjoy the glamour. Like tonight, I am up on stage and my feet hurt.

Most awards, you know, they don't give you unless you go and get them - did you know that? Terribly discouraging.

I'd take out a joint and light it. First, just faking it. Then I started lighting live joints, passing them around to the band, you know. I was great, it relieved all my tensions. And I ended up with the greatest supply of grass ever. Other acts up and down the Strip heard about what I was doing - Little Anthony and the Imperials, people like that - and started sending me the best dope in the world. I never ran out.

I always wear the same thing at home. I can't be bothered with jewelry. My pants have elastic waists. I like to be comfortable. There are so many more important things to worry about.

It always gave me the creeps when I saw performers who desperately wanted the audience to like them. That's not what I'm about.

You have to live life in the moment and get the most out of it.

Everyone has a right to love and be loved, and nobody on this earth has the right to tell anyone that their love for another human being is morally wrong.

When I sing, people shut up.

It is every woman's dream to be some man's dream woman.

Men are allowed to have passion and commitment for their work... a woman is allowed that feeling for a man, but not her work.

I hate tooting my own horn, but after Steven Spielberg saw Yentl, he said: "I wish I could tell you how to fix your picture, but I can't. It's the best film I've seen since Citizen Kane".

You know, for me, the realization that two people should have the right to form a sacred union regardless of their gender was strengthened when I saw a performance of the play The Normal Heart in 1985. After feeling the love those two men had for each other, I dare anybody not to want them to get married by the end.

Our role as artist is more controversial now because there are those, claiming the absolute authority of religion, who detest much of our work as much as they detest most of our politics. Instead of rationally debating subjects like abortion or gay rights, they condemn as immoral those who favor choice and tolerance. They disown their own dark side and magnify everyone else's until, at the extreme, doctors are murdered in the name of protecting life. I wonder, who is this God they invoke, who is so petty and mean? Is God really against gun control and food stamps for poor children?

I have one son. Of everything I've done in my life, nothing matches the feeling of having life growing inside you.

A man who graduated high in his class at Yale Law School and made partnership in a top law firm would be celebrated. But a woman who accomplishes this is treated with suspicion.

I still like my antique clothes.

I do have friends that are Republicans, and we have very spirited conversations on a whole range of issues. I am often baffled by why they are Republicans, but I enjoy the dialogue and can move beyond politics to find common ground in my personal relationships.

I don't know why it is that we need to denigrate, to knock down. It's so sick.

I never sing in the shower either.

My friend Quincy Jones says we won our first Grammys together in 1963. I have no recollection. I don't even remember the room. When he showed me the picture, I remembered what I wore. But it's like awards don't mean anything.

Moviemakers can be late to a subject, or afraid, but often they are brave and ahead of their time.

Eighteenth century American furniture and the design of the architects Greene and Greene are my special love.

We cannot let the right wing roll back more than thirty years of social progress.

The result [Republicans winning the Senate] would be devastating for reproductive choice, the environment, civil liberties, Social Security and health care, as well as corporate accountability.

I knew that with a mouth like mine, I just hadda be a star or something.

The audience is the barometer of the truth.

It's very often the artist who gives a voice to the voiceless by speaking up when no one else will.

Why don't you have a cup of coffee at least? I, um, I'm a little low in sugar and I don't have any cream, but it's real coffee.

When I was a teenager in New York, I was buying antique clothes. I still am.

To have ego means to believe in your own strength. And to also be open to other people's views. It is to be open, not closed. So, yes, my ego is big, but it's also very small in some areas. My ego is responsible for my doing what I do - bad or good.

Thank God there were a couple of people in my life who said, "Go on, go on - you can do it!

I've always liked working really hard and then doing nothing in particular. So, consequently, I didn't overexpose myself; I guess I maintained a kind of mystery. I wasn't ambitious.

Performing, for me, has always been a very inner process.

I don't feel like a legend. I feel like a work in progress.

If I hear a record once, I usually never listen to it again. I rarely listen to music - unless it's Billie Holiday.

I think when I was younger, I wanted to be a star, until I became a star, and then it's a lot of work. It's work to be a star. I don't enjoy the stardom part. I only enjoy the creative process.

No one should have to conform to some mythical concept of the ideal family.

I prefer things that are private, so I love recording and I love making films, as a filmmaker, because it uses every bit of what you have experienced or know, whether it's graphics composition, decorating, psychology, storytelling, or whatever it is. It's a wonderful thing.

My mother never really thought I could become anything.

I can't stand to see red in my profit-or-loss column. I'm Taurus the bull, so I react to red. If I see it, I sell my stocks quickly.

Directing is so interesting. You know, it just sort of encompasses everything that you see, that you know, that you've felt, that you have observed.

Just like my father, I've always loved education. In school I was a member of the honor society.

Issues of foreign policy have a place in every election for President.

My nose was part of my heritage, and if I had talent to sing and to act, why wasn't that enough?

I love road trips! My husband and I love that. We bought a truck with a bench seat so we could put the dog in the middle.

I was raised on the streets, in hot, steamy Brooklyn, with stifled air.

I hear these melodies. I hear horn lines and string lines. That's what's fun about recording with an orchestra.

How could such a destructive man [referring to Bush] be so popular with the American people?... Not only is he poisoning our air and water - he's poisoning our political system as well.

As a young woman, I wanted nothing more than to see my name in lights.

I am a nice person. I care about my driver having lunch, you know.

We elected a President, not a Pope.

When I was working a lot, I felt guilty as a parent. I couldn't pick up my son every day from school, bake him cookies and that kind of thing.

I’d rather not talk about money. It’s kind of gross.

Being a celebrity is a no-win situation. If you get along with your co-star you're having an affair, if you don't you're having a feud.

What is dangerous about the far right is not that it takes religion seriously - most of us do - but rather that it condemns all other spiritual choices - the Buddhist, the Jew, the Muslim, and many others who consider themselves to be good Christians. The wall of separation between church and state is needed precisely because religion, like art, is too important a part of the human experience to be choked by the hands of censors.

Art is the signature of a generation; artists have a way of defining the times.

Why am I so famous? What am I doing right? What are the others doing wrong?

It takes me about 10 years to appreciate what it is I've done.

You know, I can't remember my good reviews. I remember negative ones. They stay in my mind.

When I was maybe 5 or 6 years old, the neighborhood girls would sit on the stoop and sing. I was known as the kid who had a good voice and no father.

progress, whatever your definition of it, is not inevitable.

It's not a date. We're just agreeing to eat at the same table.

Everybody's frightened a bit. But how many of us just go through the fear and do it anyway?

I just don't like the idea of her singing my songs. Who the hell does she thinks she is? The world doesn't need another Streisand! (on Diana Ross)

Around people I don't know, I'm totally at a loss.

I'd started going to acting classes at 14, played 'Medea' at 15 and really wanted to be a classical actress.

Art transcends politics this weekend.

You don't ask a man, 'Do you want to be in control [of your job]?' You assume he wants control. Why would a woman be any different?

Sometimes you resent the people you love and need the most. Love is so fascinating in all its forms, and I think everyone who has ever been a mother will relate to this.

Being a woman in music was fine, but when I wanted to direct, I was poking my head into a man's world.

A large part of me is pure nebbish - plain, dull, uninteresting. There's a more flamboyant part, too. Obviously.

I don't read music. Not even essentially. Not even nonessentially.

The artist as citizen is here to stay.

It’s like an American tradition. A person gets successful and then he’s supposed to change for the worse. It’s silly.

I got sent to a health camp when I was about 6 years old, and we all had to wear the same starchy blue uniform. The lady who took care of me after school knit me a burgundy sweater. It was the only thing that gave me any individuality.

I started going to acting school when I was 14, and I would always have my own take on things.

It's true that I have a very healthy ego; anybody who creates does.

On a very basic level, many people think celebrities have too much already, so we shouldn't be entitled to our political opinions.

In the music business, we all do different things, but we sit there and admire other people who can write a song differently or sing differently. It's not so competitive.

He (son Jason) doesn't see me as a (gay) icon, he sees me as his mother who touches his hair too much. No, I love being an icon to anybody. Equal rights, you know?

My mother told me I should be a secretary, but I wanted to be an actress from when I was very young.

And remember, this was a president (George W. Bush) who was selected by the Supreme Court rather than the people.

New York critics - I hear when one of them watched "A Star Is Born", he talked back to the screen.