Quotes By Harvey Fierstein

To work all the time is to be incredibly lucky.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

Political movements always belong to the young.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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 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.

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.

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.

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.