Harvey Fierstein

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

To work all the time is to be incredibly lucky.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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!

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

It's through sheer will that I can sing.

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.

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

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.

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.

What looks absolutely fabulous in rehearsal can fall flat in front of an audience. The audience dictates what you do or dont change.

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.

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

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

Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no ones definition of your life define yourself.

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

Political movements always belong to the young.

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

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

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