“I don’t think I’m tough in a so called tough way. I’m tough on myself.”

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

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’m a work in progress.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

. . . 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 don’t care what you say about me. Just be sure to spell my name wrong.

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.

The artist as citizen is here to stay.

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

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

I’ve never done anything else in my life other than preach and be an activist. Way before I was known.

I found they took a lot out of you and they were exhausting for me in a lot of ways.

Some things are beautiful, but they are beautiful in the way of the sun. If you fly too close, they will melt your wings and send you plummeting into the sea.

I love playing. In lots of ways, I think having been able to carry on playing purely out of love rather than having to do it for a living means I still love the drums.

In this country, the only way a minority can get anything done is to make a little noise.

This is a pretty barbaric game. You can’t really let emotions get into the way.

Teen pregnancy went way down in the ’90s, and 75 percent of it was because of increased use of contraception.

I’ve always felt that I’m in a spontaneous business and if you script something, if you plan something, it will sound that way.