I decided years ago not to read stories about myself anymore. Each one is a potential minefield: Whatever it says, you’re bound to take it the wrong way. Why do it if you know it’s going to make you miserable?
The first time I saw a picture of [fabled actress] Ethel Barrymore – she was on Broadway and she was wearing pearls. I thought, “That’s who I should grow up to be.” It’s odd, because it was her physical image that I wanted;
If someone were to say seriously, “I’m divine,” she’d have to be locked up. There are lots of people in mental institutions going around saying “I’m God.” But because I’m funny about it, they haven’t locked me up yet. And I don’t give myself airs, either.
Unfortunately, every time there’s a budget crunch in New York, the Parks Department is usually the first to be cut. So they need all the help they can get.
I don’t need anyone to write me a show in my style, I would like to do a show in a style that wasn’t my style, because that’s the only way I can grow up and grow out.
There’s the media-driven universe, in which the public perceives you in a superficial way. Then there’s the universe that you actually inhabit, where you have to get up even if you didn’t sleep so well, and you feel like crap and your face is swollen.
Through books and photographs, I saw a world that was not my own – and I realized that there was another world. That’s why I’m concerned about education, because it helps our children see other worlds.
Music is probably the only place I get energy from. Music and maybe watching a really tremendous performer, watching a terrific performer like Jagger or watching a great movie.
One of my first role models was Eugene Lang, a wealthy businessman who went back to his elementary school in East Harlem and addressed the sixth-grade class. He looked out at that sea of faces and said, “If any of you wants to go to college, I will pay for it.”
I’m looking for something that gives me a chance to stretch. Because I have my own work, and I can do anything I want in my own work – juggle, tap dance, anything I want.
![Bette Midler Quote - The first time I saw a picture of [fabled actress] Ethel Barrymore – she was on Broadway and she was wearing pearls. I thought, “That’s who I should grow up to be.” It’s odd, because it was her physical image that I wanted;](https://minimalistquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/the-first-time-i-saw-a-picture-of-fabled-actress-e-683x1024.jpg)
![Bette Midler Quote - [On Denmark:] … that little country of cottage cheese and courage.](https://minimalistquotes.com/images/on-denmark-that-little-country-of-cottage-cheese-a.jpg)
![Bette Midler Quote - [On Princess Anne:] Such an active, outdoorsy lass. She loves nature in spite of what it did to her.](https://minimalistquotes.com/images/on-princess-anne-such-an-active-outdoorsy-lass-she.jpg)
