Harvey Fierstein

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

“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.”

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

“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.”

“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.”

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

“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.”

“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.”

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

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

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

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

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

“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.”

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

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

“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.”

“Beware of anyone who says they know. Trust me, they don't, or they wouldn't have to say they did.”

“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!”

“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.”

“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.”

“To work all the time is to be incredibly lucky.”

“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.”