Top 174 Quotes & Sayings by Barbra Streisand - Page 2

Being a woman in music was fine, but when I wanted to direct, I was poking my head into a man's world.

I'm a work in progress.

I need instant gratification.

My mother never really thought I could become anything.

Issues of foreign policy have a place in every election for President.

I only began to sing because I couldn't get a job as an actress.

I'm interested in the truth, and unauthorized biographies are not. Yes, I would like to correct those errors someday.

My friend Quincy Jones says we won our first Grammys together in 1963. I have no recollection. I don't even remember the room. When he showed me the picture, I remembered what I wore. But it's like awards don't mean anything.

When I was a teenager in New York, I was buying antique clothes. I still am.

I never sing in the shower either.

I have one son. Of everything I've done in my life, nothing matches the feeling of having life growing inside you.

I don't read music. Not even essentially. Not even nonessentially.

It always gave me the creeps when I saw performers who desperately wanted the audience to like them. That's not what I'm about.

I've always liked working really hard and then doing nothing in particular. So, consequently, I didn't overexpose myself; I guess I maintained a kind of mystery. I wasn't ambitious.

I do have friends that are Republicans, and we have very spirited conversations on a whole range of issues. I am often baffled by why they are Republicans, but I enjoy the dialogue and can move beyond politics to find common ground in my personal relationships.

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

If I hear a record once, I usually never listen to it again. I rarely listen to music - unless it's Billie Holiday.

I just became a singer, because I could never get work as an actress.

My mother had a great voice. Not like mine, not like my sister's, not like my son's - a high soprano voice, but like a bird. I mean, really beautiful.

I like to stay home a lot. I like to do other things too, like decorate or build.

Eighteenth century American furniture and the design of the architects Greene and Greene are my special love.

My mother told me I should be a secretary, but I wanted to be an actress from when I was very young.

I started going to acting school when I was 14, and I would always have my own take on things.

I like simple things. Elastic waists, so I can eat.

When I was working a lot, I felt guilty as a parent. I couldn't pick up my son every day from school, bake him cookies and that kind of thing.

It is sort of boring to stay in the same spot. You know, I didn't set out to become the first to do this, the first to do that. It was just that my interests were so diversified.

I still like my antique clothes.

I always wear the same thing at home. I can't be bothered with jewelry. My pants have elastic waists. I like to be comfortable. There are so many more important things to worry about.

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.

I'm sure that I don't know everything I want to know. I have so much more to learn.

I hear these melodies. I hear horn lines and string lines. That's what's fun about recording with an orchestra.

On a very basic level, many people think celebrities have too much already, so we shouldn't be entitled to our political opinions.

I love things that are indescribable, like the taste of an avocado or the smell of a gardenia.

I'll see a celadon green room in an 18th century New Hampshire house and just fall in love. Colors stay in my head.

I also have intense relationships with furniture... probably because we practically had none when I was growing up.

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.

It's very often the artist who gives a voice to the voiceless by speaking up when no one else will.

Art finds a way to be constructive. It becomes heat in cold places; it becomes light in dark places.

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

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.

Art is the signature of a generation; artists have a way of defining the times.

The dream - you never achieve it. The excitement of life lies in the hope, in the striving for something rather than the attainment.

Everyone has a right to love and be loved, and nobody on this earth has the right to tell anyone that their love for another human being is morally wrong.

Love comes from the most unexpected places.

I am also very proud to be a liberal. Why is that so terrible these days? The liberals were liberatorsthey fought slavery, fought for women to have the right to vote, fought against Hitler, Stalin, fought to end segregation, fought to end apartheid. Liberals put an end to child labor and they gave us the five day work week! What's to be ashamed of?

Life's too short. Start with Dessert!

A human being is only interesting if he's in contact with himself. I learned you have to trust yourself, be what you are, and do what you ought to do the way you should do it. You have got to discover you, what you do, and trust it.

You have to live life in the moment and get the most out of it.

Part of our society kills what it loves, despises what it's created. It really hates success.

. . . it is true, even people with painful childhoods. . . grow up to be more interesting people. So, there's always a positive to a negative.

Thank God there were a couple of people in my life who said, "Go on, go on - you can do it!

One thing's for sure: now when I look at Funny Girl, I think I was gorgeous. I was too beautiful to play Fanny Brice.

What reaches an audience is honesty. If you're saying something truthful that's supposed to be a funny line, it's going to be funny. And if it's supposed to be a serious line, it's going to be serious. But, I don't think there's a distinction between how you play drama or comedy, if it's based in the truth.

I'm not weird, just different from people who aren't different.

Art does not exist only to entertain, but also to challenge one to think, to provoke, even to disturb, in a constant search for truth.

A man is commanding - a woman is demanding. A man is forceful - a woman is pushy. A man is uncompromising - a woman is a ball-breaker. A man is a perfectionist - a woman's a pain in the ass. He's assertive - she's aggressive. He strategizes - she manipulates. He shows leadership - she's controlling. He's committed - she's obsessed. He's persevering - she's relentless. He sticks to his guns - she's stubborn. If a man wants to get it right, he's looked up to and respected. If a woman wants to get it right, she's difficult and impossible.

For me, one of the most disturbing elements of the right wing's political agenda is that it believes that there is one correct spiritual and moral path for all people to follow. The danger inherent in this is its explicit refusal to accept anyone who happens to lead a different lifestyle, and the condemnation of those who differ.

Stay true to yourself. People respond to authenticity.

Why is it people who want the truth never believe it when they hear it?

I want the best product for my audience, and if I don't care 100%, who will? It's my name, my likeness that goes out there.