Top 52 Quotes & Sayings by Nathan Lane

All I can do is try to create the best show possible, and I feel we've truly done that.

'The Producers' is a sort of a once in a lifetime kind of phenomenon, and I was grateful to be a part of it.

I was born Joseph Lane, but when I applied to the actors union, they said they already had a Joe Lane on the books and I'd have to change my last or first name. I had played the character of Nathan Detroit, whom I liked very much, in 'Guys and Dolls,' so I took the name Nathan.

What about Broadway? Yes, I'm involved with a new musical based on 'The Adams Family.'

I got to do the movie, and people who enjoyed 'The Birdcage' came out to see me on stage when I did 'Forum.' It introduced me to a whole new audience that wasn't familiar with my stage work.

I didn't know Charlie before doing the movie, but I was a huge fan of the British Queer as Folk.

I'm really an honorary Jew, you know; all the best people are. I really do feel Jewish, even though I'm a Catholic. The way the Church has been behaving, I'm happy to be Jewish.

I have my aluminum siding business, and that's going like a house afire.

It's a cliche, but there really is no handbook about the celebrity thing; you have to figure it out as you go along.

I'm still the fat kid from high school who never had a date.

He's so interesting because you think you know Dennis Hopper, but you don't really know Dennis Hopper. I don't really know Dennis Hopper, I just know him from the silver screen.

I am not a sad clown. I am not a sad clown.

Not to sound too pessimistic, but I just don't see me having the film career that I maybe hoped for after 'The Birdcage.' I think people just didn't know what to do with me.

There are some people that the press like to pick on and not just the gay press, but the press in general. And some people, the press just doesn't care about at all.

People think they know who I am, because I've played so many very, very out gay men on stage, and they think that's me.

The thing that everyone remembers about 'Bambi' is that moment. 'The Lion King,' took it to quite an extreme because it was an action sequence: his father was killed in a wildebeest stampede - I related, because mine was, too.

It's certainly not a shock to find that the industry has no imagination. I think people don't know what it is I do. Because half the time you're talking to people who are in their 20s, and I've been doing this for over 25 years.

Relationships, for me, have been elusive. And I would say mostly it's been my fault. I was always more concentrated on my career. And yes, you do question people's motives. Is it just because I'm him - I'm Nathan Lane?

As a kid, I loved 'Godot' because of the poetry and the humor and the strangeness, but then as you get older, it's much more resonant.

I'm one of those old-fashioned homosexuals, not one of the newfangled ones who are born joining parades.

Sure I think it is healthy to speak the truth, and be who you are, and be proud of that.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of middle ground with me.

The reason I was in most of the movies I've done is that they paid for me to be in the theater.

I have to accept the fact that, no matter what I do, it's going to annoy someone.

I seem to always inspire a strong reaction one way or the other.

I don't know what goes on in their heads out in Hollywood.

I want the kind of career where I can move back and forth.

I never like seeing myself on screen.

Kevin Costner. I love Kevin Costner. That's all I have to say. I love Kevin Costner.

Look, I'm 40, I'm single, and I work in musical theater - you do the math!

One of the nicest compliments I would get very often on the street is people would say, 'I love you on 'The Good Wife.' I just can't tell whether I should like you or hate you!'

There's not a day in my life I'm not proud of being gay, but I just wasn't ready for that attention to be placed on it. I remember being on Oprah. Well, not on Oprah. Near Oprah. She started saying, 'Now, Nathan, you got all those girlie moves going down in 'The Birdcage,' where's all that coming from? You're so good at all that girlie stuff!'

People always think I'm Jewish and changed my last name from Rabinowitz.

People have to do things in their own time, and that's what I did.

A video taped stage performance is just - you know, it's never gonna be the same as it is if you're sitting there live in the theatre.

There's a freedom there and an understanding of my career and the things I've done. I'm seen here as primarily a comic actor, which is OK, but I can go to New York and I do something that's very emotional. It would be lovely at some point to do something like that on film.

I dont know why everybody is giving Prince Harry a hard time. Hes like every other red-blooded American man - he wants to get drunk and go out with hookers.

It's a cliche, but there really is no handbook about the celebrity thing; you have to figure it out as you go along

Take a shot of vodka and hope for the best.

As a kid, I loved Godot because of the poetry and the humor and the strangeness, but then as you get older, its much more resonant.

My oldest brother used to take me to the theater. The first play he took me to see was 'Black Comedy,' then he took me to see 'Butley.' We'd see all these British plays. And 'Hello, Dolly,' with Pearl Bailey. I was unconsciously thinking, 'Gee, I would love to be able to do that.'

People always think I'm Jewish and changed my last name from Rabinowitz

But in order for anyone to become successful, sometimes you have to be that driven and focused, and maybe there isn't a lot left over for personal relationships - although I certainly have had them. It's not as if I cut myself off, but it makes them very difficult. This profession is very hard on relationships.

The more competition, the better. I hope to get snubbed again this year.

A sitcom is the closest thing for me to doing stage because you work in front of an audience, and if it's well written it can be very satisfying.

My mom was Jewish, so some would call me Jewish.

People think they know who I am, because I've played so many very, very out gay men on stage, and they think that's me

Look, I'm over 40, I'm single, and I work in musical theater - you do the math!

There are some people that the press like to pick on and not just the gay press, but the press in general. And some people, the press just doesn't care about at all

I'll always go back to the stage.

Hollywood... Real diamonds, fake breasts.

If you've seen Mary Poppins and The Grinch, come to the Booth Theater and let me shove a little coal down your stocking.