Explore Quotes by Harvey Fierstein

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.

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 really am a theater person. That means you put something out there, and you let it go. Tomorrow night is a new performance.

Nothing binds a people to their leader like a common enemy. Voters don’t change governments during war.

Pork was in 1971, and I stopped hanging out at The Factory by like 1973.

It would be nice to redefine ourselves - at the moment we are drowning in diversity. That's not a bad thing, its just going to take a while before we refocus.

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.

Theater is my temple and my religion and my act of faith. Strangers sit in a room together and believe together.

There are times when I don't take roles because I don't want to be perceived a certain way.

To me, if a heterosexual has a right to do it, then I have a right to do it. And if it's important to the gay youth - who are now setting the agenda - then its important to me.

It's through sheer will that I can sing.

I just don't like politics. My rule is if I can put a spotlight on something, I'll do that.

How often are the perpetrators of hate-crimes discovered to be self-loathing? Valued individuals do not strike out against strangers.

I don't believe in the afterlife, so I do think when somebody passes, it's worthy of note.

A musical takes two to five years. You have to love it to put in the years.

As soon as I started writing, other writers stopped wanting me acting in their shows - maybe they thought I was going to rewrite them.

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

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

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

It's a lot of fun to play someone you don't normally think of yourself as.