Bette Midler
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.Collection: Education
Rap is poetry set to music. But to me it's like a jackhammer.Collection: Poetry
The worst part of success is to try finding someone who is happy for you.Collection: Success
After thirty, a body has a mind of its own.Collection: Age
Cherish forever what makes you unique, 'cuz you're really a yawn if it goes.
I married a German. Every night I dress up as Poland and he invades me.
I made a pact with myself a long time ago: Never watch anything stupider than you. It's helped me a lot.
Writing a book is not as tough as it is to haul thirty-five people around the country and sweat like a horse five nights a week.
I wouldn't say I invented tacky, but I definitely brought it to its present high popularity.
If I could be granted a wish, I'd shine in your eye like a jewel.
I hope to keep entertaining in some way until I can't physically entertain any longer. It's what I was born to do, and I love this profession.
I bear no grudges. I have a mind that retains nothing.
When it's three o'clock in New York, it's still 1938 in London.
Group conformity scares the pants off me because it's so often a prelude to cruelty towards anyone who doesn't want to - or can't - join the Big Parade.
I never know how much of what I say is true.
I always try to balance the light with the heavy - a few tears of human spirit in with the sequins and the fringes.
I feel like a million tonight - but one at a time.
I try not to drink too much because when I'm drunk, I bite.
I'd make a wonderful Lady Macbeth. I'll wear a pair of platform shoes or something.
I'm working my way toward divinity.
My idea of superwoman is someone who scrubs her own floors.
If sex is such a natural phenomenon, how come there are so many books on how to do it?
I celebrate everyone's religious holidays. if it's good enough for the righteous, it's good enough for the self-righteous, I always say.
I sometimes think I should go back to school to learn French and music, but who would have me?
My husband calls it winging it - the way I just took what the studios gave me, didn't do my homework and avoided roles that would risk my image.
As an actor, you're supposed to take jobs that will challenge you or force fans to see you in a different light. By the '90s, I wasn't really an actor anymore. I was someone who went on the road with these gigantic concerts.
I got so far away from what they told you in acting class: Do something different. Producers kept offering me the 'Sister Act' movie, but I said, 'My fans don't want to see me in a wimple.' I literally said, 'My fans don't want to see me in a wimple.'
I mean, can I really create a full, three-dimensional character? I don't know anymore. I'm certainly going to try.
I already have a Tony for my Broadway concert in '73. It's one of the most precious things I've won.
I'd never done a straight play before, never, and it was very hard work - really, really hard work. It was dense, really wordy, and I was determined to learn every word of it - not just skip over bits and pieces.
I learned to accept the audience's happiness for me, which is one of the hardest things for me to learn.
I had a hard-scrabble childhood with my parents. I have a lot of baggage. To come down to the footlights and accept the audience's affection inside a Broadway theater - that didn't come easily to me.
When I moved to New York City in 1965, I wanted to be in theater. I was following my Ethel Barrymore dream. But I was too young to be Ethel.
A lot of people have no access to beauty. When I was growing up, my mother had only a few pretty things to look at.
Education is my next big thing. When music and art were taken out of the schools, I went berserk!
If you can accept your differentness and learn to love it and encourage it, then you can be someone wonderful.Collection: Wonderful
I have my standards. They're low, but I have them.Collection: Lows
Find your Light; They can't love you if they can't see youCollection: Love You
I firmly believe that with the right footwear one can rule the world.Collection: Fashion
I haven't left my house in days. I watch the news channels incessantly. All the news stories are about the election; all the commercials are Viagra and Cialis. Election, erection, election, erection! Either way we're screwed!Collection: News Stories
Life is not fair. And you have to choose your battles, because there are some that you cannot win. If you're passionate about something, then you should pick up your flag and run with it.Collection: Running
If only I'd known my differentness would be an asset, then my earlier life would have been much easier.Collection: Being Different
I want it all - and I would like it delivered.Collection: Want
People are not the best because they work hard. They work hard because they are the best.Collection: Work
Make sure your life is a rare entertainment! It doesn't take anything drastic. You needn't be gorgeous or wealthy or smart, just very enthusiastic!Collection: Smart
I'm the last of the truly tacky women. I do trash with flash and sleaze with ease.Collection: Tacky
The worst part of success is to try to find someone who is happy for you.Collection: Funny
A person's life is a journey, a road. Sometimes you go off the road and sometimes you stay on all the way through. But you are the only one on that road. It's your road.Collection: Journey
If you pick up a ukulele, it will make you unbelievably happy.Collection: Ukulele
Enough about me. What do you think about me?Collection: Thinking