Bette Midler

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. ”

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. ”

If sex is such a natural phenomenon, how come there are so many books on how to do it? ”

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. ”

Education is my next big thing. When music and art were taken out of the schools, I went berserk! ”

I made a pact with myself a long time ago: Never watch anything stupider than you. It's helped me a lot. ”

I feel like a million tonight - but one at a time. ”

I always try to balance the light with the heavy - a few tears of human spirit in with the sequins and the fringes. ”

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. ”