I wish somebody would just give me a couple of million dollars a year, so that I could do a play based on every little fantasy I have.

There's a real fantasy quotient to my work. Any play that I've written for myself to perform in basically begins with the idea, "Wouldn't it be fun to be, say, Jean Harlow in a pre-code movie?"

I was very briefly under contract to Disney Animation, to develop ideas for animated features. They don't like you to use the word "cartoon" around there.

I'm writing the book to a children's musical. I got a note from the producers saying, "Can't you make it campier?" So now, I'm trying to determine the camp sensibility of the average eight year old.

I always tend to say "no" to everything, but now I've decided to say "yes" to everything. Now, I'm doing all sorts of things that I would've said "no" to before.

It's more interesting to put yourself in the place of Bette Davis than Irene Dunne, I guess.

I don't think I could ever go to Auschwitz, because when we took that tour of MGM, I nearly collapsed outside the Thalberg building.

I saw "Follies" again at thirty, and you know, I had this great appreciation for [Stephen] Sondheim's brilliance, his lyrics.

At fifteen, it [ "Follies"] didn't have any kind of resonance with me, this show about regret and middle age.

I grew up with "Follies." I saw it when I was fifteen. It was the original production, and of course, that production will never be equaled.

I stole that from Vito Russo. He said he was a devout believer in Judyism.

The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself.

I shall eat anyone who tries to steal my singing, springing lark!

Faith takes God without any ifs. If God says anything, faith says, "I believe it"; faith says, "Amen" to it.

I don't diet. There's going to be barbecues and macaroni and cheese - but I'll have broccoli and salad the next day.

Nothing in this world happens without a reason. That we are all exactly where we are supposed to be, and that the pieces of the puzzle have a tendency to come together when you least expect it.

Great leaders are always out front with a banner, instead of behind with a whip.

We've seen the weakest economic recovery since World War II, and massive levels of inequality and debt.

To succeed in life, you must have the courage to be hated.

The Japanese, if I understand them, are masters of the unsaid and the unstated, of subtlety and ambiguity, all of which constitute powerful stimulants to the imagination.

'Free Fallin'' is a very good song. Maybe it would be one of my favorites if it hadn't become this huge anthem. But I'm grateful that people like it.