Quotes from Barbra Streisand

My mother told me I should be a secretary, but I wanted to be an actress from when I was very young.

When I was working a lot, I felt guilty as a parent. I couldn't pick up my son every day from school, bake him cookies and that kind of thing.

We have a president who stole the presidency through family ties, arrogance and intimidation, employing Republican operatives to exercise the tactics of voter fraud by disenfranchising thousands of blacks, elderly Jews and other minorities.

The audience is the barometer of the truth.

It always gave me the creeps when I saw performers who desperately wanted the audience to like them. That's not what I'm about.

Performing, for me, has always been a very inner process.

I think of myself as a girl from Brooklyn.

Being a woman in music was fine, but when I wanted to direct, I was poking my head into a man's world.

You don't ask a man, 'Do you want to be in control [of your job]?' You assume he wants control. Why would a woman be any different?

How could such a destructive man [referring to Bush] be so popular with the American people?... Not only is he poisoning our air and water - he's poisoning our political system as well.

I must have got my detailed, obsessive streak from my father, who was an English teacher, because my mother wasn't like me at all.

If I hear a record once, I usually never listen to it again. I rarely listen to music - unless it's Billie Holiday.

Oh God, don't envy me, I have my own pains.

I've been called many names like perfectionist, difficult and obsessive. I think it takes obsession, takes searching for the details for any artist to be good.

I arrived in Hollywood without having my nose fixed, my teeth capped, or my name changed. That is very gratifying to me.

I'd started going to acting classes at 14, played 'Medea' at 15 and really wanted to be a classical actress.

I remember when I was 5 living on Pulaski Street in Brooklyn, the hallway of our building had a brass banister and a great sound, a great echo system. I used to sing in the hallway.

Believe in the power of your voice! Be yourself. Everyone is unique.

I got sent to a health camp when I was about 6 years old, and we all had to wear the same starchy blue uniform. The lady who took care of me after school knit me a burgundy sweater. It was the only thing that gave me any individuality.

I'm not that ambitious any more. I just like my privacy. I wish I really wasn't talked about at all.

I am simple complex generous selfish unattractive beautiful lazy and driven.

I like to stay home a lot. I like to do other things too, like decorate or build.

The dream - you never achieve it. The excitement of life lies in the hope, in the striving for something rather than the attainment.

Life's too short. Start with Dessert!