Quotes by Harvey Fierstein

“Bertha: Did your mother have any children that lived?”

“Bertha: Just wait until you see my act: Bertha Venation and her Dance of the Virgin. Murray: Which she does completely from memory. Bertha: Bitch!”

“Arnold: I know you'll find this hard to comprehend, but I want more out of life than meeting a pretty face and sitting down on it.”

“Bertha: Personally, I never enjoy sex with someone I know. Arnold: Our Lady of High Standards!”

“Alan: Why are all the mirrors covered? Arnold: So we don't see the pain in our faces. Alan: Why is everyone sitting on boxes? Arnold: To make sure there's pain in our faces. Ma: (sotto voce) You to...”

“Ma: Friend-friend, or euphemism-friend? David: He used to be a euphemism, now he's just a friend.”

“Ma: What lose did you have? You fooled around with some boy. Where do you compare that with a marriage of forty years? Come on. I'm not one of your pals Arnold: I lost someone I loved. Ma: So you f...”

“Ma: Arnold, think about the boy. The way you live is bound to affect him! Arnold: Ma, David is gay! Ma: He hasn't even been here a year! Arnold: He came that way! Ma: Nobody comes that way! Arnold:...”

“Arnold: You want to be a part of my life, I'm not editing out the parts you don't like.”

“Arnold: I have taught myself to sew, cook, fix plumbing, I can even pat myself on the back when necessary, so I don't have to ask anyone for anything. There's nothing I need from anyone except for ...”

“Arnold: Anyway, it's easier to love someone who's dead. They make so few mistakes.”

“Hello, boys. How are you all? I just love boys. [...] Hello. Are you here alone? Who are you with? ...A woman? At my show? ...We'll make believe. It's theatre.”

“I’ve been travelling a lot. My boyfriend and I, we just went to Santa Fe. You know, the one named after the gay saint. Has anybody ever been to Santa Fe? …did you know it was a desert? I didn’t kno...”

“Do you remember at the presidential convention where they nominated Bush? Did you know what song they played to bring Bush on stage? No. The Best of Times from La Cage aux Folles. I said some fag p...”

“I live in a small fictional town in Connecticut.”

“See, I went to an all-gay high school. Art and Design. Now the truth is it wasn’t really all gay, but they bused them in, it was the law. [...] So I went to this high school, I had friends like Pab...”

“You’d probably just lost your virginity, I’d probably just lost count.”

“We had great sex, but we argued politics. [...] Now we enjoy politics and argue sex.”

“Now they know who we are. We’re counted in their surveys, we’re numbered in their watchfulness, we’re powered in their press. We’re courted, polled, placated. Now they know that we’re teachers and ...”