Bette Midler quotes: about passion, divinity, confidence, and life.
“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.”
“If you’re passionate about something, then you should pick up your flag and run with it.”
“Without passion, the powers-that-be can run roughshod over you.”
“It’s the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance. It is the dream afraid of waking that never takes the chance. It is the one who won’t be taken who cannot seem to give. And the soul afraid of dying that never learns to live.”
“People are not the best because they work hard. They work hard because they are the best.”
“People have an obligation to live up to their potential.”
“Self-esteem is something you have to earn. The only way to achieve self-esteem is to work hard.”
“If you’re frightened, you’re out of luck.”
“Cherish forever what makes you unique, cuz you’re really a yawn if it goes.”
“Find your light; they can’t love you if they can’t see you.”
“Life is not fair. And you have to choose your battles, because there are some that you cannot win.”
“Life is like cooking your masterpiece recipe. You have to get the right ingredients, have the right mixture and the right cooking time to reveal the perfect and delicious taste of your craft.”
“It’s important that you all agree on what the parameters are and what you can accomplish – and not get pissed off or beat yourself up for what you can’t accomplish.”
“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!”
“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.”
“Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world.”
“In a marriage, you struggle and struggle and struggle, and then you realize that you have to ride the horse in the direction it’s going. You stop trying to pull the reins in another direction.”
“My idea of superwoman is someone who scrubs her own floors.”
“After 30, a body has a mind of its own.”
“I always try to balance the light with the heavy – a few tears of human spirit in with the sequins and the fringes.”
“My parents have not insisted that we go to college, but she wanted us to learn. Teacher, librarian, secretary, nurse. All my siblings were employed. But I wanted to be the boss, an independent contractor.”
“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.”
“Sometimes you have to make your own opportunities, and that’s why I’m on TV. I wasn’t going to sit around anymore, waiting for the damn phone to ring. I had to create my own place. I’ve always done that.”
“While I was growing up, I believed I could do anything I could think of. So the challenge was always to keep thinking – to get to where I wanted to be and then to think of somewhere else to go.”
“What I have in me… it’s not hard, and it’s not cold, and it’s not fierce ambition, that’s not what it is. It’s a drive for success, but it’s not a drive… it’s being driven, it’s something I have no control over. It’s something pushing me, I’m not pushing myself.”
“I’m not interested in perfection. The universe is perfect, and there are some works of art that we see as perfect, but human beings aren’t perfect.”
“If only I’d known my differentness would be an asset, then my earlier life would have been much easier.”
“If you can accept your differentness and learn to love it and encourage it, then you can be someone wonderful.”
“The worst part of success is to try finding someone who is happy for you.”
“I read a comment that made me think I should stop singing for a while. And I didn’t want to stop singing, because it was the only thing I loved. At first I thought, ‘Maybe I’ll get better and eventually please the person who wrote about my singing.’ But then I thought, ‘I probably will never please this person. I should just do what pleases me.'”
“When you reach a certain age, you have fulfilled your childhood dream and whatever your first or second adulthood led you to do. Then you’re in your third adulthood, the one that leads to the grave, and you ask yourself, ‘What will I do between now and then?’ Instead of thinking in terms of glamour, you start thinking in terms of reform – your contribution to the world.”
“I have my standards. They’re low, but I have them.”
“A lot of people say that my life is wasted on me because I could be a bigger asshole than I am, but I’ve chosen not to be.”
“F*ck ’em if they can’t take a joke!”
“I’m confident that I’m as intelligent as many people, but I know that I’m not as intelligent as some. So in the presence of hyper-intelligent people, I’m a shrinking violet because I don’t want to look like a fool. I know a little about a lot and a lot about a little.”
“I’m the last of the truly tacky women. I do trash with flash and sleaze with ease.”
“I want to have fun, and I want to give people a good laugh.”
“I have a ball – and it keeps my heart rate up. I get to wear fabulous clothes. I get to make people laugh. That’s my core business, and that’s where I’ll always return.”
“We’re all divine, but I was the only one who had the nerve to call myself that.”
“When I started in this music business, I had a dream, but it was amorphous, and I had no experience. I just had a fuzzy notion of what life would be like if I became what I pictured.”
“When I finally did stop and look at my life, I realized that I had done what I’d set out to do. In my pitiful little way, I had climbed the mountain I had chosen. And there I was, on top.”
“I’ve always been lucky enough to have great audiences. It has been quite a life.”
“I feel like a million tonight – but one at a time.”
“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.”
“What do you know for sure? That laughter feels really good. That there’s a lot of conscious, tangible evil afoot in the world. That the planet will always go on. That you can find peace in nature. That music has great charm and is a great communicator. That dancing is good for the soul. That beauty is very healing and great for the spirit. That you gotta eat a little dirt before you die. That payback is a b*tch. And that no matter who you are, there is no free lunch.”
“If I could be granted a wish, I’d shine in your eye like a jewel.”
“I’m working my way toward divinity.”
“Enough about me. What do you think about me?”
