A biography for Barbra Streisandhasn’t been written yet.
“I was a personality before I became a person - I am simple, complex, generous, selfish, unattractive, beautiful, lazy and driven.”
“Why is it men are permitted to be obsessed about their work, but women are only permitted to be obsessed about men?”
“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.”
“I think when I was younger, I wanted to be a star, until I became a star, and then it's a lot of work. It's work to be a star. I don't enjoy the stardom part. I only enjoy the creative process.”
“I'm tired of malicious articles slandering me.”
“I'd started going to acting classes at 14, played 'Medea' at 15 and really wanted to be a classical actress.”
“If I hear a record once, I usually never listen to it again. I rarely listen to music - unless it's Billie Holiday.”
“My mother had a great voice. Not like mine, not like my sister's, not like my son's - a high soprano voice, but like a bird. I mean, really beautiful.”
“When they tried me out as a host on TV, I found that I just couldn't be that gregarious person. I was stranger than that.”
“Directing is so interesting. You know, it just sort of encompasses everything that you see, that you know, that you've felt, that you have observed.”
“I don't care what you say about me. Just be sure to spell my name wrong.”
“I don't like talking about myself and I don't like talking about the work.”
“אני אוהבת גבר אחד בכל פעם, אני נאמנה ובעצם מונוגמית.”
“אני שומעת תפקידים של קרן יער ושל כלי מיתר. זה הכיף בלהקליט עם תזמורת.”
“הבנתי מה היחס בשירה בין מכניקה לפסיכולוגיה, אנשים כל הזמן שאלו אותי, 'איך את מצליחה להחזיק תו כל כך הרבה זמן?' מעולם לא חשבתי על זה. החזקתי אותו כי רציתי להחזיק אותו.”
“הגעתי להוליווד בלי להרכיב שיניים חדשות, בלי לשנות את צורת האף ובלי לשנות את שמי. זה העניק לי קרדיט.”
“ברחוב הכירו אותי כילדה עם הקול היפה. זאת הייתה הזהות שלי.”
“My friend Quincy Jones says we won our first Grammys together in 1963. I have no recollection. I don't even remember the room. When he showed me the picture, I remembered what I wore. But it's like awards don't mean anything.”
“I wish I could be like Shaw who once read a bad review of one of his plays, called the critic and said: 'I have your review in front of me and soon it will be behind me.'”
“Sometimes you resent the people you love and need the most. Love is so fascinating in all its forms, and I think everyone who has ever been a mother will relate to this.”