When I turned 50, I threw myself a big birthday party, and I looked seriously at what my life has been about. I recommend this to everybody. Ask yourself, "What have I done? How did I do it? Where'd I mess up? Where did I do well?" When I did this assessment of my life, I said to myself, "It was really good." I made a lot of people laugh, made a lot of people cry in a good way, brought a lot of joy to people, picked up a lot of garbage. And in all those years, I saw a lot. I went to foreign lands. I met interesting people. And I got it!

When it's three o'clock in New York, it's still 1938 in London.

Thank God for the gays. I don't know what would have happened but I know what did happen. Good for them and good for me.

Twenty-seven people sang 'Wind Beneath My Wings' before I got around to it. A lot of people saw the movie that I sang it in, Beaches, and what they came away with was that song. They turned to their loved ones and said, 'You know, you are the wind beneath my wings!' The song expressed how they felt in a way a simple 'I love you' would not have.

We are all part of the ecosystem.

Writing a book is not as tough as it is to haul thirty-five people around the country and sweat like a horse five nights a week.

It's the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance. It is the dream afraid of waking that never takes the chance.