For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.

In the silence of night I have often wished for just a few words of love from one man, rather than the applause of thousands of people.

Be a first rate version of yourself, not a second rate version of someone else.

I`m a woman who wants to reach out and take 40 million people in her arms.

I have the unfortunate habit of not being able to have an affair with a man without being in love with him.

If I am a legend, then why am I so lonely?

When you have lived the life I`ve lived, when you`ve loved and suffered, and been madly happy and desperately sad -- well, that`s when you realize you`ll never be able to set it all down. Maybe you`d rather die first.

[on daughter Liza Minnelli] I think she decided to go into show business when she was an embryo, she kicked so much.

Some of the [midget] men used to tease me while we were making The Wizard of Oz (1939). They used to sneak under my dress! I told them if they ever went under there - and I found out about it - they were in big trouble!

How strange when an illusion dies. It`s as though you`ve lost a child.

My mother had a marvelous talent for mishandling money - mine. When I was put under stock contract at Metro and had a steady income for the first time, we lived in a four-unit apartment building. I suggested to Mother that we buy it as an investment and rent the other three apartments. She hit me in the mouth and invested the money in a nickel mine in Needles, California, that has never been found. We never got a nickel back.

[on her sadistic stage mother] She was the real Wicked Witch of the West.

[when told by a reporter that she had a large gay following] I couldn`t care less. I sing to people!