Liza Minnelli Quotations

The regrets of yesterday and the fear of tomorrow can kill you.

Dream on it. Let your mind take you to places you would like to go, and then think about it and plan it and celebrate the possibilities. And don't listen to anyone who doesn't know how to dream.

I've said it before, but it's absolutely true: My mother gave me my drive, but my father gave me my dreams. Thanks to him, I could see a future.

Anything is possible in this world. I really believe that.

It was no great tragedy being Judy Garland's daughter. I had tremendously interesting childhood years - except they had little to do with being a child.

I've decided that I am totally against jewelry. So I have all fake. There's no reason to have real diamonds. People think it's real anyway.

I had the drink after I fell out of bed. It hurt.

And what I liked the most about any project was that when it was good, you had a bunch of people trying to accomplish something together who were all acting together as one - that's the most exciting time for me.

I love finding talent. Just to encourage people is a good thing. Every night, the audience encourages me. I'm just passing it on.

Smoking is one of the leading causes of all statistics.

I think that's the greatest gift one can have: point of view. You know? I've come to believe that if you have a bad memory of something, change it.

In Hollywood now when people die they don't say, 'Did he leave a will?' but 'Did he leave a diary?'

Never stop moving, or you'll stop moving. I go to dance class every morning, and it's just good to stay strong; I like being healthy.

I worked very hard, but I think it's unfair to make it all sound like it's all David's fault.

Ben Vereen is going to be on the show with me, too.

I feel like there's a world of possibilities out there.

You have to work hard for it, but first you have to want it, and then you have to dream on it.

Initially, I wanted to be an ice skater, but then when I was 13 I saw Bye Bye Birdie, and that was it - I wanted to be on Broadway.

The director, of course, was Bob Fosse. But again, I worked with my father to prepare for the role.

Well, I'll tell you something, this wedding is something that I will always, always cherish. It was a show of love and support and kindness like I'd never seen from the people, and that's who I entertain. I entertain the people.

I'm fine, and my hips are fine. My false knee is fine. My false hips are fine. Everything's cooking.

I know that. I'm having a ball. I'm not slap happy. I'm just filled up with joy and with peace and with all kinds of things that have eluded me for quite a few years. And they're back and they're thriving.

The male gay community seems to be very into female singers. I think it could be the songs we sing. They're more open with their feelings. And they have good taste!

I believe all drunks go to heaven, because they've been through hell on Earth.

I walk fast. Keep moving. Always be a moving target. Marilyn Monroe taught me that.

I am deeply saddened by the death of my dear friend, Dudley Moore.

I'm not a very good singer. I just know how to present a song, and honey, I think I've been through enough to do it right.

But I don't think there's any reason to get married again, especially after what I've been through.

Growing up in Hollywood it seemed like every kid was the child of some star.

I feel like I haven't done my best work yet.

I feel like I haven't done my best work yet. I feel like there's a world of possibilities out there.

My mother gave me my drive but my father gave me my dreams.

My mother was an artist and highly strung, whereas my father was much calmer.

So I would dance and she would sing, and it was kind of a family thing. Performing was part of our world.

To the general public, show business may just mean the artistic part, but the dollar and cents element is the reality every performer has to face.

Well, when I was growing up it was Ozzie and Harriet on TV - nobody's parents were like that.

What good is sitting all alone in your room?

Half the time, I feel like I'm 12. And the rest of the time, I feel like I'm 80. So I guess I'm somewhere in between. No, I feel great. I've got my health, and that's the most important thing.

I'm so grateful for everything that's happened. I love my work. People have such hurdles - I just wanted to perform, and I wanted my parents to be proud, and they were proud.

Working with Dudley Moore was so hilarious. I don't know how we got anything done because everybody was laughing so hard, but he was such a wonderful man, and he had a kindness and a musicality and a dearness to him that was triumphant.

If we had a hard time, my mother would sit me down and we would talk about it, and she kept talking and kept processing until we started to laugh about it.

Well, I've known Elizabeth almost all of her life and almost all of my life. And I love her with all of my heart and she's always been there for me. She's a wonderful, wonderful dame. She's a great lady.

You see, that's another thing that my parents gave me: an enormously great sense of humor.

But my brother Joey was there, and my sister Tina Nina Minnelli was there.

First I wanted to be an ice skater, and then I saw 'Bye, Bye Birdie,' and everything changed. I'm glad I learned through the process of theater.

Audiences are the same all over the world, and if you entertain them, they'll respond.

But God really did bless me, you know? He really said, All right. Come on. I'm still waiting for you. Get over here. Get over here.

I don't sing as well as my mother. I'm a good actress. I'm not that good a singer.

I had a one day slip, Matt. So what do you do? You get up and you go on, and you try not to do it again.

I mean, I inherited the disease of alcoholism, and I learned early to get help when I needed it. I always went to people who knew more than I did.

I was given an enormous amount of love by my parents.

No, I mean, I most certainly date and go out.

No, I'm a theatrical, live performer or a movie performer.

Well, we have theatrical parties. It's not me singing. People like to get up and jam on the piano.

What I'm saying is that I tried very hard to give them my reality and my reality is kind of interesting.

Whenever we were on a plane, we had a family.

Growing up in Hollywood it seemed like every kid was the child of some star. We had no idea that other people would think we were special, because there was no other lifestyle to compare it to.

He was doing - Ray was designing the clothes for my mom's show from California. And one of the first appearances I ever made on television was on my mother's show and Ray and Bob did the clothes for that. It has been a long time.

He's a good tough producer, yes. But I don't think that he's unreasonable unless he feels threatened. And when somebody's in your home, I think everybody in the home gets threatened.

I had no interest in filming. I sometimes went to the studios with my dad, but it was slow-going; it was boring to watch. I always ended up in the rehearsal hall watching the dancing. That's what I liked to do.

I think every time you go to do something, it's a challenge. Somebody said to me, 'You've done it all. If you could do anything right now, what would you do?' I said, 'I'd do everything I did better.'

I thought maybe, just by never preaching, never doing any of that stuff because it doesn't work. By just maybe the power of example and some laughs, maybe somebody might go take a walk.

I thought that making movies was drab. I'd lived through that. And I didn't want to use my parents, ever... They didn't want to push me into this business.

I was sitting on my mom's lap across from my father to see Kay Thompson at Ciro's. And I always remember this energy force, this woman flying around the room and singing these harmonies so everyone went, 'Wow!' So I thought, 'That's what I want to do.'

It's like being an athlete; you get into a certain shape where you really have the right wind, because it's all to do with breath. Because singing and dancing at the same time is not easy!

Nobody sang better than my mom. That's why I've never even thought of singing for singing sake. I've always thought of a song as an acting piece, as a way to say something.

Now, having had this experience, I can't say really what they were looking for. I don't know their minds. But every time I see a reality show, it seems that the most entertaining parts on other reality shows are when they make their guests look foolish.

The thing is, is to raise your hand. It's not to hide, and it's not to try and pretend or do anything like that. You raise your hand, that's the best thing about it.

We held off sending our invitations out because we want to have our party when the world is at peace and people can come and enjoy themselves.

She said the legend is going to build, they're going to build it, you've got nothing to do with it. So don't go out and say 'But I'm not like that!' because people don't want to hear it,

I think probably Barbra and maybe even Cher and myself in school felt like outcasts because we didn't have standard looks.

I thought, 'My God, every tiny little thing, every moment that I did, Fosse caught.' He caught a total performance that could have been nothing, but he found these pieces and put them together to make it the one thing that I don't really have, which is a film of what I really do. I'm an animal of the stage. I was bred to be that.

It was done in one night. It was one performance only. That was it. That was our shot.

She raised us with humor, and she raised us to understand that not everything was going to be great-but how to laugh through it.

Maybe what a gay icon is, is a person who is rooted for — in other words, cheered on — by people who feel different.

There are so many girls, and so few princes.

I consider myself an actress first, a dancer second, and a singer third. Why? Because the dancer needs a reason to move-that's the actor informing the dancer. So I worked on my acting and gradually developed a singing voice.

I rely on regular chiropractic care to keep in shape for my strenuous type of acting and singing.

I'm always looking at the next thing. I'm too curious to look back...it's very hard to be unhappy when you're curious and grateful. You're busy. You don't have time to be unhappy. My biggest talent is I know who is more talented than I am. I find them and I go to them, and I learn.

It's a waste of time to think about what I should have done and what I didn't. I really believe in that. That's how I react to the if-onlys of life. To moan and groan about something I shouldn't have done, could have done, might have done...who knows? It is what it is. You got what you got. I live my life one day at a time.

My family's been in show business since the 1700s. I traced them. I'm bred to this. Like a racehorse. A thoroughbred. Look at my parents, my God. But it was my curiosity that made me do this. Because you could also say: "Look at Frank Sinatra Jr." It's not like a natural thing that happens. You gotta work.

(in the film "That's Entertainment!" - 1974) Thank God for film, it can capture a moment and hold it there forever. If anyone ever asks you: "Who were they?" or "What made them so good?" I think a reel of film answers that question.

I have two false hips, a wired-up right knee, two crushed discs and scoliosis. If I don't dance, I seize up.

You don't know how to handle anything today, because you have to go to jail to get some press or fall down drunk.

I've got a good life, and I don't think anything can rock that anymore.

Some people think reality must be constantly depressing, but I think reality is something you rise above.

He [Gene Kelly] once told me dancing was a man's game, as much of a sport as baseball itself. And he made us believe that. He changed our minds and suddenly, all of America wanted to dance just like Gene Kelly.

Bleeding feet will bond us.

I came out of the womb looking for the camera angle

Don't listen to anyone who doesn't know how to dream

(on Judy Garland) She was a friend of mine, a trying friend, but a friend. That is what I tell myself: She did everything she ever wanted to do. She never really denied herself anything for me. See, I say, she had a wonderful life; she did what she wanted to do. And I have no right to change her fulfillment into my misery. I'm on my own broom now.

It was like Mama suddenly realized I was good, that she didn't have to apologize for me. It was the strangest feeling. One minute I was on stage with my mother, the next moment I was on stage with Judy Garland. One minute she smiled at me, and the next minute she was like the lioness that owned the stage and suddenly found somebody invading her territory. The killer instinct of a performer had come out in her.

(on Marilyn Monroe) I was walking down Broadway with her and nobody was stopping us. She was going to (Stella Adler's) actors' studio, and she was taking me to show me what it was all about. And I said to her: "How come nobody is taking your picture?" She said: "Well, watch." She took her scarf off, straightened her shoulders, and draped something another way, and we were surrounded. It must have been 400 people. And I said: "Now I know why!"

Reality is something you rise above.

And I'm starting work on a musical set in New York.