“Humor without sadness underneath it feels cheap and aggressive.”

“Anger is so constructive.”

“The things that interest me are less to do with perhaps finding myself and more to do with surviving and mercy and forgiveness.”

“Some people go off to an ashram or they, you know, have a midlife crisis and buy a sports car. For me, I do 'Hedwig,' and I see it's a midlife crisis maybe, and I see what's next. And it's a good trampoline, maybe, into the next part of my life.”

“Growing up, it was uncool to admit that your family had any money. And then, instantly, money was cool. In Reagan's parlance, it was about freedom of the individual, which was freedom to be greedy... individual versus society. There was a weird seduction in that, which I still feel.”

“There's something cool about being a stealth classic.”

“Humor without sadness underneath it feels cheap and aggressive.”

“I put on some make-up, turn on the 8-track, and I'm pulling the wig down from the shelf - suddenly I'm Miss Punk Rock Star of Stage and Screen and I ain't ever turning back!”