Judy Garland's Quotes & Sayings

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. — Judy Garland

My mother was a phoenix who always expected to rise from the ashes of her latest disaster. She loved being Judy Garland. — Lorna Luft

I love Judy Garland, I love Doris Day, I love Marilyn Monroe. I love everything that comes from that era. The music is just beautiful and powerful - and simple. That's what makes it so great. — Emmy Rossum

You shouldn't be told you're completely irresponsible and be left alone with too much medication. It's too easy to forget. You take a couple of sleeping pills and you wake up in twenty minutes and forget you've taken them. So you take a couple more, and the next thing you know you've taken too many. — Judy Garland

I was born in a lovely white house with a garden. — Judy Garland

I remember when I was doing Mermaids [1990], I was 16 and they gave me a B12 shot once. My parents weren't there, and when they did come, they freaked out. They were terrified, because of the Judy Garland stories. I know it's just vitamin B, but it did give you a boost. — Winona Ryder

I grew up with the movies of Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire and Judy Garland - these are the kinds of shows and the kinds of numbers in shows that I dreamed of being in and doing when I was a kid. — Max Von Essen

I was keenly aware that I didn't want to draw on too many typically doomed aspects of the fated singer. Whether it's Judy Garland or Norma Desmond, there is this tragic quality to older women that one can revel in, and you want it to be more three-dimensional than that. So it was important for the character to be strong and resilient, because there are so many victims in opera. — Rufus Wainwright

I don't always have to sing a song. There is something besides 'The Man That Got Away' or 'Over the Rainbow' or 'The Trolley Song.' There's a woman. There are three children. There's me! There's a lot of life going here. — Judy Garland

It's really a grand old, legendary theatre where the spirits of like Judy Garland and all these great performers have been. The clubs are way more underground. — Deborah Cox

When you get to know a lot of people, you make a great discovery. You find that no one group has a monopoly on looks, brains, goodness or anything else. It takes all the people - black and white, Catholic, Jewish and Protestant, recent immigrants and Mayflower descendants - to make up America. — Judy Garland

People are always asking me what it's like to be Judy Garland's daughter. It's hard to be a legend's child. — Lorna Luft

I'd watch old movies with Judy Garland, Shirley Temple and Bette Davis and long to be part of that glamorous world. A lot of that glamour is gone now. In my own small way, I hope I'm bringing some of it back. But it would be great if I could inspire women to dress up. — Imelda May

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. — Liza Minnelli

It's lonely and cold on the top ... lonely and cold. — Judy Garland

I loved Judy Garland. I thought she was such a classic beauty. I thought she was so endearing and charming, and I loved her voice. She was such a dreamer, and I think I was, too - and I am. — Kara Lindsay

When I look back at The Judy Garland Show, I have such mixed feelings. It broke my mother's heart when they canceled it. — Lorna Luft

I'm just an Irish biddy. — Judy Garland

I have a degree in cinema studies and the big paper I wrote at the end of that was about Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli. So I thought that I knew quite a bit about Judy Garland, but I read in passing that the Stonewall riots were a reaction to her death and I had never really read enough to know what that meant or how that could be true. I was interested in that I knew so much about Judy Garland, but I really didn't know this story. — Karina Longworth

Depending on her mood, Judy Garland can still be more frightening than any demon or devil you might run across. — Chuck Palahniuk

I wasn't close to my father, but I wanted to be all my life. He had a funny sense of humor, and he laughed all the time - good and loud, like I do. He was a gay Irish gentleman and very good-looking. And he wanted to be close to me, too, but we never had much time together. — Judy Garland

I felt Michael Jackson was inspired a little bit more from the elegance of a Fred Astaire. Michael loved Sammy Davis, Jr. and James Brown and Judy Garland and Fred Astaire. But he wasn't any of those people. To be inspired is one thing, but he made it all his own. — Kenny Ortega

I knew the full 'Judy Garland Carnegie Hall' double album set at age 2. And then my mother wondered why I was gay. I was like, 'Are you nuts? You would make me get on the table to sing Judy Garland songs and you're upset?' — Mario Cantone

You could say one wine is like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz while another is like the mature Judy Garland, or that a big voluptuous chardonnay is like Marilyn Monroe -round, bosomy - you can remember that chardonnay, If you say a wine is snappy and lively, like Robin Williams, that's very different than the Anthony Hopkins of wine - urbane, sophisticated, measured, considered. — Karen MacNeil

Birds fly over the rainbow. Why then, oh, why can't I? — Judy Garland

I think that I have every right to write a book. I think I'm interesting. I have perspective about me. — Judy Garland

I always loved to sing and was very, very loud. I wanted to be a movie star, like Judy Garland. — Jenny Slate

She was the Judy Garland of American poetry. — James Dickey

No-one will ever sound as good as Judy Garland as far as I am concerned. — Tony Bennett

Audiences have kept me alive. — Judy Garland

When you talk about the world's greatest entertainer you have to say Al Jolson because there was no one like him. Only Judy Garland and perhaps Frank Sinatra got anywhere near him! — Jack Benny

Judy Garland was the singer I most wanted to sound like then, not to copy, but to get some of her soul and purity. A wonderful young voice. — Sarah Vaughan

I was born at the age of twelve on an MGM lot. — Judy Garland

Well, I was obsessed with Judy Garland growing up. Like, obsessed. — Aubrey Plaza

Never be a second-rate version of someone else, be a first-rate version of yourself — Judy Garland

When parents talk about their pasts, the stories start to stick in your head. But the memories that you inherit look different from the now-world, and different from your own memories, too. Like they have a color all their own. I don't mean sepia-toned or something. My parents aren't even that old. I just mean that there is something particular about their glow. — Ava Dellaira

I was always in love with Judy Garland, and when I was growing up, I fell in love with Leonardo DiCaprio, of course. — Tammy Blanchard

As for my feelings toward 'Over the Rainbow,' it's become part of my life. It is so symbolic of all my dreams and wishes that I'm sure that's why people sometimes get tears in their eyes when they hear it. — Judy Garland

Wouldn t it be wonderful if we could all be a little more gentle with each other, and a little more loving, have a little more empathy, and maybe we'd like each other a little bit more. — Judy Garland

See, I never wrote arrangements for the band for Judy Garland; I did strictly special material, special lyrics, put together all of her medleys. — Mel Torme

Hollywood is a strange place if you're in trouble. Everybody thinks it's contagious. — Judy Garland

How strange when an illusion dies. It's as though you've lost a child. — Judy Garland

I think there's something peculiar about me that I haven't died. It doesn't make sense but I refuse to die. — Judy Garland

Arguably, the relationship between Liza Minnelli and Judy Garland is one of the great mother-daughter sagas of all time. Certainly, for certain people, and a lot of them, Liza is the bigger star. Liza is the more kind of viable legend, shall we say. Then there's the other camp, where Judy is the one. — Rufus Wainwright

Judy Garland is a singer with a capital S. And talk about soul. This woman was soul personified. Judy Garland is a class by herself. — Aretha Franklin

You are never so alone as when you are ill on stage. The most nightmarish feeling in the world is suddenly to feel like throwing up in front of four thousand people. — Judy Garland

If I am a legend, then why am I so lonely? — Judy Garland

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. — Liza Minnelli

The most memorable night of The Judy Garland Show for me was the night my mother pulled me out of the audience and sang to me onstage. — Lorna Luft

I think that kids need to grow up watching what I grew up watching - great entertainment; you know, Judy Garland and all these musicals that bring song and dance and acting all together in a polished way. — Tammy Blanchard

My father's death was the most terrible thing that happened to me in my life. — Judy Garland

The finest all-around performer we ever had in America was Judy Garland. There was no limit to her talent. She was the quickest, brightest person I ever worked with. — Gene Kelly

I try to bring the audience's own drama - tears and laughter they know about - to them. — Judy Garland

I believe that the real expression of your religious beliefs is shown in the daily pattern of your life, in what you contribute to your surroundings and what you take away without infringing on the rights of other people. — Judy Garland

Lauryn Hill, P-Funk, Marvin Gaye, Public Enemy - I have a very diverse palate for music. I can go from Judy Garland to Jimi Hendrix to Stevie Wonder to Rachmaninoff. I just love great music. — Janelle Monae

Judy Garland's father was gay. That seems to be the consensus. They left Minnesota and went to California because he got caught with some boy backstage. — Judy Davis

A pair of ruby red slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz have been stolen. The thief is described as being armed and fabulous. — David Letterman

I don't think I have the image that say, Judy Garland has, or Bette Davis. — Julie Andrews

Velveeta: you can eat it - or wax your car with it! — Judy Garland

Music was always part of my life - my mother says I came out singing. I wanted to be Gene Kelly - or Judy Garland. — Imelda May

Normal" women were rare, unless one considered Judy Garland a normal woman. — William Stadiem

For better or worse, I've always been curious musically. Whether it's opera or Judy Garland or pop, I've deliberately sought those things out. I've never wanted to do the same things over and over. Some think I've accomplished what I set out to do, and others consider me a dilettante. — Rufus Wainwright

I've been in love with audiences all my life, and I've tried to please. I hope I did. — Judy Garland

Soon the sun beams will smile through. Before you jump out of that bed, just know, the thought of you was the first thing that hit my head. Good morning my darling. — Judy Garland

Somewhere in the distance he could hear a wireless playing Judy Garland's 'Over the Rainbow.' Wolf had seen the film but, had he been the one swept up to the magical land of Oz, he would have raised an army of flying monkeys, stuck the witches in a concentration camp, razed the Emerald City to the ground and executed the wizard for communist sympathies, being a Jew, a homosexual, intellectually retarded, or all of the above.
He did like the tune, though. — Lavie Tidhar

On daughter Liza Minnelli: I think she decided to go into show business when she was an embryo, she kicked so much. — Judy Garland

(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. — Liza Minnelli

Mom brought me some peanut butter cookies and a biography of Judy Garland. She told me she thought my problem was that I was too impatient, my fuse was too short, that I was only interested in instant gratification. I said, "Instant gratification takes too long." The glib martyr. — Carrie Fisher

We used to sing along to Judy Garland and Ella Fitzgerald records together. She had the most amazing voice ... She's always encouraged me, and she's still that person who, when things look dire, lifts me up and reminds me of who I am and that we all have a capacity for greatness. — Sheryl Crow

I was pretty new to the Broadway world once I began working in it. I hadn't really grown up being too aware of that many shows or that many actors in shows. I was always obsessed with Judy Garland, though. — Jennifer Damiano

A really great reception makes me feel like I have a great big warm heating pad all over me. People en masse have always been wonderful to me. I truly have a great love for an audience, and I used to want to prove it to them by giving them blood. — Judy Garland

I'm a woman who wants to reach out and take 40 million people in her arms. — Judy Garland

In our house, the word of Louis B. Mayer became the law. — Judy Garland

I'm the original take-orders girl. — Judy Garland

I've always taken 'The Wizard of Oz' very seriously, you know. I believe in the idea of the rainbow. And I've spent my entire life trying to get over it. — Judy Garland

Every day, my mom and I would watch a different Judy Garland VHS. I love how she tells a story when she sings. It was just about her voice and the words she was singing - no strings attached or silly hair or costumes, just a woman singing her heart out. I feel like that doesn't happen that much anymore. — Ariana Grande

I went to a lot of theatre. My parents were very involved with the performing arts. I went to nightclub shows when I was a little girl. We went to Florida and we would go to the Cocoanut Grove down there. We'd go see Lena Horne, Jimmy Durante, Sophie Tucker and Judy Garland. — Lainie Kazan

One of the oddities about being Judy Garland's daughter was that everyone treated my mother with such awe that they would never have asked me the normal questions kids get about their moms. — Lorna Luft

Behind every cloud is another cloud. — Judy Garland

I'd be devastated if my son grows up to be a hetero. I mean, I'd still love him ... but as a parent you just envision a certain life for your child. I mean, if he's straight, think of all the fabulous things he's going to miss out on. When I think my son might never know the joys of having a quarter share on Fire Island and walking through Judy Garland Memorial Park on the way to the Meat Rack. — Debra Messing

I made all these great musicals with Judy Garland. It was all about me going into a barn and saying: 'Let's put on a show.' That's what me and Judy did. — Mickey Rooney

It took me a while to see that the contrast between the racism directed at Billie and the compassion offered to addicted white stars like Judy Garland was not some weird misfiring of the drug war - it was part of the point. — Johann Hari

My life, my career has been like a roller coaster. I've either been an enormous success or just a down-and-out failure. — Judy Garland

Always be a first rate version of yourself and not a second rate version of someone else. — Judy Garland

I'm doing what great artists before me did, like Judy Garland, Sammy Davis, Eddie Cantor. I'm doing what they were doing, not at their level yet, but one day I will be. I'm just happy to be in their company. — Mike Tyson

With apologies to Judy Garland and Cole Porter, all the world does NOT love a clown. John Wayne Gacy might have been the final nail in the coffin in terms of anyone associating clowns with funny (if a bunch of clowns die, do they all fit into one coffin?) — Christopher Lombardo

We cast away priceless time in dreams, born of imagination, fed upon illusion, and put to death by reality. — Judy Garland

I definitely was always expected and encouraged to be a songwriter from a very young age, ... But really it's because, as a child, I thought I was Judy Garland. And when I started out, I was a little nuts. I thought I was a classic, legendary superstar when only 10 people knew who I was. I feel in some ways that my confidence is misinterpreted as arrogance, which is understandable. But I've also always thought that false modesty is evil. — Rufus Wainwright

There have been a lot of stories written about me, some of them fantastically distorted. — Judy Garland

The greatest treasures are those invisible to the eye but found by the heart. — Judy Garland

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

I sing 'I Have Confidence' from 'The Sound of Music' as Judy Garland, Celine Dion, Britney Spears, Elaine Stritch and Julie Andrews - each alternating lines. — Sara Chase

You know something? I'm decent! There isn't a great deal of decency in the world, especially in our business, and I'm one of the few really decent ladies around. — Judy Garland

I believe that Judy Garland's artistry was so fine. I mean, when people say: 'oh, she brought so much of her life to her music', I don't really believe that. I believe that she didn't have to. She just was a moving human being. That was her gift. — Bette Midler

As a newcomer, you know, you don't come out the gate as a singer and try to compare with Judy Garland. — Allison Tolman

Yesterday the Supreme Court lifted the ban on same-sex marriage in Kansas. They didn't give a reason for the ruling, but then again when a state is famous for a Judy Garland musical about a rainbow and a wizard who comes out of a closet, do you really need an excuse? — Jimmy Fallon

I've never looked through a keyhole without finding someone was looking back. — Judy Garland

I've seen the ticket, and I still can't believe it. When I see the money, I hope I don't hit the floor. — Judy Garland

My [singing] style really has no style, because I try to sing each number differently. I've always believed that if style takes precedent over the words and music, the audience get's cheated. It's like when people see a fine play or movie. They imagine themselves in the leading role. I want them to imagine that they're singing - not just listening to someone else. — Judy Garland

When you're Judy Garland and you want something, you just pick up the phone and call somebody. Anybody. — Lorna Luft