Neil Patrick Harris Quotes

Our culture's adjustment to the epistemology of television is by now all but complete; we have so thoroughly accepted its definitions of truth, knowledge and reality that irrelevance seems to us to be filled with import, and incoherence seems eminently sane. And if some of our institutions seem not to fit the template of the times, why it is they and not the template, that seem to us disordered and strange.

For others, magic is a crisp autumn’s day or a tender hug from a loved one.

experiencing pure magic, unadulterated by cynicism or irony or self-consciousness

All we need right now is a place to hide. We can figure out the rest once we are safe and sound.” Safe and sound. The words seemed to hang in the air, all shimmery, before falling like glass to the ground.

Some would say you were in a closet. Some would say you didn’t even know you were in a house. The “truth” about a person’s sexual preference is often revealed through a long journey of tiny steps, and acceptance is one of the last ones. It’s an individual story for every person. There are unique personal prejudices in everyone, created by our families, our social circles, and mostly by ourselves. It’s tough to confront those things that you are afraid of in yourself.

Sometimes you can have the smallest role in the smallest production and still make a big impact.

You experience them experiencing pure magic, unadulterated by cynicism or irony or self-consciousness. And as the ride makes its full circle, so do you, until Peter Pan has done it again, and you are once more a child, taking it all in, amazed, overwhelmed, enchanted.

"To the kids, David is "Daddy" and you're "Papa". You find it a more convenient system of nomenclature than "Daddy 1" and "Daddy 2", or "Sinners A and B.

"Ted: Barney, the 3 days rule is insane. I mean, who even came up with that?
Barney: Jesus.
Marshall: Barney, don't do this, not with Jesus.
Barney: Seriously, Jesus started the whole wait-three-days thing. He waited three days to come back to life. It was perfect.
Barney: If he'd have only waited one day, a lotta people wouldn't have even heard that he died. They'd be all "Hey, Jesus. What up?" And Jesus would probably be like, "What up? I died yesterday."
Barney: Then they'd be all, "Uh, look pretty alive to me dude." And then Jesus would have to explain how he was resurrected and how it was a miracle. And then the dude would be like "Ah, oh-kay, whatever you say "bro"."
Robin: Wow, ancient dialogue sounds so stilted now.
Barney: And you're not gonna come back on a Saturday, everybody's busy! Doin' chores, workin' the loom, trimmin' their beards. No, he waits the exact, right number of days - three.
Ted: Ok, I promise, I'll wait 3 days. Just please stop talking.
Barney: Plus, it's Sunday, so everyone's in church already. They're all in there - "Oh no, Jesus is dead."
Barney: Then BAM! He bursts through the back door, runs up the aisle, everyone's totally psyched and FYI, that's when he invented the high-five.
Barney: Three days, Ted. We wait three days to call a woman because that's how long Jesus wants us to wait. True story."

(Friends, take note: Sometimes, your audience isn’t going to respond the way you’d like them to. Most times, you can’t escape by running off stage and hiding, so it’s a good idea to learn to let words roll off you, like water off a duck’s back.)

There’s a kid in the middle of nowhere who’s sitting there living for Tony performances. Singing and flipping along with the Pippins, and Wickeds, and Kinkys, Matildas, and Mormons's. So we might reassure that kid, and do something to spur that kid, ‘cause I promise you, all of us up here tonight, we were that kid.

[on being LGBT in show business] People in the business are equally as terrified now -- but I really find it a personal thing. And maybe I’m at the end of that era. I wouldn’t even want to stereotype today’s generation. But the majority of the casting departments are gay, and a lot of the executives are. I think it’s a matter of your abilities and how you carry yourself -- I don’t behave any differently toward you right now than when I am with David [Burtka, his boyfriend] in our apartment, watching "American Idol." OK, "So You Think You Can Dance." [Laughs] I can see why an agent wouldn’t want to sign on a real overtly effeminate male actor -- not because I have an aversion to them but because agents might know it limits their job opportunities.

Summer doesn't seem to come fast enough, but finally Mom and Dad drop you off, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed*, at NMSU.

*Not really. You're prepubescent, so no bush.

Think of me like Yoda, but instead of being little and green I wear suits.

But magic is like pizza: even when it's bad, it's pretty good.