Daily Inspiration Quote by Barbra Streisand

Streisand takes a word that usually arrives as an insult and insists on treating it like a tool. In celebrity culture, "ego" is shorthand for diva behavior: entitlement, fragility, the whole myth of the impossible star. Her move is to redefine it as capacity. Ego, here, isn’t vanity; it’s voltage - the inner current that lets someone walk onto a stage, direct a film, or keep singing after the reviews, the jokes, the decades.

The cleverness is in the double bind she dissolves. She pairs self-belief with receptivity: strength plus permeability. That framing lets her claim ambition without apologizing for it, while also inoculating herself against the classic backlash aimed at powerful women in entertainment: if you’re confident, you’re arrogant; if you’re collaborative, you’re weak. By saying her ego is "big" and "very small in some areas", she makes room for expertise and insecurity to coexist. It’s a subtle flex, but also a human one.

Context matters: Streisand’s career is practically a case study in fighting for authorship. She didn’t just perform; she insisted on creative control in an industry that historically rewarded actresses for being pliable. The line "bad or good" is the honest kicker. She’s not laundering ego into pure virtue. She’s acknowledging that the same engine that drives daring choices can also drive missteps. That admission doesn’t soften her; it legitimizes her. Ego becomes less a personality flaw than a creative risk factor - necessary, dangerous, and, in her hands, consciously managed.