"It is a great honor to receive this award, and I'm grateful and appreciate for the acknowledgement that this implies," said Madonna, who thanked many of the Sire executives (Seymour Stein, Michael Rosenblatt, Liz Rosenberg) who helped get her career off the ground, and also quoted the Talmud during her acceptance speech.This is mentioned in a number of stories on the event, but none of them say what the quote actually was.
UPDATE: Søren Holst points me to Bangkok Jungle, which has the quote:
In her acceptance speech, Madonna reads a saying from the Talmud: “There’s a saying in the Talmud that for every blade of glass there’s an angel that watches over it and whispers grow, grow. And I could still hear those angels whispering. And even the naysayers, the ones that said I was talentless, that I was chubby, that I couldn’t sing, that I was a one hit wonder, they helped me too.”Søren adds "I seem to remember Bill Clinton using that in a speech, too." Can anyone identify the quote? Is it really in the Talmud?
UPDATE: Manuscript Boy (from Hagahot) e-mails:
Not the Talmud but Genesis Rabba (10). Not whispers but beatings. Other than that, it's pretty close.Neusner's translation: "Said R. Simon, 'There is not a single herb whch is not subject to the influence of a planet in heaven, which smites it and says to it, "Grow!"' ..." (Gen. Rab. 10.6)
א"ר סימון אין לך כל עשב ועשב ברקיע שאין לו מזל ברקיע שמכה אותו ואומר לו גדל
UPDATE: James Darlack has found a similar passage in the Zohar.