Aretha Franklin Quotes

We all require and want respect, man or woman, black or white. It's our basic human right.

Be your own artist, and always be confident in what youre doing. If youre not going to be confident, you might as well not be doing it.

I'm a big woman. I need big hair.

Soul is a constant. It's cultural. It's always going to be there, in different flavors and degrees.

If you disrespect everybody that you run into, how in the world do you think everybody's supposed to respect you?

People really don't have to give you anything, so appreciate what people give you. And just don't let that go to your head, whatever it is they give you.

Don't say Aretha is making a comeback, because I've never been away!

Falling out of love is like losing weight. It's a lot easier putting it on than taking it off.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me.

My faith always has been and always will be important to me.

Better friends than lovers. Sugar can't you see? You need you and I really need me.

I've been around long enough for people to know who I am and what my contributions are. They know me as more than just an artist. I think they know me as a woman as well.

Being a singer is a natural gift. It means I'm using to the highest degree possible the gift that God gave me to use. I'm happy with that.

As a parent you try to maintain a certain amount of control and so you have this tug-of-war ... You have to learn when to let go. And that's not easy.

Music changes, and I'm gonna change right along with it.

When God loves you, what can be better than that?

Women have broken through the glass ceiling, and they're now more and more in the power seats.

My heart is still there in gospel music. It never left . . . I'm gonna make a gospel record and tell Jesus I cannot bear these burdens alone.

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.

I love to sing. It's just a natural thing for me.

The milk of kindness flows through my body, I shall follow Jesus to the Taco Bell and give thanks.

I love 'Anne of Green Gables.' I have for years. That's one of my favourite things. She's such a can-do kind of girl; that's why I'm crazy about her.

You're a no good heartbreaker, you're a liar, and you're a cheat. I don't know why I let you do these things to me.

R&B is not a fad; it's the truth.

Trying to grow up is hurting. You make mistakes. You try to learn from them, and when you don't, it hurts even more.

The man who gets me is getting one hell of a woman.

And I've been hurt hurt bad. I might be just twenty-six, but I'm an old woman in disguise twenty-six goin'on sixty-five.

I don't feel one's personal medical condition is everybody's business. It just isn't something you advertise, and it's not open to discussion.

I remember singing around the house to records that were playing. All kinds of music. And the great James Cleveland was often in our house, and I grew up with his sound as well.

I'm never tired of going to the studio. I enjoy recording and documenting everything and trying new things.

Yes, I've always been fashion conscious.

I was in my dad's church, his Baptist church, and I think the first song I ever performed was 'Jesus Be a Fence Around Me.'

On the sly, scoping for love.

I think the hardest thing is losing weight. That's the hardest thing more than anything else.

I saw the Supremes when they were still singing in little black skirts and white blouses.

Parents have to really talk to their children before they leave home.

If a song's about something I've experienced or that could've happened to me it's good. But if it's alien to me, I couldn't lend anything to it. Because that's what soul is all about.

I've never recorded anything I didn't like.

I sing to the realists; people who accept it like it is.

I know people I feel are extremely talented, but I don’t know that I’ve ever heard any geniuses.

Now, occasionally I will still have that quarter pounder because I love fast food, but you have to keep it to a minimum.

...the people at large absolutely gave James Brown respect. He was an original like a Rembrandt or a Picasso

I donate heavily to the church and various churches in the Detroit community and food banks.

I've always felt that rock & roll was very, very wholesome.

It's so glamorous, you have to see it." (describing the $92 million Rock & Roll Hall of Fame)

And I was booked once to go on 'Ed Sullivan' and I got bumped and ran out the back door crying.

I like Beyonce's music - some of it, not all of it.

Call in the Caped Crusader, Green Hornet, Kato, too. I'm in so much trouble I don't know what to do.

Politics are not my arena. Music is.

Let's start with the church. As you know, it's my background, it's a natural setting for me and it's definitely my roots.