Artists are able to do well in the political arena because of fame, if only they can educate themselves.

I don't care how somebody gets their education, as long as they have one.

I do use reality because I want my work to feel real, I want it to feel heartfelt. I don't want to make it up and have it sound corny or unrelatable.

Ten minutes before you go onstage and you begin singing that torchy blues song, you may just be drinking a glass of water and brushing your teeth and doing some deep breathing.

Singers, musicians, and songwriters don't want to use the word "acting" because we want it to be more real than that - we want it to come from us: naturally, truly, really.

I was brought up in the Christian church and I studied in the teachings of Jesus. I believed in caring for others and trying to be kind. It's something I still have to work on every day.

Things are changing. They need to change more. It should not be of any note that a woman does something, because women do everything.

If you just take one foot in front of the other without any protection, you may end up falling off the fence.

The line is very delicate and fine between being what one might call sane or insane, well or unwell.

Feminism has nothing to do with partisanship.

Every straight man I know is a feminist. They wouldn't be my friends if they weren't.

You do right by me, I'll show you a life most suckers can't even dream of.

How easy it is to slip.How hard it is to climb.How wise it is to keep in stepAnd never fall behind.

My wedding was at home, so I didn't really want to wear a veil in my house. Instead I wore a lot of diamond hair clips. They were brooches, actually, designed by Lorraine Schwartz.

So much information lacks a good way to store it, especially when it's all digital; sometimes it requires old technology to go back and retrieve it.

The prettiest dresses are worn to be taken off.

My principles are only those that, before the French Revolution, every well-born person considered sane and normal.

My working-class Italian-American parents didn't go to school, there were no books in the house.

Dialogue cannot exist, however, in the absence of a profound love for the world and its people.

The world's flattery and hypocrisy is a sweet morsel: eat less of it, for it is full of fire. Its fire is hidden while its taste is manifest, but its smoke becomes visible in the end.

Yo, I'm god incarnate. From the grimiest back blocks. Pazienza lyrical equivalent of Sasquatch