I have never given all of myself, even vocally, to anyone. I was taught to sing on your interest, not your capital.

The ultimate of being successful is the luxury of giving yourself the time to do what you want to do.

Art is the only thing you cannot punch a button for. You must do it the old-fashioned way. Stay up and really burn the midnight oil. There are no compromises.

I am here and you will know that I am the best and will hear me. The color of my skin or the kink of my hair or the spread of my mouth has nothing to do with what you are listening to.

Accomplishments have no color.

Who I am is the best I can be.

Be black, shine, aim high.

If you're not feeling good about you, what you're wearing outside doesn't mean a thing.

You should always know when you're shifting gears in life. You should leave your era - it should never leave you.

For a long time the only time I felt beautiful-in the sense of being complete as a woman, as a human being, and even female-was when I was singing.

I prefer to leave standing up, like a well-mannered guest at a party.

A regime that wraps itself in the flag of truth fears truth most of all, for if its story is falsified to the slightest degree, its authority is gone.

One day you'll notice something different and if you take advantage of that moment, you will be what you exactly needed to be.

Every burden is a blessing.

I love those tiny little onions in the spring that are so small they're almost like a little chive.

If Google teaches you anything, it's that small ideas can be big.

Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises, for never intending to go beyond promise, it costs nothing.

It's been a great place to get in touch with what people are really thinking. And to make contact with readers and other writers. Egalitarian, wide open, like the Wild West!

Women sometimes go too far, it's true. But it's only when you go too far that others listen.

If youth be a defect, it is one that we outgrow only too soon.

The A-bomb is dynamite.