I'm very spontaneous.

I can't do some of the songs that younger girls like Mary J. Blige and Beyonce are doing. They have their own place and I have my own place.

I know how to put it on when it comes to interviews and performing because I have to. But I'm pretty laid back.

Tell Aretha I’ll be praying for herBecause she needs Jesus!I love her.

All I can tell you really is if you get to the point where someone is telling you that you are not great or not good enough, just follow your heart and don't let anybody crush your dream.

So if anybody wants to get me something, get me 60 crabs - one for each year. I don't want no diamonds, I don't want no shoes, I don't want no party. I want some crabs.

God doesn't do the work for you; he does the work through you. It's not enough to look up; you must also look within.

That's another lesson I've learned the hard way. All relationships will die if they aren't nurtured. Just as a flower will die if it's not watered. Because love is demonstration, not declaration.

I don't feel as though I have to prove anything to anybody.

So if diva means giving your best, then yes, I guess I am a diva.

I just sing the stuff that makes me smile, makes me feel like I didn't sell myself out.

Organized charity scrimped and iced In the name of the cautious statistical Christ.

Obession makes everything possible

If you're going to write about war, the ugly side is inevitable. Suffering and death are obviously part of war.

No, she did not have a history of twins, and we had discussed all of this before she got pregnant. What if all three, what if two eggs, what if one - you discuss every scenario.

I wanted to be the perfect artist. I'd do three hours of media interviews a day, going to every radio station I could squeeze in. I'd sign autographs after the show until everybody left.

Words themselves are innocuous; it is the consensus that gives them true power.

To see a thing clearly in the mind makes it begin to take form.

If you ever go home with somebody and they don't have books in their house, don't sleep with them. I think that's very important.

Depression is the aftermath of credit expansion.

When you have once taken up a responsibility, you must see it through.