Meshell Ndegeocello Quotes

Her beauty cannot be measured with standards of a colonized mind

Any ideas of “other” are complicated, and otherness is relative to personal ideas of “normal.”

Once you encounter people who are really testing the limits of kindness, that's when you start to build up a shield and close yourself down.

I'm becoming more and more apolitical - I think the most revolutionary thing you can do is just live your life and have a good time. Before they scoop you up on the street or you die.

Your yes means nothing if you can't say no.

Music is like a lover that I can't commit to, but I seem to always find myself in bed with.

I am here no longer just a vision birthed into this body I accept my praise, my blame, my joy, my sorrow I realize we are, in truth, the truth we seek God, perfect this very moment.

It's hard being bisexual, omnisexual, multisexual, whatever you want to call it, when people have their agenda and expect you to just represent their agenda.

I stopped beating up on myself. I stopped asking myself why I didn't sell this number of records, why I don't have corporate sponsorship. I just don't buy into any of that anymore.

My legacy is in my family, not in my work. For me. I don't know about for other people. I try to forget a lot.

Children are born with their own optimism. They have a clarity and a simplicity that we can only wish for.

I think leaders are incapable of the strength that passive resistance entails.

I tried to be as positive as possible, because I have the same birthday as Michael Jackson. He is my cosmic brother. I love him.

I'm always tryin' to do something new, tryin' to look like a beginner.

Sometimes people ask what it was like when I got to meet Mick Jagger, and I must admit that you just try and chill out and be your best self around anyone that you meet.

It's funny, I think after you are a star like Sting and you no longer think you need any guidance or aid - it would be great to see those stars work with other songwriters.

Madonna is interesting. She changed music. She definitely did. She gave me an opportunity that no one else would give me, so I am very grateful to her.

It's interesting to do other people's music - that's how I learned to play, by learning other people's songs. It's nice to delve into how other people got to where they are.

I think secretly I've realized after my time on the planet that I have no control over what people feel about me or need from me, so I just have a more laid-back approach in my apologies.

God looks out for fools and babies.

I love children. I'd prefer to be around children much more than adults, actually. And I like animals, too. I'm just really into beings who are at ease with themselves.

Not to be a Bible-thumper, but there really is nothing new under the sun.

I'm a true believer that unless you're Prince or Stevie Wonder - and even Prince is showing that he needs help - not everybody can produce themselves. I'm definitely not that person.

The blowing thing is something that you either have a predilection for or not. And I don't have that thing. It was just unsanitary. I couldn't do it. I am a complete germaphobe.

I think all musicians should understand that you have chosen not to be a soldier but a musician.

I'm really good at melodic and sonic things, but I don't really think I have anything to say. But I really enjoy the puzzle-making of taking words and adding a melody to them.

No one knows anything for sure.

Our leaders and Osama Bin Laden all claim to do the right thing in the name of God. I question that. I wonder if that God is worth the life of another human-being.

If I would not be able to create music, I would create art or something else. Perhaps cooking.

You make a choice to make music or be an actor, and people automatically think they can have access to your life.

I joke that a person of color would never make a movie like “Midnight in Paris.” Nostalgia isn’t so enticing.

Allow the artist to finish the piece of work before you critique it.

Definitely dub is in my body forever. I think I hear everything through a dub filter. Even when I play rock music, I play through a dub filter.

I watch documentaries for information. I watch films to be entertained.

I'm pushing ahead on my own - you no longer need a large record company to make you a star.

Yes, violence begets more violence, but historically this has been the way of the world.

My favorite period is when we lived in the land of the three-minute song. The Motown thing - I thought they were genius in knowing that's as much as a listener can take.

I just try to tell a story with a song, and be able to try to transmit the emotion to you. That's all I'm really trying to do.

There's no hierarchy in suffering. I think songs that are transcendent are the ones where everyone can feel something from it, you know?

I feel that musicians are in a fellowship, and that fellowship is a responsibility.

Music is my only guide. I don't care if people pigeonhole me. Miles Davis is my hero. He covered Cindy Lauper and Michael Jackson, and he didn't give a hoot about what the purists said.