As far as men go, they never gave me a chance to be me; they were always scared that somebody was going to take me.

I know who I am. I am not perfect. I'm not the most beautiful woman in the world. But I'm one of them.

I listen to gospel music.

I don't know. Only God knows where the story ends for me, but I know where the story begins. It's up to us to choose, whether we win or lose and I choose to win.

I have to have lemon and honey. I have to have apple cider vinegar, Braggs. And I have to have either Red Vines or Twizzlers. These things, you know, are the things that help my vocal performance.

There's so many things that life is, and no matter how many breakthroughs, trials will exist and we're going to get through it. Just be strong.

If you're looking for inner peace from the outside world, you're not going to get that. The inner peace starts with looking at you from the inside.

Negative words are powerful boomerangs so be careful what you say about people and yourself.

When you come from so many damaged places you don't ever want to spiral back there, so you gotta continue to check yourself.

Believe in yourself when nobody else does.

When life is real, it's not going to be smooth.

How could we have developed our intellectual skills without education?

...What you are is a force--a force that makes it possible for your body to live, a force that makes it possible for your whole mind to dream...You are life

Through the dense din, I say, we heard him shout"I see your lights!" But ours had long died out.

Dogs are always going to come up short if you insist on defining them as a weird kind of cat.

Try not to eat after 7 P.M. Try to stay away from heavy food in the night, like hamburgers and chicken nuggets. Eat that stuff in the morning or early afternoon.

This is our f---g city. And nobody is going to dictate our freedom.

Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.

The performances make you want to get back out there and try something new and challenge yourself.

Empowerment of individuals and communities is absolutely central. Getting the community involved in organising their own destiny has got to be a key part of it.

People are reticent to give a newborn the hepatitis B vaccine and often delay it.