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.

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.

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.

Every exit is an entrance to someplace else.

Do not fear failure but rather fear not trying.

Your life was meant to be used to fulfill your purpose and destiny.

When the lion is wounded do not stroke its mare.

If my mom sees you here, she’ll ---“ “Paper the walls with my innards while the innocents watch?

Holiness is not the way to Christ. Christ is the way to holiness.

I would love to do something with space. I'm obsessed with it.

Being a warrior and being a struggler has been forced on me by oppression, otherwise I would have been free to be so much more.

Also for me it was different because I play a lot of villains and in this one I play a dad and I play a good guy, basically. He's the Secretary of the Treasury. I never had a job like that.

The microscopes that magnified the tears, studied warts and all. Still life flows on.

In the interest of not pissing you off anymore tonight, let's not select that particular playlist.