I decided to always sing in the back with the chorus and never went up front because I had trouble performing.

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.

Murphy's law inverted: What can go right, will go right.

American election was really personal for Putin because he believed that Clinton is a personal enemy. He genuinely believed she was behind the Moscow protests in 2012, 2011.

Islamic law is clearly against terrorism, against any kind of deliberate killing of civilians or similar 'collateral damage.'

Courtrooms contain every symbol of authority that a set designer could imagine. Everyone stands up when you come in. You wear a costume identifying you as, if not quite divine, someone special.

From the moment a soul has the grace to know God, she must seek.

Poverty is a plague against which humanity must fight without cease.

It takes quite a bit of nerve for Democrats to complain about inflation. This reminds me of germs complaining about the disease.

'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' is the best movie for a guy like me. A cerebral adventure. A moving story. A bunch of little green men.

Fear is the disease. Hustle is the antidote.

With fear and trembling we must rely upon God for guidance in the inner depths. This is the sole way to walk according to the spirit.