I feel really lucky to have found musical success before I'm 30, to be doing absolutely what I want to do. I would be quite happy if I died tomorrow.

I like being a strong, independent woman, and to be honest, I was never afraid to be on my own.

My dad's Irish music was such a huge influence.

In fact, I'd just like to own something. Everyone thinks I'm glamorous, rich and famous but all I've got is some recording equipment and a battered old BMW.

I always want to bring emotion across in a straightforward way. I don't want to get histrionic when I'm singing. For me that's just not interesting; it goes too far down one road.

The older you get, the more you realize you're drifting toward a direction, and sometimes your significant other drifts into an opposite direction. You can't blame anybody for it.

I really enjoy being single again. I spent a lot of time in a relationship and the nearer we came to the end, the more difficult it got. You don't see things clearly as long as you're still involved.

There will be no white flag above my door, I'm in love and always will be

It's great to just disappear, grab a suitcase, switch the answering machine on and just go somewhere else.

Inside everybody's hiding something.

And we danced, and we drankAnd I've seen something you probably never got the chance to seeDon't worry, MaryCause I'm taking care of DannyAnd he's taking care of me

We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.

You can’t has, ' he whispered softly, 'not yours.

I can easily say I've done everything I've wanted in music.

If you know yourself, you are doomed.

Passivity is the dragon every woman has to murder in her quest for independence.

I understand that it's incredibly difficult to watch what's happening on the news every day and not become inured to it. I've fallen victim to that myself, wanting to look away.

We are in a social and political context in which the norm is to punish poor folks of color rather than to educate and empower them with economic opportunity.

I went to the library as soon as I could walk. So the training came from reading all kinds of people, from fairy tales and later on to - I don't know why - Schweitz's "Life of Christ."

What is urgently needed is a bold new move from a consumer economy to a conserver economy in all of the developed countries, and particularly in the United States.

Everything is drive-through. In California, they even have a burial service called Jump-In-The-Box.