I had no desire to become a singer until I heard Billie Holiday. The first time I heard her on a record, it was a revelation. She sounded like a woman singing about herself.

It may be that my most helpful contributions to music aren't my compact discs but my articles about other great singers of the past for American Heritage magazine.

Thank God for beautiful songs about feeling despair when you yourself are in despair. They really get us through.

Please believe that I do this because I am convinced that my illness cannot be helped for any length of time and I cannot bear to be a burden on anyone any longer.

I have complete artistic control, and I just do my best album every time and trust it to fate.

When I dance, I love the romance and sexiness of it, and love having it be clear to both dancers that the man leads! But the man has to know what he's doing!

Somebody called me a 'bruised romantic' once, and I like that.

If I love a song I hope to find a way to get other people to love it too.

I'm very happy to have a small, long, career instead of one big hit and then oblivion.

If you sing honestly and sincerely to kids, they will respond with all their hearts.

Every person may not be great, but there is some greatness in every person.

A big hole in a poor child’s shoe is the simplest evidence to condemn the society he lives in.

God loves you unconditionally, as you are and not as you should be, because nobody is as they should be. It is the message of grace.~Quote by Brennan Manning

In every governmental speech I give before state parliament, I say: Bavaria will remain Bavaria.

What can I say? I've never met a cupcake I didn't want to get to know better.

One day, I just got up to read a poem and started singing. I looked around - the reaction was great. And I said, oh, boy. I like this.

Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten, as a people, the cost of a free and undivided republic.

How could homosexuals possibly srew up the sanctity of marriage any worse than heterosexuals?

If my gravy train stops at SAG, honey, it's been a great ride.

Being transparent about our plans enables us to get better feedback.