I have a noble history of being rejected by a lot of places, only to discover that the one that finally lets me in is in fact the perfect fit.

When a human being without amplification makes a sound that is high and loud, it is almost unworldly.

Certainly, jazz has become more of a niche, which is surprising, because it's our music. It's the national music of America.

We are unique, each human voice, not because we are completely self-generated, but because of who we choose to assemble the countless factors that made us.

We sing with the entire body. The sounds that we make emanate not just from the head, but from the whole heart and soul, and, most important, the gut.

I don't want to be somebody who stands still and sings pretty. Each song is a world. Each song is a story. I don't achieve nearly what I want.

Everybody's a work in progress. I'm a work in progress. I mean, I've never arrived. I'm still learning all the time.

There's no performance where I never have to think about setting up a phrase or making a technical adjustment while I'm performing.

Someone once said that there are probably seven naturally good singing days in a year-and those are days you won't be booked. What we must learn is how to sing through all the other days.

It is our responsibility to learn how to speak to an audience that is less informed about music, to give it a reason to want to come and see us instead of going to the movies.

I don't want to record anything unless it can be great and genuinely interesting.

What good is intuition if your heart gets in the way of hearing it?

I could feel it in my bones, how I missed the heat of my country and the love of my family.

The old 7 Series, the E38, was an elegant car, an evolution of the classic BMW look. But it wasn't penetrating the luxury market as we desired. It just didn't have the presence to be noticed.

Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object

I think people can benefit tremendously from really asking why they're doing certain things.

No one knows what stocks will do tomorrow, but the evidence is clear as to how they'll perform over 10 or 20 years. They will almost certainly go up.

Authenticity is the best route

You get what you get when you get it.

My mantra is: Realize you're going to fail all the time, and accept it. That doesn't mean I'm not frightened of it.

As women began to challenge their own internalized views of a woman's proper place, their desire and demand for equal status and free choice began to grow exponentially.