I just sing the stuff that makes me smile, makes me feel like I didn't sell myself out.

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.

Every exit is an entrance to someplace else.

Without hesitation but with a sense of entitlement, he lifted my hand to his lips. He was gentlemen-like in every way... I don’t know why I wondered if it was an act or for real.

Love is the greatest divine force.

Luck was fine and well, but I didn't need it. I had a plan.

Once our country is fully engulfed in a debt crisis, our economy will be torn apart, and every American will be a victim of the federal government's failure to prevent this disaster.

The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all directions.

I certainly like that the Spanish language is spoken around me.

Many of today's verses are prose and bad prose.

I do not write for the public. You are my public and I hope to convert you.

So we need people who will remain steadfast in any hardship and who have a high degree of resistance.

I certainly have dreams of being on a Broadway stage someday, if they'll have me. I think I want to stay really open to whatever possibilities present themselves.