I loved Michael Jackson and Madonna. I styled my hair like Whitney Houston.

I sing against emotional dictatorships, and against the imposition of one person over another, in the name of love.

It has cost me a great deal to become myself. I don't want to be another person.

I was always the only black in the movie theater, the only black in class, the only black in the library, the only black in the discotheque. I always felt observed and judged.

Sure, I know that I cannot speak in proper English. I know that I can't sing in proper English. I don't care.

Hope is for people who wait. And I don't want to wait no more. I'm not scared anymore. I'm not scared of myself. Of my things. Of my fear. Of absolutely nothing. And that's music.

Las Vegas is a very strange place. It's a place of broken dreams.

I live in a universe in which blame doesn't exist. I don't believe in being at fault; I believe in taking responsibility for your actions. If I do something wrong, I take responsibility for it.

I am the consequence of a particular type of demographic movement, one that has always involved paying a high price. But I don't know much about styles or genres. I only know notes and chords.

I feel what I sing, and I sing what I feel. Really, that's all I can do.

I'm not scared about saying what I think.

Barack Obama has domesticated the left in such a way that we feel as if we have no alternative but him...I refuse to accept that.

In the afternoon I watch the clouds drift past the bald peak of Mount Tukuhnikivats. (Someone has to do it.)

Racism is a common thread among people of color, even though each experience with it is different.

Profound minds are the most likely to think lightly of the resources of human reason, and it is the superficial thinker who is generally strongest in every kind of unbelief.

The theory [of evolution] is a scientific mistake.

Can you stop your mother from singing to you? Who would do such a thing?

I'm always on the go. I love doing things until I hit rock bottom. Then I need my 12 hours of sleep, and I'm on the go again.

You can't inspire people if you are going to be uninspiring.

Liberalism isn't change. It has to be imposed.

Using passion as your only fuel will no more assure you of success than being in love will ensure a successful long-term relationship.