I'm very shy in a crowd.

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.

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

History belongs to the intercessors - those who believe and pray the future into being.

Music's not like becoming a doctor, who can walk into a community and find people who need him.

It's much easier to hire really great people like that in New York and in Brooklyn in particular, than it is in Washington.

It's not necessary to tell all you know. It's not ladylike--in the second place, folks don't like to have somebody around knowin' more than they do.

Sometimes arrogance makes us overreach. George Bush Jr. often tries to suggest the leaders of other countries, and it is just not good diplomacy.

Being with him was like toast and butter from the very beginning.

Oh, try not to sound so much like Mom—you don’t have the ovaries" (Monica Morrell - Last Breath)

I had dropped out of theater school after six months and was just staying on my mom's couch at home in Toronto.

Animals are something invented by plants to move seeds around. An extremely yang solution to a peculiar problem which they faced.

I'm focused on myself and on what I've got to do...I'm just trying to get back on track and keep this positive mindset.