I remember singing around the house to records that were playing. All kinds of music. And the great James Cleveland was often in our house, and I grew up with his sound as well.

We all require and want respect, man or woman, black or white. It's our basic human right.

Be your own artist, and always be confident in what youre doing. If youre not going to be confident, you might as well not be doing it.

Soul is a constant. It's cultural. It's always going to be there, in different flavors and degrees.

I'm a big woman. I need big hair.

If you disrespect everybody that you run into, how in the world do you think everybody's supposed to respect you?

People really don't have to give you anything, so appreciate what people give you. And just don't let that go to your head, whatever it is they give you.

Don't say Aretha is making a comeback, because I've never been away!

Falling out of love is like losing weight. It's a lot easier putting it on than taking it off.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me.

My faith always has been and always will be important to me.

Yes, please leave us, the mere presence of beings like yourselves is intensely painful to us.

No, Ashok. Love is not a tap. It flows and flows like blood from a wound, and you can die of it.

Every sport pretends to be literature. . .

I figured out it was a social thing, what women were allowed to do. At a very young age, I decided I was not going to follow women's rules.

I think the neural pathways in our brains affect what happens in our bodies, and so can alter our health.

I will endanger your species like an ostrich, Hold you hostage, and crazy feed you swine sausage!

So the opposite of addiction is not sobriety. It is human connection.

If what you're doing isn't working, change it.

In the myopic world of the liberals, guns are responsible for evil instead of the perpetrator of evil. But criminals are not bound by our laws. That's what makes them criminals.

I'm attacking the basket more. Because I'm more comfortable on the line, that's an area I want to get to.