I was a black singer with a white voice, a perfect pop voice.

Motown's policy was to build one act at a time or their favorites.

Then when Gladys Knight came in to do my songs that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

A lot of times I can across as too masculine to men, and they couldn't handle me, they stayed away.

I feel Motown really exploited me.

Appreciate more to attract more, Feel more to understand more.Give away more to get more.Love more to live more.

People can't listen until they're ready. I sure couldn't. I was, like, deaf to everyone except the thoughts. They were the boss of me.

I have a bad grammar, but I do have a good message in it.

One is never fortunate or as unfortunate as one imagines.

In a big family the first child is kind of like the first pancake. If it's not perfect, that's okay, there are a lot more coming along.

Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage.

I still go to a salon where a gal does my hair, and I don't know if it's because I'm a celebrity but by the time I leave there, we are eating chicken and talking and screaming.

One of us... One of them... One of us... One of them... A rhythm playing like train wheels on a circular track -- never ending but going nowhere.

Real loneliness consists not in being alone, but in being with the wrong person, in the suffocating darkness of a room in which no deep communication is possible.