In the first decade of my life, I came to know and love God, as I was raised in a Christian home and community.

I recruited my dad to be my bass player and fired him on several occasions. He stayed on as a bus driver.

I'm a Scorpio, and who knows if there is any validity to it, but I'm very emotional. I have high highs and low lows.

Being born in Kansas City, Missouri and raised in the very rural parts of Kansas led me to believe that everything was simple, everything made sense and that anything was possible.

I've saved every dime I've made in my life.

I'm not a Democrat, I'm not a Republican-I'm an American, I'm a human.

I grew up in a very modest house. We were poor-we lived on the poverty level. We all got jobs as young kids.

All I ever wanted to do was write songs and get on a bus and go play them for people.

I wish I had a great relationship with my mother.

Human beings are not designed to be alone. None of God's creatures are.

If I wanted to be a pop singer, I would have done that 20 years ago. I love country music.

Maybe it wasn't a good idea to rank the people in your life. That's not how the heart worked. The heart didn't make lists.

I believe I gather strength from the generations of women who came before me - that together we all hold the suffering of the world.

Five years of someone's life is too much to lose over a throwaway comment.

Don't you know, you idiot, that that is what every fool of a woman says about her child?Miss Bulstrode's thoughts.

The central aspect of worship is the feeling of being at one with God.

A learned man is a tank; a wiser man is a spring.

The key to life is resilience....We will always be knocked down. It’s the getting up that counts.

The truest state of humanity is that you're living for other people.

There are ways to minimize the risk if you are a woman working in the Middle East: You can dress modestly, wear the hijab, cover your head, always travel with a man.

Americans learn only from catastrophe and not from experience.