It was the Control album that was really about what I wanted to do.

I'm convinced that we Black women possess a special indestructible strength that allows us to not only get down, but to get up, to get through, and to get over.

People do see me as sweet and innocent. Not to say that I am not those things. But I have other sides to me.

Competition is great. And as long as it's friendly and not a malicious thing, then I think it's cool.

I don't believe in luck. ... It's persistence, hard work, and not forgetting your dream.

I can be happy with who I am, not what I should be, or what I might have been, or what someone tells me I must be.

Believe in yourself. Have faith in yourself because no one else is going to.

It has taken me most of my adult life to come to terms with who I am. To do that, I had to break free of attitudes that brought me down.

In complete darkness we are all the same, it is only our knowledge and wisdom that separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you.

The greatest achievement to any human being is to love God, yourself, and others.

Every body type is different - that's what makes you unique. What makes you special is you, and you are different from the next person.

Lighten up. Brighten up. Smile.

The rhetoric is the first step, it coarsens attitudes

You have to find something you relate to in every character.

The legacy of [Martin Luther] King is the very thing that must be expanded if America is to be free and democratic in the 21st century. It's just as simple as that.

My real father died when I was two years old, so I never knew him. He was a barber in Chicago.

Reckon right, and February hath one and thirty daies.

At four o'clock in the morning, when everyone is drunk enough, then extraordinary things can happen.

A child may have to be snatched with roughness away from a fire so that he shall not be burnt.

Don't do anything that isn't play

Courage of soul is necessary for the triumphs of genius.