“You know, maybe I was just born in the wrong time, but I love all things romantic. Puffy understands that. For my last birthday, he covered my hotel room floor with rose petals and had flowers and candles all over the room.”

Being on camera, you have a responsibility to look good. If you don’t, you’ll hear about it.

I can only speak for myself, and hope people hear my words and see me on television speaking for myself. And, hopefully, they’ll be able to make their own judgment.

Always remember, you will live, you will love, you will dance again.

With hard work, living a good life, you can do anything. You will be rewarded for that.

I’m not going to make a judgment on plastic surgery because I don’t have to yet. I mean, I’d like to think I’ll feel great about myself and age gracefully, but then I think, Well, what if I do want a little bit of something? I’m open to being open.

When I was in my 20s I wasn’t sure of myself. Now I can really stretch. I don’t have to stay in the box. At this point I can say to myself, So what if I fall, so what? I’m going to get back up.

You have to stand up and say, ‘There’s nothing wrong with me or my shape or who I am; you’re the one with the problem!’

They’re making me out to be a serial marrying person or something. I’m laughing at that.

By nature I am not tough, believe it or not.

I’m a singer. I’m a dancer. I’m a performer. I’m an actress. That’s what I’m supposed to be doing. It makes me a better parent, a better person. I think I can just handle more than the average bear, you know?

The bottom line is that musicians love to make music and always will.

Don’t push your weaknesses, play with your strengths.

I’m feeling lucky like a four-leaf clover.

You’ve got to love yourself first. You’ve got to be okay on your own before you can be okay with somebody else.

I like to maintain a certain sense of fantasy. At home, do I have the full hair and makeup? No. But I might have the nice dress on.

I came from the Bronx and a certain background. I worked really hard. I kept my focus on the right things.

There are some men in this world who are born to do our unpleasant jobs for us. Your father’s one of them.

Don’t be a pigeon if you were born to be an eagle. Experience God’s altitude for your life.

The biggest pieces of work that we do are vaccines, because those save lives, and also family planning. Because if a woman can space the births of her children, it changes everything for her health and her child’s health.

My mother says I didn’t open my eyes for eight days after I was born, but when I did, the first thing I saw was an engagement ring. I was hooked.

Doth not a man die even in his birth? The breaking of prison is death, and what is our birth, but a breaking of prison?

Your work is not your job. Your job is what they pay you to do; your work is what you were born to do.

I was born wise. Street-wise, people-wise, self-wise. This wisdom was my birthright.

I wish I had never been born–there or anywhere else.