“Trying to grow up is hurting. You make mistakes. You try to learn from them, and when you don’t, it hurts even more.”

Now, occasionally I will still have that quarter pounder because I love fast food, but you have to keep it to a minimum.

Women have broken through the glass ceiling, and they’re now more and more in the power seats.

Politics are not my arena. Music is.

Music does a lot of things for a lot of people. It’s transporting, for sure. It can take you right back, years back, to the very moment certain things happened in your life. It’s uplifting, it’s encouraging, it’s strengthening.

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.

I’m the lady next door when I’m not on stage.

I love to sing. It’s just a natural thing for me.

Let’s start with the church. As you know, it’s my background, it’s a natural setting for me and it’s definitely my roots.

I don’t feel one’s personal medical condition is everybody’s business. It just isn’t something you advertise, and it’s not open to discussion.

I sing to the realists, people who accept it like it is. I express problems. There are tears when it’s sad and smiles when it’s happy. It seems simple to me, but for some people, I guess feelin’ takes courage.

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

Being the Queen is not all about singing and being a diva is not all about singing. It has much to do with your service to people. And your social contributions to your community and your civic contributions as well.

I’ve always felt that rock & roll was very, very wholesome.

My heart is still there in gospel music. It never left . . . I’m gonna make a gospel record and tell Jesus I cannot bear these burdens alone.

As a parent you try to maintain a certain amount of control and so you have this tug-of-war … You have to learn when to let go. And that’s not easy.

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

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.

My mom grew up in the Soviet Bloc, and she was a Tiger Mom. We didn’t get away with much.

My mom wanted to make sure I was prepared to grow up with Black skin in America.

What do we have to do to make God love us?’ I always grew up with that. I always used to go around thinking that. ‘God loved the white people better. He must’ve. That’s why he made them white.’

I feel like I grew up too fast a long time ago.

I grew up in a flat with my brothers and my cousins. My brothers were in the same bed.