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

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.

Yes, I’ve always been fashion conscious.

R&B is not a fad; it’s the truth.

The milk of kindness flows through my body, I shall follow Jesus to the Taco Bell and give thanks.

Music changes, and I’m gonna change right along with it.

If a song’s about something I’ve experienced or that could’ve happened to me it’s good. But if it’s alien to me, I couldn’t lend anything to it. Because that’s what soul is all about.

If you disrespect everybody that you run into, how in the world do you think everybody’s supposed to respect you?

I’ve been around long enough for people to know who I am and what my contributions are. They know me as more than just an artist. I think they know me as a woman as well.

Families are always rising and falling in America.

When you start falling for somebody and you can’t stop thinking about when you’re going to see them again, I love that. Women are beautiful. They deserve to be cherished and respected.

If you were not already my dearly loved husband I should certainly fall in love with you.

Kids are falling through the cracks and nobody notices it. That to me is what’s wrong with the school system.

First snow-falling-on the half-finished bridge.

When composing a verse let there not be a hair’s breath separating your mind from what you write; composition of a poem must be done in an instant, like a woodcutter felling a huge tree or a swordsman leaping at a dangerous enemy.

The first of the month falls every month, too, North or South. And them white folks who sends bills never forgets to send them-the phone bill, the furniture bill, the water bill, the gas bill, insurance, house rent.

Living is a horizontal fall.