“I believe that children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside.”

God gave me a voice to sing with, and when you have that, what other gimmick is there?

I finally faced the fact that it isn’t a crime not having friends. Being alone means you have fewer problems.

I think over the years, being a mother, I’ve matured in so many ways.

I’ve turned down a lot of arena dates because I’ve done the big-arena thing. Now, I want to do something where people can feel me and I can feel them.

I’m either my best friend or my worst enemy.

Never let your heart take precedence over reason, otherwise you will have problems.

Being around people like Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick and Roberta Flack, all these greats, I was taught to listen and observe.

If you say my eyes are beautiful, it’s because they are looking at you.

No one makes me do anything I don’t want to do.

What’s in your soul is in your soul.

She’s my teacher, my adviser, my greatest inspiration.

In grammar school some of the girls had problems with me. My face was too light. My hair was too long. It was the black-consciousness period, and I felt really bad.

My mother taught me beauty really lives in places like a smile.

Growing around great musicians, you just can’t help it. I identified with it immediately. It was something that was so natural to me that when I started singing, it was almost like speaking.

I like being a woman, even in a man’s world. After all, men can’t wear dresses, but we can wear the pants.

I’m an old-fashioned girl. And I love gospel. I like things that lift me up, inspire me.

Sleep! The most beautiful experience in life. Except drink.

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.

Take rest; a field that has rested gives a beautiful crop.

The concept of Queen is to be regal and majestic. Glamour is part of us, and we want to be dandy.

Having a child is surely the most beautifully irrational act that two people in love can commit.

It’s a beautiful day, the sun is shining, I feel good, and no one’s going to stop me now.

Travel and tell no one, live a true love story and tell no one, live happily and tell no one, people ruin beautiful things.

Everywhere that I’ve been, the only thing I see is beautiful people.