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

I love to sing, but it’s just not fun anymore.

My daughter is my greatest inspiration.

I decided long ago never to walk in anyone’s shadow; if I fail, or if I succeed at least I did as I believe.

I have a mother that’s very strong and family that surround me and constantly tell me they love me.

When I heard Aretha, I could feel her emotional delivery so clearly. It came from down deep within. That’s what I wanted to do.

I would stay in my room for days, for days at times, just trying to get it together, to know what my next phase was going to be.

From the beginning, the camera and I were great friends. It loves me, and I love it.

Nobody likes to be picked on. Nobody.

I’m not crazy about arenas just because I can sell them out. It doesn’t do anything for my ego at all. I want to play places where people don’t have to sit in the nosebleed seats and wonder what the hell is going on.

I’m proud of being a mother, a wife, a daughter, and a sister, and a lover and a friend We’re all God’s children.

I’d rather be alone than unhappy

I believe the children are our future

I feel so blessed to just have done what I had done. To be able to just use what God has given me is a blessing. You know, never mind the Grammys, never mind the records, never mind all of that. Just to be able to sing.

If I should die this very day, Don’t cry…cause on Earth We wasn’t meant to stay.

I’m a person who has life and wants to live, and always have.

My mother taught me that when you stand in the truth and someone tells a lie about you, don’t fight it.

Maturity is the ability to postpone gratification.

A mature person has the integrity to stand alone.

Don’t be afraid of experience, because the more experience you have, the more mature you become.

A mature person does not fall in love, he or she rises in love. Only immature people fall; they stumble and fall down in love.

The constant struggle in mature life, I think, is to accept the necessity of tragedy and conflict, and not to try to escape to some falsely simple solution which does not include these more somber complexities.

There’s a time for daring and there’s a time for caution, and a wise man understands which is called for.

The Bible was composed in such a way that as beginners mature, its meaning grows with them.

Compassion for our parents is the true sign of maturity.