“I am not self-destructive. I am not a person who wants to die.”

I have priorities. Maintaining my daughter is my first.

I’ve got a good man. He takes care of me. I don’t have to be scared of anything because I know he will kick every ass… disrespect him and you’ve got a problem.

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.

In an artist’s life, death is perhaps not the most difficult thing.

Death submits to no one.

I have lost friends, some by death, others by sheer inability to cross the street.

When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.

Fear not death for the sooner we die, the longer we shall be immortal.

We were not created for death, but for life in abundance: eternal life.

Most grievous of all deaths it is to die of hunger.

It is nothing to die. It is frightful not to live.