“Stay true to yourself. People respond to authenticity.”

I was a personality before I became a person – I am simple, complex, generous, selfish, unattractive, beautiful, lazy and driven.

How could such a destructive man [referring to Bush] be so popular with the American people?… Not only is he poisoning our air and water – he’s poisoning our political system as well.

We have a president who stole the presidency through family ties, arrogance and intimidation, employing Republican operatives to exercise the tactics of voter fraud by disenfranchising thousands of blacks, elderly Jews and other minorities.

You know, I can’t remember my good reviews. I remember negative ones. They stay in my mind.

I never liked stardom. It’s weird to me. I only like the creative process. I only like the work.

Success to me is having ten honeydew melons and eating only the top half of each slice.

I do have friends that are Republicans, and we have very spirited conversations on a whole range of issues. I am often baffled by why they are Republicans, but I enjoy the dialogue and can move beyond politics to find common ground in my personal relationships.

I like simple things. Elastic waists, so I can eat.

The result [Republicans winning the Senate] would be devastating for reproductive choice, the environment, civil liberties, Social Security and health care, as well as corporate accountability.

I don’t feel like a legend. I feel like a work in progress.

I hear these melodies. I hear horn lines and string lines. That’s what’s fun about recording with an orchestra.

I’m sure that I don’t know everything I want to know. I have so much more to learn.

My friend Quincy Jones says we won our first Grammys together in 1963. I have no recollection. I don’t even remember the room. When he showed me the picture, I remembered what I wore. But it’s like awards don’t mean anything.

It’s like an American tradition. A person gets successful and then he’s supposed to change for the worse. It’s silly.

The dream – you never achieve it. The excitement of life lies in the hope, in the striving for something rather than the attainment.

Issues of foreign policy have a place in every election for President.

I try to make music with emotion and integrity. And authenticity.

Authenticity and sincerity were the most important unifying principles of all these apparently different essays.

The crucial ingredient in the success of any brand is its claim to authenticity.

Jorge Luis Borges was lamenting a variety of Orientalism that was used to measure the alleged authenticity of Argentine and Latin American writers in the midcentury.

Our primordial purpose is to respond to the impulsion from within to solve the mystery of our individual existence, to find and be the authentic Self that is, has been and ever shall be.

Get naked with your truth, offering the world your greatest gift: your authentic self.

Never let anyone mask their misbehavior towards you as authenticity.

If you trade your authenticity for safety, you may experience the following: anxiety, depression, eating disorders, addiction, rage, blame, resentment, and inexplicable grief.