“One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.”

Every time you win, it diminishes the fear a little bit. You never really cancel the fear of losing; you keep challenging it.

My humanity, in common with all of God’s children, gives the greatest flight to my full range of my possibilities.

It doesn’t have to glitter to be gold.

Trust has to be earned, and should come only after the passage of time.

I take the good with the bad, and I try to face them both with as much calm and dignity as I can muster.

Having grown up in a segregated environment in the south I know what it’s like to be stepped on, I know what it’s like also to see some black hero do well in the face of adversity.

When bright young minds can’t afford college, America pays the price.

I have tried to keep on with my striving because this is the only hope I have of ever achieving anything worthwhile and lasting.

Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner.

Racism is not an excuse to not do the best you can.

Martina’s like the old Green Bay Packers. You know exactly what she’s going to do, but there isn’t a thing you can do about it.

It doesn’t have to glitter to be gold.

From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.

A couple of times a day I sit quietly and visualize my body fighting the AIDS virus. It’s the same as me sitting and seeing myself hit the perfect serve. I did that often when I was an athlete.

I strongly believe the black culture spends too much time, energy and effort raising, praising, and teasing our black children about the dubious glories of professional sports.

When we were together, I loved you deeply and you gave me so much happiness I can never repay you.

Confidence literally starts from yourself. You have to go look in the mirror at yourself. If you don’t like what you see, you’re going to give off that energy.

You have to be unapologetically yourself. Once I was able to be proud of myself, it came across in my music really clearly.

It’s not just about being sexy, it’s about being confident and me being confident in my sexuality.

Every season is my season.

You have to have absolute confidence. Keep right on going, and nothing will happen.

I was working three jobs and going to school full time. I was really unhappy and I told myself, You are not this girl. This sounds corny but I would tell myself, You are an Icy Girl. I’m a confident person, but that was the first time I experienced insecurity and low self-esteem.

My music is me letting the world know how confident I am in myself, and me basically telling other women, and guys, how confident and how comfortable I believe they should be.

I want to show other girls how happy I am and how confident I am, how I still want to go to school and I still want to rap.