“If you’re black in this country, if you’re a woman in this country, if you are any minority in this country at all, what could possibly possess you to vote Republican?”

I’ve had so many rebirths, I should come with my own midwife by now.

The truth is that in my job, becoming old and becoming extinct are one and the same thing.

When you stop trying to find the right man and start becoming the right woman, the right man will find his way to you.

Donald Trump can’t come up with a hairstyle that looks human, how can he come up with a plan to defeat ISIS.

Someone once said “The only thing that will be left after a nuclear holocaust is Cher and cockroaches.” I think that’s funny, because, you know, I am a survivor. If I am anything, that’s what I am.

If a man’s a good kisser, he’s a great f-.

Men are a luxury, not a necessity.

Sometimes I feel like an old hooker.

Singing is like going to a party at someone else’s house. Acting is like having the party at your own house.

Some years I’m the coolest thing that ever happened, and then the next year everyone’s so over me, and I’m just so past my sell date.

Honesty makes me feel powerful in a difficult world.

Women, unlike most men, are able to accept mystery, accept whatever comes to them – even if it’s not logical.

I’m still friends with all my exes, apart from my husbands.

It’s my body and if I want to do it like Michael Jackson, I will. My nose bothered me for a long time. Now it’s smaller and I’m happy. If I wanna put my tits on my back, they’re mine!

My mother was the most creative, fantastic person and would come up with great things for us to do. She’d buy art supplies and all of us would sit around painting. I was lucky.

I remember a great America where we made everything. There was a time when the only thing you got from Japan was a really bad cheap transistor radio that some aunt gave you for Christmas.

The situation of women and men is not comparable to worker-boss or black and white.

Being a blues singer is like being black two times.

Who could imagine a poet wearing anything other than black?

But between sets I’d sneak over to the black places to hear blues musicians. It got to the point where I was making my living at white clubs and having my fun at the other places.

For me black is not dark, it’s poetic. I don’t think of gothic I think of classic – it’s a big difference.

Black is not sad. Black is poetic.

The truth is, no man is white and no man is black. We are all freckled.

Black is not sad. Bright colours are what depress me. They’re so empty. Black is poetic. How do you imagine a poet? In a bright yellow jacket? Probably not.