“A reporter once asked me if I ever cried. I wonder if people think I’m just as hard as a rock and have no emotions at all.”

My travels led me to where I am today. Sometimes these steps have felt painful, difficult, but led me to greater happiness and opportunities.

When I’m working I actually forget to eat. I don’t eat sweets because I don’t care about them. I have no real secrets. I just realize that as I get older I should stay strong so I exercise more.

My problem is that people have been writing books about me.A lot of things that people write about you are incorrect, but you don’t fight about it.

I was brought up in this part of Detroit that they used to call the ghetto.

People can take your name and write a book about you and they make money off of it. How is the public supposed to know you’re not authorizing that book? As soon as you make a big stink about it it only makes the book sell more.

I have never gotten into the label thing.

Hair has always been important.

Criticism, even when you try to ignore it, can hurt. I have cried over many articles written about me, but I move on and I don’t hold on to that.

You know, you do need mentors, but in the end, you really just need to believe in yourself.

I don’t know what my life would have been like if I’d never gotten into show business.

So I’m not worried about the emotions I carry with me, because I’m happy that I have them; I think it’s good for the work I do. The emotions that are not healthy are the ones you hold inside, like anger.

All my gowns have trains on them. I make a train that goes on forever. I love long trains and then I stand there and twirl around and wrap myself up in it.

I want an autobiography without revealing any personal information.

Take a little time out of your busy day to give encouragement to someone who’s lost their way.

Instead of looking at the past, I put myself ahead twenty years and try to look at what I need to do now in order to get there then.

I can be a better me than anyone can.

Silent hearts carrying pain quietly are likely to make thunders cry loud.

My fiery protest is simply the cry of my very soul.

The last person I adored made me cry and then tenderly wiped the tears off my face. It was the only lesson that taught me; you can love someone and still do horrible, cruel things to them.

I don’t react to a tragic happening any more. I took so many bad things as a kid and some people think I don’t care about anything. It’s just too hard for me to get emotional. I can’t cry no more.

There are these emotions which are eager to scream aloud, but they settle inside us without a cry.

Occasionally, the sun is eclipsed by the body of a weeping human. Her tears make the soil harden and crust like the top of a burnt load of bread.

Falling down ain’t falling down, If you don’t cry when you hit the floor, It’s called the past cause I’m getting past, And I ain’t nothing like I was before, You ought to see me now.

Sometimes you’ll laugh. Sometimes you’ll cry. Life never tells us, the when’s or why’s. When you’ve got friends, to wish you well. You’ll find your point when. You will exhale.