“My name, Diana Ross, is my name and nobody should be able to use that for exploitative purposes but me.”

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.

If we hold on together I know our dreams will never die Dreams see us through to forever Where clouds roll by For you and I.

I spend too much money on my sets and my gowns. I think the presentation is important. I don’t think people want to see the old show all the time.

I have a lust for life.

I once asked my oldest daughter [Julia Marie] if she thought about changing her name in school and she said, “No, I’m a Pacino. That’s my name.”

I disagree with Muhammad. I’m against hate, anti-Semitism and homophobia.

The new product, if it’s going to be successful, is going to require a new name. New ladder, new name. It’s as simple as that.

Only brand names register in the mind… What you should generally do is take a regular word and use it out of context to connote the primary attribute of your brand.

The reason is obvious. A well-known name got well-known because it stood for something. It occupies a position in the prospect’s mind. A really well-known name sits on the top rung of a sharply defined ladder.

We know that the war against intelligence is always waged in the name of common sense.

Jazz brought this sense of democracy where four guys come together and your name may be on the marquee, but in this moment, when you’re the soloist, it’s you, and we follow you. We follow you.

If I were asked to name the chief event in my life, I should say my father’s library.