Every birthday is a gift. Every day is a gift.
Aretha Franklin
Be your own artist, and always be confident in what you're doing. If you're not going to be confident, you might as well not be doing it.
You cannot define a person on just one thing. You can't just forget all these wonderful and good things that a person has done because one thing didn't come off the way you thought it should come off.
We all require and want respect, man or woman, black or white. It's our basic human right.
Sometimes, what you're looking for is already there.
Being the Queen is not all about singing, and being a diva is not all about singing. It has much to do with your service to people. And your social contributions to your community and your civic contributions as well.
We've come a long way, but there is still a lot of discrimination.
Music does a lot of things for a lot of people. It's transporting, for sure. It can take you right back, years back, to the very moment certain things happened in your life. It's uplifting, it's encouraging, it's strengthening.
Being a singer is a natural gift. It means I'm using to the highest degree possible the gift that God gave me to use. I'm happy with that.
I think it would be a far greater world if people were kinder and more respectful to each other.
Women absolutely deserve respect.
Now, occasionally I will still have that quarter pounder because I love fast food, but you have to keep it to a minimum.
Music changes, and I'm gonna change right along with it.
I'm the lady next door when I'm not on stage.
Beyonce is a very hard-working woman. Astrologically, for whatever it's worth, she's a Virgo - like Michael Jackson, a hard worker.
Falling out of love is like losing weight. It's a lot easier putting it on than taking it off.
Sam Cooke had a huge influence on me. He left the gospel field at one point and went into the secular, and he had this huge hit, 'You Send Me.' Irma, my older sister, and I heard 'You Send Me' on the radio while we were driving through the South one night. We had to stop the car. We got out and danced around the car out on the highway.
The term 'Sock it to me!' was a big, big thing in our neighborhood - all the kids were saying it.
I always felt rock and roll was very, very wholesome music.
My mentor was Clara Ward of the famous Ward gospel singers of Philadelphia. And my dad was my coach. He coached me. And just my natural love for music is what drove me.
People really don't have to give you anything, so appreciate what people give you.
Everybody wants respect. In their own way, three-year-olds would like respect, and acknowledgment, in their terms.
The love of my life? I'm much too young to answer that question.
Don't say Aretha is making a comeback, because I've never been away!
It really is an honor if I can be inspirational to a younger singer or person. It means I've done my job.
I'm a big woman. I need big hair.
Prince is gone. But the music will go on.
I love the Ritz.
I am doing what I love to do, and you cannot beat that, especially when the audience appreciates what you prepare for them. It's very, very gratifying.
And I was booked once to go on 'Ed Sullivan' and I got bumped and ran out the back door crying.
I love Wal-Mart, and not just because my record is there. You can get some things there that you cannot find at Saks or Bergdorf's or other upscale stores.
It's very satisfying. To perform the way you want to. And the way you know that you can.
He was definitely an original and a one-of-a-kind. Truly there was only one Prince.
I wouldn't be without Google, and I love Facebook.
I love producing, writing. I rarely write with other writers unless I have a real great respect for them. Like Burt Bacharach, or Carole Sager, or Stevie Wonder. Somebody like Smokey - like that. Otherwise, I choose to write alone.
I haven't had the occasion to meet Adele. She lives in England. So when I'm flying, or when she comes over here, perhaps we'll have a chance. I think she's a very fine singer, a very strong writer and performer.
Politics are not my arena. Music is.
President Bush bestowed the Congressional Medal on myself.
I like being married. It's an institution that I like.
I like Beyonce's music - some of it, not all of it.
I don't do crazy things - I just don't.
I've probably cried with a lot of songs - in teenage crushes, adult crushes.
When God loves you, what can be better than that?
You could call my piano my trademark, or one of my trademarks.
We didn't have music videos. You weren't an overnight sensation. You had to work at it and learn your craft: how to take care of your voice, how to pace your concerts, all that trial and error.
Let's start with the church. As you know, it's my background, it's a natural setting for me and it's definitely my roots.
I sing to the realists; people who accept it like it is.
I'm never tired of going to the studio. I enjoy recording and documenting everything and trying new things.
Many of my friends were there at Motown. The studio was only a few blocks from where my dad's home was, where we lived.
I don't feel one's personal medical condition is everybody's business. It just isn't something you advertise, and it's not open to discussion.
