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.
Every birthday is a gift. Every day is a gift.
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.
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.
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.
We've come a long way, but there is still a lot of discrimination.
Don't say Aretha is making a comeback, because I've never been away!
Everybody wants respect. In their own way, three-year-olds would like respect, and acknowledgment, in their terms.
Parents have to really talk to their children before they leave home.
It's very satisfying. To perform the way you want to. And the way you know that you can.
It really is an honor if I can be inspirational to a younger singer or person. It means I've done my job.
Music changes, and I'm gonna change right along with it.
And I was booked once to go on 'Ed Sullivan' and I got bumped and ran out the back door crying.
Columbia was a wonderful label for me. Wonderful. The records I made there garnered me an audience. I won a number of polls during the years that I was at Columbia. The Downbeat Jazz Poll. Leonard Feather, who was a huge critic back in the day, different polls that he had. The Playboy poll, a number of polls. So the music was great.
People really don't have to give you anything, so appreciate what people give you.
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.
Beyonce is a very hard-working woman. Astrologically, for whatever it's worth, she's a Virgo - like Michael Jackson, a hard worker.
Now, occasionally I will still have that quarter pounder because I love fast food, but you have to keep it to a minimum.
