Applause felt like approval, and it became a drug that soothed the pain, but only temporarily.

You leave home to seek your fortune and, when you get it, you go home and share it with your family.

I would say that my peak was making my first million at the ripe age of 29, after the first album.

Completeness? Happiness? These words don't come close to describing my emotions. There truly is nothing I can say to capture what motherhood means to me, particularly given my medical history.

Long tresses down to the floor can be beautiful, if you have that, but learn to love what you have.

Applause felt like approval, and it became a drug that soothed the pain, but only temporarily.

We don't do drugs, drink or use profanity. Instead we instill morals and values in my boys by raising them with a love of God and a love and respect for themselves and all people. I believe they will have a chance.

I don't let people use me. That's why I like a small number of people in my life. The more people in my life, the more complex it becomes, so I just try to keep it at a minimum.

I'm picking and choosing in terms of the stress factor. If it's not fun, I'm not going to do it.

As soon as you get off stage, that's the most dangerous time for a singer to kiss people because your vocal chords are receptive to any kind of germ.

Chris Brown is brilliant. That cat is crazy brilliant, and I wish him the best.

Historically, in my generation, all of my heroes and heroines have had issues and problems. We all do.

I don't think being black has held me back at all. Being black makes you strong.

I made numerous attempts to find a way to do it all, to be a creative singer, songwriter, producer, and to be the mother, daughter, sister, lover, wife. And the thing about music is, with me, that she's a harsh mistress. She does not come to me in the midst of stress.

I need my career. That's what validates me.

I think there's no sacrifice too great for family, whether it's career, singing, whatever.

I used to sing at funeral homes for families that didn't have a vocalist. I didn't get paid. I needed to sing.

I would make far more money if every song were my own, but I don't write to fill up the album with my songs.

I'd love to be the political voice of my generation, but that's not my gift.

I'm used to getting up at 7, getting breakfast, getting the kids off to school, and doing the mommy thing and the wife thing and the daughter thing.

If I could be doing anything, I'd be laying on the floor in my birthday suit eating junk food and watching something dumb on TV.

If you have your own agenda and your own style and you don't easily conform to what the masses are doing, you're looked upon as being difficult. Whereas, I think of it as just being an individual.

It's impossible to write and produce a record when your parents are dying. I really tried, I really, really tried, but it just wouldn't come.

Most artists are notoriously insecure, and I fall into that category.

My father worked on assembly lines in Detroit while I was growing up. Every day, I watched him do what he needed to do to support the family. But he told me, 'Life is short. Do what you want to do.'

Oh my goodness, they are rocking so many variations of my high-top fade. I mean, Rihanna has taken it to a very angular 21st Century thing. Miss Fantasia has it in a very seductive, you know, up-flip, and it's just lovely, right? Oh, I think it's wonderful.

Time has nothing to do with the gifts that the gods give you; it's what you do.

You leave home to seek your fortune and when you get it you go home and share it with your family.

From day one, I got addicted to being on stage and getting the applause and laughter.

An affair wants to spill, to share its glory with the world. No act is so private it does not seek applause.

The envious die not once, but as oft as the envied win applause.

Applause waits on success.

Happiness is within. It has nothing to do with how much applause you get or how many people praise you. Happiness comes when you believe that you have done something truly meaningful.

As they marched, the crowds lining the route broke into applause, a sweet and deeply felt spontaneous pattering that was a sort of communal embrace. Welcome home.

The lights go down, you hear the applause and you're up there, and then everything else is forgotten.

Expressions of disapproval are on a level of vulgarity that cannot be tolerated. The way to express disapproval is to do without applause.

The applause was so loud and insistent that I had to respond with several encores. I was numb with happiness, when it was over, I knew that this alone must be my life and my world.

I always get more applause than votes.

The applause is a celebration not only of the actors but also of the audience. It constitutes a shared moment of delight.

Old men need applause too.

A man desires praise that he may be reassured, that he may be quit of his doubting of himself; he is indifferent to applause when he is confident of success.

We should welcome applause whenever it comes.

Satirists gain the applause of others through fear, not through love.

In the vain laughter of folly wisdom hears half its applause.

There is nothing that compares to an unexpected round of applause.

The hoopla, the applause, the praises have never excited me.

In the silence of night I have often wished for just a few words of love from one man, rather than the applause of thousands of people.

Applause is the spur of noble minds, the end and aim of weak ones.

Evil report carries further than any applause.