Annie Lennox

I think life on the road really suits very egotistical men. It's set up for kings.

I will go out of my way to avoid the shopping crowds and the extreme consumerism - I hate all that.

I'm from a working-class background, and I've experienced that worry of not having a job next week because the unions are going on strike. I know that because I don't come from a wealthy background.

The word feminism needs to be taken back. It needs to be reclaimed in a way that is inclusive of men.

When you're that successful, things have a momentum, and at a certain point you can't really tell whether you have created the momentum or it's creating you.

Men need to understand, and women too, what feminism is really about.

I've had my share of dark days of the soul. I try not to focus on it too much so it doesn't get to me.

Over the years, I was never really driven to become a solo artist, but I was curious to find out who I was as an individual creative person. It's taken some time, but now I feel I've truly paid my dues. I guess I'm at a point now where I'm more comfortable in my own skin.

I'm a female but I have a masculine side and I'm not going to negate that part of myself.

One wouldn't want to have the same dilemmas at 50 as one had at 15. And indeed I don't. I have a very different take on life.

I was perceiving myself as good as a man or equal to a man and as powerful and I wanted to look ambiguous because I thought that was a very interesting statement to make through the media. And it certainly did cause quite a few ripples and interest and shock waves.

Our ancestors are totally essential to our every waking moment, although most of us don't even have the faintest idea about their lives, their trials, their hardships or challenges.

I was brought up in a tenement house in a working district. We didn't even have a bathroom! We had a gaslight in the hallway and a black-and-white TV.

As a mother, you have that impulse to wish that no child should ever be hurt, or abused, or go hungry, or not have opportunities in life.

I understand what it is for a woman to want to protect their children and give them the best they can.

I sang a lot as a little girl and entered competitions. I loved singing in choirs, but it was as I got older that I really found my voice.

I have always been a very visual person and a keen observer.

There's a lot of women's organisations, but they're all working separately. If you get people together, as a collaborative voice, it's strong.

Most women are dissatisfied with their appearance its the stuff that fuels the beauty and fashion industries.

Life is not quantifiable in terms of age, but I suppose in my fifties I am more grounded and more at ease in my own skin than when I was younger. I have a confidence that I didn't have before from the experiences I've had.

I'm not a saint. I'm not an angel. I'm a human being.

If I hadn't been a singer, I might have been a photographer or an artist. But it's singing I love. I sing all the time, and I feel really good that I've expressed myself.

I think people in Great Britain are a bit jaded sometimes.

Women's issues have always been a part of my life.

I think my daughters have a pretty healthy self-awareness but I can't speak on their behalf.

It's hard to tell how far women's individuality has come in the past twenty years.

Ask yourself: Have you been kind today? Make kindness your daily modus operandi and change your world.

In a sense, the music business and I haven't always been the best of bedfellows. Artists often have to fight their corner. Your music goes through these filters of record labels and media, and you're hoping you'll find someone who'll help you get your work into the world.

I love to make music and stay grounded.

You wouldn't find a Joni Mitchell on 'X Factor;' that's not the place. 'X Factor' is a specific thing for people that want to go through that process - it's a factory, you know, and it's owned and stitched-up by puppet masters.

We all fight over what the label 'feminism' means but for me it's about empowerment. It's not about being more powerful than men - it's about having equal rights with protection, support, justice. It's about very basic things. It's not a badge like a fashion item.

I would like to see the gay population get on board with feminism. It's a beautiful organisation and they've done so much. It seems to me a no-brainer.

Churches, depending on their policy, can do fantastic work with people in the community.

I want to branch out. I want to write. I write poetry. I want to see my children grow up well.

I didn't want to be perceived as a girly girl on stage.

There are two kinds of artists left: those who endorse Pepsi and those who simply won't.

I want people to start thinking about what it means to be HIV-positive and to ask questions about that.

I would love to meet a dodo.

Music is an extraordinary vehicle for expressing emotion - very powerful emotions. That's what draws millions of people towards it. And, um, I found myself always going for these darker places and - people identify with that.

The future hasn't happened yet and the past is gone. So I think the only moment we have is right here and now, and I try to make the best of those moments, the moments that I'm in.

I used to be obsessed about how I presented myself. I didn't want other people dressing me because I didn't want to be treated like a clothes horse.

I don't feel there are enough women artists out there who are saying anything of tremendous relevance.

Humankind seems to have an enormous capacity for savagery, for brutality, for lack of empathy, for lack of compassion.

Motherhood was the great equaliser for me; I started to identify with everybody... as a mother, you have that impulse to wish that no child should ever be hurt, or abused, or go hungry, or not have opportunities in life.

The world is a heartbreaking place, without any question.

Although I have lived in London, I have never really considered London my home because it was always going to be a stopping-off point for me, and it has been too.

I don't have clear-cut positions. I get baffled by things. I have viewpoints. Sometimes they change.

I'd rather support the issues I truly believe in than give my vote to parties that court votes at the time of the election. I like to think that my vote strengthens the green foundation stone.

It's a very telling thing when you have children. You have to be there for them, you've got to set an example, when you're not sure what your example is, and anyway the world is changing so fast you don't know what is appropriate anymore.

A lot of music you might listen to is pretty vapid, it doesn't always deal with our deeper issues. These are the things I'm interested in now, particularly at my age.

Whatever you do, you do out of a passion.

I'm appalled the word feminism has been denigrated to a place of almost ridicule and I very passionately believe the word needs to be revalued and reintroduced with power and understanding that this is a global picture.

Actually, I'm quite a domesticated person. I love the little things of home.

There are two kinds of artists left: those who endorse Pepsi and those who simply won t.

I don't think feminism is about the exclusion of men but their inclusion... we must face and address those issues, especially to include younger men and boys.

I have a reputation for being cold and aloof, but I'm so not that woman. I'm passionate. I love my girls, being with my girlfriends, getting involved with issues that affect other women and children who are suffering.

I was never much of a one to win prizes... and certainly never placed too much value on their acquisition.

If someone says something unpleasant, I can't say it doesn't smart a bit. It always does. Someone can take a really nasty swipe if they want because it kind of feels powerful for a person to write in a paper and get that thing out there.

I don't have any interest to go to Israel. I don't think I'd ever have a cause to go.

I am fascinated by history and particularly the Victorian era.

Motherhood was the great equaliser for me; I started to identify with everybody.

Women's issues have always been a part of my life. My goal is to bring the word 'feminism' back into the zeitgeist and reframe it.

If people like your music, you can't guarantee they're going to love you.

I have always felt a little homeless. It's a strange thing.

Please don't ask me for the actual answer to anything, because I don't have it. Because all I do is look at stuff and ask questions. What can I say? I just think the world's barking mad. Look, I'm not an expert. I'm just an ordinary person.

Why are we not valuing the word 'feminism' when there is so much work to be done in terms of empowerment and emancipation of women everywhere?

I've never been a social person. When I grew up, the other girls would all be combing their hair and exchanging lipstick, and I just couldn't do that group thing.

I have a calling in my soul, if you like, to try to make my life in some way worthwhile. What is the value of my existence?

As a creative person, you just put something out into the consciousness of the society you live in.

I want people to understand me as a person with views, not just performing songs.

My issue with the state of women became incredibly stimulated when I was visiting developing countries and it became obvious that women bore the brunt of so many things in society.

If you want to open a supermarket chain and put your face all around the globe, selling your baby and your dog, if it makes you happy, who am I to disagree, as the song goes. But it's not for me. I've always tried to keep my integrity and keep my autonomy.

You just decide what your values are in life and what you are going to do, and then you feel like you count, and that makes life worth living. It makes my life meaningful.

I'm not a Christian, but I think the Christian message is a good one.

The person who inspired me the most was a friend of mine, Anita Roddick. I know that Anita wasn't known to be an ardent feminist, but she truly was.

I have a lot to be grateful for.

For me, pointing and clicking my phone is absolutely fine. People say that isn't the art of photography but I don't agree.

Life expectancy in many parts of Africa can be something around the age of thirty five to thirty eight. I mean you're very fortunate if you live to that age. In fact when I went to Uganda for the first time one of the things that occurred to me was that I saw very few elderly people.

The future hasn't happened yet and the past is gone. So I think the only moment we have is right here and no, and I try to make the best of those moments, the moments that I'm in.

Fear paralyses you - fear of flying, fear of the future, fear of leaving a rubbish marriage, fear of public speaking, or whatever it is.

I'm not particularly attention-seeking.

Music is a great vehicle for communications, and I have a certain platform. I have an opportunity and I have to take it.

There is a big difference between what I do onstage and what I do in my private life. I don't put my living room on magazine pages.

The momentum of time is always going forward. You cannot repeat what has been done before. You can't go back.

If we value what we've inherited for free - from other women - surely it's right morally and ethically for us to wake up and say, 'I'm a feminist. '

Those in the developing world have so few rights - we take a lot for granted in the developed world.

Money is a good thing and it's obviously useful, but to work only for money or fame would never interest me.

HIV/AIDS has no boundaries.

Nelson Mandela is awe inspiring - a person who really sacrificed for what he believed in. I feel truly humbled by him.

I'm not intensely private - I talk a great deal about my life and my work - I just don't play the game to excess.

I would say that although my music may be or may have been part of the cultural background fabric of the gay community, I consider myself an outsider who belongs everywhere and nowhere... Being a human being is what truly counts. That's where you'll find me.

Making a Christmas album is looked upon by some people as the thing you do when you are heading towards retirement.

Women empowering other women.They get the psycho social support. They become part of a community.

I only want to make music because I have a passion for it.

Most women are dissatisfied with their appearance - it's the stuff that fuels the beauty and fashion industries.

I enjoy multi-tasking, so I want to do a lot of different things. I want to keep all the plates spinning.

I'm from a working-class background, and I've experienced that worry of not having a job next week because the unions are going on strike.

I love to be individual, to step beyond gender.

Anita Roddick was amazing. Her presence in a room was full of light, and everything she worked to achieve still resonates now.

I was born in 1954. My parents were brought up in the war years, and life was hard.