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.

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.

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 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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

I mean, I'm 48 years old and I've been through a lot in my life - you know, loss, whether it be death, illness, separation. I mean, the failed expectations... We all have dreams.

Dying is easy, it's living that scares me to death.

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

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.

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

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

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.

Charity is a fine thing if it's meeting a gap where needs must be met and there are no other resources. But in the long term we need to support people into helping themselves.

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

Every artist has to make their own statements and they have to live with them.

Fame for fame's sake is toxic - some people want that, with no boundaries. It's unhealthy.

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

Feminism is a word that I identify with. The term has become synonymous with vitriolic man-hating but it needs to come back to a place where both men and women can embrace it. It is particularly important for women in developing countries.

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

HIV/AIDS has no boundaries.

Having children, they're not your property. They need to figure out their own views. I think my daughters have a pretty healthy self-awareness, but I can't speak on their behalf.

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

I also started writing songs because I had this burning activity in my heart and had to express myself.

I am a communicator; that seems to be my natural place. And I'll always be passionate about the world, because it's so bonkers.

I am fascinated by history and particularly the Victorian era.

I can't understand why the front pages of newspapers can cover bird flu and swine flu and everybody is up in arms about that and we still haven't really woken up to the fact that so many women in sub-Saharan Africa - 60 percent of people in - infected with HIV are women.

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

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

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

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

I don't take myself as seriously as some people think, and I'd hate anyone to think I was preaching. That's the last thing I want.

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 don't want to be owned by a corporation and obliged to make a certain type of album. I want to be free.

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

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?

I have a lot to be grateful for.

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

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

I have different hats; I'm a mother, I'm a woman, I'm a human being, I'm an artist and hopefully I'm an advocate. All of those plates are things I spin all the time.

I like where I live here, in London.

I love to be individual, to step beyond gender.