I think what made it difficult for people to get, and still makes it difficult for people to get, is the theatrical nature of the work and the fact that, my music doesn't exist without the performance-art element.

Where I come from it was really unheard of to be at a party and someone says, 'What kind of music do you make?', and you say, 'Pop music.' You may as well have 'I'm not cool' stamped on your forehead.

The instrument that I never learned how to play was my fans. You know, they are the part of the story that nobody teaches you. I just want to do the right thing; I want to be a voice with them, among them.

If you are not being bullied all I would say - cause I like to talk about the other side of it as well - is you know, be someone that nurtures, and if there's someone in your class that maybe doesn't have a lot of friends, be the person that sits with them in the cafeteria sometimes; be the bigger person.

In a sense I portray myself in a very androgynous way, and I love androgyny.

I don't like Los Angeles. The people are awful and terribly shallow, and everybody wants to be famous but nobody wants to play the game. I'm from New York. I will kill to get what I need.

So there's nothing more provocative than taking a genre that everybody who's cool hates - and then making it cool.

I am so excited to extend myself behind the scenes as a designer and to - as my father puts it - finally have a real job.

I hope that what you take away from my album is not just the music - which I did want to be fun, and I did want it to be about individuality, but please also take away from it that there's no dream that's too big.

I've been actually really very pleased to see how much awareness was raised around bullying, and how deeply it affects everyone. You know, you don't have to be the loser kid in high school to be bullied. Bullying and being picked on comes in so many different forms.

I think what made it difficult for people to get, and still makes it difficult for people to get, is the theatrical nature of the work and the fact that, my music doesn't exist without the performance-art element.

I had this dream, and I really wanted to be a star. And I was almost a monster in the way that I was really fearless with my ambitions.

I guess you could say I devoted myself so strongly to my music that for awhile I forgot about my family. But I only get one set of parents, and I think I forgot about that for a little while.

A record deal doesn't make you an artist; you make yourself an artist.

I live halfway between reality and theater at all times. And I was born this way.

If you only believe that you're an artist when you have a big advance in your pocket and a single coming out, I would say that's quite soulless. You have to have a sense of your own greatness and your own ability from a very deep place inside you. I am the one with the litmus test in my hands of what people need to hear next.

Pop stars should not eat.

I was performing in New York and my friends started to call me Gaga, they said I was very theatrical and they said, 'You're Gaga'.

When the whole world has their eyes on you, if you say something that doesn't truly come from your spirit and your soul, or if you wear something that doesn't come from your spirit and your soul, it's an injustice to your position. And so, I'm really myself every single day and I do it because I know my fans would want me to.

I like pushing boundaries.

Every bit of me is devoted to love and art. And I aspire to try to be a teacher to my young fans who feel just like I felt when I was younger. I just felt like a freak. I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm trying to liberate them, I want to free them of their fears and make them feel that they can make their own space in the world.

I'm definitely a Polaroid camera girl. For me, what I'm really excited about is bringing back the artistry and the nature of Polaroid.

Lady Gaga is my name. If you know me, and you call me Stefani, you don't really know me at all.

What I've discovered is that in art, as in music, there's a lot of truth-and then there's a lie. The artist is essentially creating his work to make this lie a truth, but he slides it in amongst all the others. The tiny little lie is the moment I live for, my moment. It's the moment that the audience falls in love.

I've had grand pianos that are more expensive than, like, a year's worth of rent.

What I've learned is that you really don't need to be a celebrity or have money or have the paparazzi following you around to be famous.

'Born this Way' is about being yourself, and loving who you are and being proud.

I'm working on bringing the instant film camera back as part of the future.

As soon as I go out into the world, I belong, in a way, to everyone else. It's legal to follow me. It's legal to stalk me at the beach. And I can't call the police or ask them to leave.

At the end of the day, who I really and truly am is a little girl who loved to play the piano.

Because the sweeter the cake, the more bitter the jelly can be.

Being beautiful is not so fun when you're in a business with all men.

Celebrity life and media culture are probably the most overbearing pop-cultural conditions that we as young people have to deal with, because it forces us to judge ourselves.

Don't say I hate institutionalised religion - rather than saying I hate those things, which I do not, what I'm saying is that perhaps there is a way of opening more doors, rather than closing so many.

Every video I'm in, every magazine cover, they stretch you; they make you perfect. It's not real life.

Everybody always laughs because I feel so much more comfortable with, like, a giant paper bag on my whole body and paint on my face. Sometimes I try really hard to take it all off. But inevitably what's underneath is still not a straight edge. And I don't think it ever will be.

Fame is ultimately about the cycles of desire and how to do away with them or manage them well.

Fashion is that thing that saved me from being sad.

Gay marriage is going to happen. It must.

Hair is about when you're younger. I am my hair.

How I love David Bowie.

I actually don't want a throne at all, because I don't view myself as a queen; I view myself as one of my fans.

I allow myself to fail. I allow myself to break. I'm not afraid of my flaws.

I already am a product.

I always have been an activist for things that were just authentically a part of my life, that I felt connected to.

I am a walking piece of art every day, with my dreams and my ambitions forward at all times in an effort to inspire my fans to lead their life in that way.

I am an artist, and I have the ability and the free will to choose the way the world will envision me.

I am my own sanctuary and I can be reborn as many times as I choose throughout my life.

I am not some goddess that dropped down from the sky to sing pop music; I am not some extra-incredible human person that needs to be told how wonderful they are all day and kissed.