The artist I wanna be like is Michael Jackson. I'll get the house with the roller coaster and the rides and a disco, and I'll invite all my friends and just stay at home.

A lot of people let me down... A lot of people I thought were my friends turned on me.

I've always expressed my love for fashion through my music.

I haven't had sex in eight months. To be honest, I now prefer to go bowling.

The artist I wanna be like is Michael Jackson. I'll get the house with the roller coaster and the rides and a disco, and I'll invite all my friends and just stay at home.

Today begins a new saga in my life which I expect to strengthen me and allow me time for reflection... I plan to write music while in prison, read and pray regularly and will come out a stronger, more confident woman.

I want all my friends, family and fans to know that I am in good spirits and I will be fine.

I like to live righteous. And I just want everyone to know I'm not trying to get out of anything.

I am blessed to have so many great things in my life - family, friends and God. All will be in my thoughts daily.

But this is Miami, you can't come to Miami and not show any skin. You gotta show something. If you're all covered up in this heat, you're gonna make me pass out out just to look at you. It's sweaty in Miami-but the diamonds will keep me cool.

It was a very emotional dinner... Everyone shared personal stories about her and gave her words of encouragement and inspiration. Everyone tried to remain positive.

All my life, men have told me I wasn't pretty enough - even the men I was dating. And I'd be like, 'Well, why are you with me, then?' It's always been men putting me down just like my dad. To this day when someone says I'm cute, I can't see it. I don't see it no matter what anybody says.

I have low self-esteem and I always have. Guys always cheated on me with women who were European-looking. You know, the long-hair type. Really beautiful women that left me thinking, 'How I can I compete with that?' Being a regular black girl wasn't good enough.

I know I always say my occupation is not dancing, but dancing is in my heart, dancing makes me feel good.

I like bowling. I suck at it, but I like it. You know what's so funny? I have days when I'm absolutely great at doing it, and then I have days when I just don't understand it.

I love doing things people don't expect.

I love spending time with my dog, my niece and my family. I'm very family-oriented.

I love to reinvent myself, and that's because I am a very free person. I do what I feel, and I love who I am.

I really want people to understand that nobody is perfect and that things happen in life beyond our control.

I respect everybody, but at the same time, I carry myself with an aura that demands respect, too.

I think people have a misconception of me, period. My life has been a whirlwind sometimes, but it's different to what people think. I definitely feel like there's a misconception about me and who I am.

I'm a girly girl. I'm strong, but I'm very timid. Very dainty.

Like, I get along with everybody. I respect everybody, but at the same time, I carry myself with an aura that demands respect, too.

Lil' Kim is my stage name and a character I use when I'm out working my livelihood.

Money talks. This is the thing, at the end of the day, I do what I have to do, and I'mma keep doing what I have to do.

My fan mail is what keeps me going.

One thing about me is that I'm very much like the Black Madonna. I love to reinvent myself and that's because I am a very free person.

The one thing I do like is lotion and moisture on my hands and face. I love to have my face moisturized. I like different ones. I like Natura Bisse.

The streets made me. They stay at me. There's nothing that's gonna take away from my legacy. I'm sorry. It is what it is. I'm dying this way. With the crown on my head, nobody can take nothing away from me. It is what it is. I am who I am. Bottom line.

When you are a real artist who is serious about your craft, you love good music. Period.

Being a cover artist is not like being a real artist. That's just copying what someone else did.

The artist need not know very much; best of all let him work instinctively and paint as naturally as he breathes or walks.

What an artist learns matters little. What he himself discovers has a real worth for him, and gives him the necessary incitement to work.

Beauty, like truth, is relative to the time when one lives and to the individual who can grasp it. The expression of beauty is in direct ratio to the power of conception the artist has acquired.

I'm inspired by nature. Other artist's work is important for developing my perception.

There is only one position for an artist anywhere; and that is upright.

The difference between a bad artist and a good one is: the bad artist seems to copy a great deal; the good one really does.

To say that an artist sells out means that an artist is making a conscious choice to compromise his music, to to weaken his music for the sake of commercial gain.

What do you say when someone has truly inspired you? How do you express to an artist how deeply their work has affected you?

An original artist is unable to copy. So he has only to copy in order to be original.

When I say artist I mean the man who is building things - creating molding the earth - whether it be the plains of the west - or the iron ore of Penn. It's all a big game of construction - some with a brush - some with a shovel - some choose a pen.

You have to find what makes you stable in the storm. Then, no matter what's happening round you, no matter what the hype or the publicity, you can still manage to make leaps in your work as an artist.

The key to the mystery of a great artist is that for reasons unknown, he will give away his energies and his life just to make sure that one note follows another... and leaves us with the feeling that something is right in the world.

I've always felt that if one was going to take seriously this vocation as an artist, you have to get beyond that decorative facade.

Art is a private thing, the artist makes it for himself; a comprehensible work is the product of a journalist. We need works that are strong, straight, precise, and forever beyond understanding.

The most colorful section of a bookstore is the display of SF books, with art by people like Wayne Barlow, who is a terrific artist.

Arguably, no artist grows up: If he sheds the perceptions of childhood, he ceases being an artist.

Let not a man do what his sense of right bids him not to do, nor desire what it forbids him to desire. This is sufficient. The skillful artist will not alter his measures for the sake of a stupid workman.

I so much appreciate it when anybody tries to make something and tries to be an artist - I'm happy to see the work.