Sometimes, what you're looking for is already there.
The man who gets me is getting one hell of a woman.
Be your own artist, and always be confident in what you're doing. If you're not going to be confident, you might as well not be doing it.
I love all music.
We all require and want respect, man or woman, black or white. It's our basic human right.
Being a singer is a natural gift. It means I'm using to the highest degree possible the gift that God gave me to use. I'm happy with that.
Music does a lot of things for a lot of people. It's transporting, for sure. It can take you right back, years back, to the very moment certain things happened in your life. It's uplifting, it's encouraging, it's strengthening.
I think women and children and older people are the three least-respected groups in our society.
Every birthday is a gift. Every day is a gift.
I sing to the realists .People who accept it like it is .
Who hasn't had a weight issue? If not the body, certainly the big head!
I've been around long enough for people to know who I am and what my contributions are. They know me as more than just an artist. I think they know me as a woman as well.
I'm a big woman. I need big hair.
My faith always has been and always will be important to me.
If a song's about something I've experienced or that could've happened to me it's good. But if it's alien to me, I couldn't lend anything to it. Because that's what soul is all about.
I've always felt that rock & roll was very, very wholesome.
Everybody wants respect. In their own way, three-year-olds would like respect, and acknowledgment, in their terms.
The love of my life? I'm much too young to answer that question.
Being the Queen is not all about singing, and being a diva is not all about singing. It has much to do with your service to people. And your social contributions to your community and your civic contributions as well.
We didn't have music videos. You weren't an overnight sensation. You had to work at it and learn your craft: how to take care of your voice, how to pace your concerts, all that trial and error.
It really is an honor if I can be inspirational to a younger singer or person. It means I've done my job.
It's very satisfying. To perform the way you want to. And the way you know that you can.
Parents have to really talk to their children before they leave home.
Gospel goes with me wherever I go. Gospel is a constant with me.
People really don't have to give you anything, so appreciate what people give you.
Women absolutely deserve respect.
I love 'Anne of Green Gables.' I have for years. That's one of my favourite things. She's such a can-do kind of girl; that's why I'm crazy about her.
When God loves you, what can be better than that?
Don't say Aretha is making a comeback, because I've never been away!
I don't think I was a catalyst for the women's movement.
I was in my dad's church, his Baptist church, and I think the first song I ever performed was 'Jesus Be a Fence Around Me.'
Politics are not my arena. Music is.
I like Beyonce's music - some of it, not all of it.
I don't feel one's personal medical condition is everybody's business. It just isn't something you advertise, and it's not open to discussion.
I came up in gospel.
I'm never tired of going to the studio. I enjoy recording and documenting everything and trying new things.
Music changes, and I'm gonna change right along with it.
Yes, I've always been fashion conscious.
Let's start with the church. As you know, it's my background, it's a natural setting for me and it's definitely my roots.
I know people I feel are extremely talented, but I don't know that I've ever heard any geniuses.
I've never recorded anything I didn't like.
I donate heavily to the church and various churches in the Detroit community and food banks.
Now, occasionally I will still have that quarter pounder because I love fast food, but you have to keep it to a minimum.
And I was booked once to go on 'Ed Sullivan' and I got bumped and ran out the back door crying.
I saw the Supremes when they were still singing in little black skirts and white blouses.
Falling out of love is like losing weight. It's a lot easier putting it on than taking it off.
I'm the lady next door when I'm not on stage.
I think the hardest thing is losing weight. That's the hardest thing more than anything else.
I sing to the realists; people who accept it like it is.
I always felt rock and roll was very, very wholesome music.
I go to the healthier foods that are less chemically treated. I am drinking lots of water to get rid of the toxins in my body. It's a natural flushing. Water flushes your system and is also very good for your skin.
I am doing what I love to do, and you cannot beat that, especially when the audience appreciates what you prepare for them. It's very, very gratifying.
Columbia was a wonderful label for me. Wonderful. The records I made there garnered me an audience. I won a number of polls during the years that I was at Columbia. The Downbeat Jazz Poll. Leonard Feather, who was a huge critic back in the day, different polls that he had. The Playboy poll, a number of polls. So the music was great.
Sam Cooke had a huge influence on me. He left the gospel field at one point and went into the secular, and he had this huge hit, 'You Send Me.' Irma, my older sister, and I heard 'You Send Me' on the radio while we were driving through the South one night. We had to stop the car. We got out and danced around the car out on the highway.
I love producing, writing. I rarely write with other writers unless I have a real great respect for them. Like Burt Bacharach, or Carole Sager, or Stevie Wonder. Somebody like Smokey - like that. Otherwise, I choose to write alone.
