I think the race situation is getting better as far as people respecting each other goes. I think the race situation with entertainment is not that much better.
I was a shy kid with a broom handle that I pretended was a microphone.
I'm no different than you.
It's a sweet thing, faith. With it, you can handle any circumstance, any crisis, because you know God always has your back. And when God is for you, who can be against you? Nobody. As my Aunt Hattie says, "One and God are a majority."
I never thought I would be singing for the world.
Women are strong now. Women are dominating the charts, and women are doing it for themselves. We're kicking butt and taking no prisoners.
There's not much longevity in music today. It's so easy to go in, put some pretentious lyrics on, with people saying the same thing over and over and over.
I can't do some of the songs that younger girls like Mary J. Blige and Beyonce are doing. They have their own place and I have my own place.
So if anybody wants to get me something, get me 60 crabs - one for each year. I don't want no diamonds, I don't want no shoes, I don't want no party. I want some crabs.
I love Canadians because I don't see very much racism in Canada.
I keep showing decade after decade that I am a real performer.
All these little heifers who can't sing are called ‘divas’.
I'm still standing up there tall and strong every night that I perform.
I don't tweet, Twitter, email, Facebook, look book, no kind of book. I have a land line phone at my home - that's the only phone I have. If my phone rang every day like everyone else around me, I would lose my mind.
I decided to always sing in the back with the chorus and never went up front because I had trouble performing.
All I do is stay in the kitchen and cook. I don't go there to party.
A diva is someone who is a perfectionist, who does her best in her craft.
As Aunt Naomi was listing all the things she was going to do to help this person, her friend stopped her in mid-sentence. "Naomi, girl," she said, "you need to resign as general manager of the universe. You need to learn that sometimes the best way to help a person is to let them help themselves. Otherwise, they never learn how. And they are always going to make their problems your problems."
When I was married, I wasn't loving myself. Now I'm in love with myself. I will get married again.
I'm so grounded, it's sad.
Whenever I go out, so many people who respect me ask me what to do in a certain situation. A lot of times, I didn't know the answers because sometimes I was going through the same sort of thing. But then later on, I would think of things that people told me.
I clean my house, although I have help. I'm on the floor getting spots. I can't stand a dirty house. I'm a cleaning fanatic.
I'm 60, and I did 60-year-old women songs. I'm not trying to be the Hip-Hop Queen, although I am the original Hip Hop Queen.
You've got to know business before you go to show business.
I was very shy. I'm still shy.
