Her body calculated to a millimeter to suggest a bud yet guarantee a flower.

I still consider myself a little, fat kid from Hawaii.

I think that by staying true to myself and making music from my heart, the blessings come.

When I write a book, I write a book for myself; the reaction is up to the reader. It’s not my business whether people like or dislike it.

Growing up, I decided, a long time ago, I wouldn’t accept any manmade differences between human beings, differences made at somebody else’s insistence or someone else’s whim or convenience.

The answer I found is you stay away from the people who make fun of you, and you join these ad hoc groups who understand your craziness.

Your life will be a blessed and balanced experience if you first honor your identity and priority.

I say what I want to say and do what I want to do. There’s no in between. People will either love you for it or hate you for it.

Beauty is not caused. It is.

My family has very strong women. My mother never laughed at my dream of Africa, even though everyone else did because we didn’t have any money, because Africa was the ‚dark continent‘, and because I was a girl.

My fat never made me less money.

No woman should ever be quite accurate about her age. It looks so calculating.

Self-actualized people are independent of the good opinion of others.

I’ve never lived my life in the opinion of others. I believe I’m a good person. I believe I’m a good mom. But that’s for my kids to decide, not for the world.

You can be happy where you are.

And above all things, never think that you’re not good enough yourself. A man should never think that. My belief is that in life people will take you at your own reckoning.

I’ve never been a jealous person, and I’ve never felt built up by someone else’s failure – that’s a cheap thrill.

In past generations, people would try to play younger than they really are. My trick is, I don’t try to play younger than I really am.

I just use fashion as an excuse to talk about politics. Because I’m a fashion designer, it gives me a voice, which is really good.

If I make music and people hate it, you know, whatever. I’ll die someday, and one day, they will too.

I’ve heard there are troubles of more than one kind; some come from ahead, and some come from behind. But I’ve brought a big bat. I’m all ready, you see; now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!

Don’t grow accustomed to living with less, doing less, and being less to the point that you eventually sit back and accept it.

You’re looking at a middle-class guy. I am who I am.

Clothing & fashion are kind of my security blanket, almost.

One of the best things that ever happened to me is that I’m a woman. That is the way all females should feel.

I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.

Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‚I’m possible‘!

I used to stutter really badly. Everybody thinks it’s funny. And it’s not funny. It’s not.

Relish everything that’s inside of you, the imperfections, the darkness, the richness and light and everything. And that makes for a full life.

Painting is an infinitely minute part of my personality.

The battle for women’s rights has been largely won.

You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.

I never set out to be weird. It was always other people who called me weird.

I think the healthy way to live is to make friends with the beast inside oneself, and that means not the beast but the shadow. The dark side of one’s nature. Have fun with it and you know, is to accept everything about ourselves.

I’m on the autism spectrum. I don’t usually follow social coding and so therefore I go my own way.

I don’t want to be fake. I’m just being me. And I have the power to break stereotypes and whatever useless rules that society puts on us.

It’s rare for anyone to value the opinions of a teenage girl.

I heard that when Christina Aguilera went back to her prom, people, like, booed her. I can’t imagine going through that. If you know that’s going to happen, why put yourself in that situation? I’d rather play for 20,000 screaming people, you know?

Women feel empowered when they can do the things that are supposed to be only for men, you know? It breaks boundaries, it’s liberating, and it’s empowering when you feel like, ‚Well, I can do that, too.‘

I didn’t come to Hollywood. Hollywood came to me. A lot of people wish they could say the things I say. Everyone out here is so phony, it’s sickening.

I always put myself out there. I’m not afraid to commit to something.

Women should be obscene and not heard.

Like a pianist runs her fingers over the keys, I’ll search my mind for what to say. Now, the poem may want you to write it. And then sometimes you see a situation and think, ‚I’d like to write about that.‘ Those are two different ways of being approached by a poem, or approaching a poem.

Always remember that others may hate you but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.

I was in a queer mood, thinking myself very old: but now I am a woman again – as I always am when I write.

The child in you, like all children, loves to laugh, to be around people who can laugh at themselves and life. Children instinctively know that the more laughter we have in our lives, the better.

With realization of one’s own potential and self-confidence in one’s ability, one can build a better world.

If you are against yourself, you will never reach your highest potential. And when you criticize yourself, you’re criticizing God.

Our goal in the ’70s was to end the closed door era. There were so many things that were off limits to women: policing, firefighting, mining, piloting planes.

Friendship with ones self is all important, because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world.

Everybody has their thing they like or don’t like to see. It’s all in your head. That’s why people take their own pictures, because it’s difficult for someone else to capture what you seek.

The bird is powered by its own life and by its motivation.

For my career, I wouldn’t go racing if I didn’t enjoy it. I still need to have my say, and not just get put with a team and get told to deal with it.

The dieting wars have got to stop.

I never think of myself as an icon. What is in other people’s minds is not in my mind. I just do my thing.

In my work and in myself I reflect black people, women and men, as I reflect others. One day even the most self-protective ones will look into the mirror I provide and not be afraid.

You have to develop ways so that you can take up for yourself, and then you take up for someone else. And so sooner or later, you have enough courage to really stand up for the human race and say, ‚I’m a representative.‘

The best luck of all is the luck you make for yourself.

I know I’m stronger in the songs than I really am. Sometimes I need to hear it myself. We all need to hear those empowering songs to remind us.

I find only freedom in the realms of eccentricity.

I hate what I look like on TV, and I want to look better, and nothing makes the mothers more jealous.