I go to all these photo shoots, and each time I figure out something new about myself and what I want to wear.

I think that I do feel that my nature is to express what this self, this particular self at this time, experiences in the world. And that is so organic – I use this metaphor a lot but I’ll use it again – it’s like a pine tree producing pine cones, or a blackberry bush producing blackberries – it’s just what happens with this being, now.

I cap myself when I shop; I don’t like to spend extravagant amounts on clothes. But, I do get lent clothes for events, it’s scary to wear something so expensive, but I feel really pampered.

Honestly, I like everything, boyish girls, girlish boys, the heavy and the skinny.

Freedom lies in being bold.

I want the world to see my body.

We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves.

People just overshoot trying to find God. They’re going outside and trying everything. They don’t realize that it’s right inside themselves.

I have learned to know God. I have recast my social belief… All my admirers are married; most of my friends are dead; and I stand with all the world before me, where to choose a path to make in it.

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

You have to be willing to go to war with yourself and create a whole new identity.

It is important for you to know who you are and who you may become. It is more important than what you do, even as vital as your work is and will be.

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

I’ve experienced great things, I’ve experienced great tragedies. I’ve done almost everything I could possibly ever imagine doing, but I just know that there’s more.

I’m big on what’s in good taste.

That is the real spiritual awakening, when something emerges from within you that is deeper than who you thought you were. So, the person is still there, but one could almost say that something more powerful shines through the person.

I do not paint a portrait to look like the subject, rather does the person grow to look like his portrait.

It’s like, remember who you always were, where you came from, who your parents were, how they raised you. Because that authentic self is going to follow you all through life, so make sure that it’s solid so it’s something that you can hold on and be proud of for the rest of your life.

Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.

God made me and broke the mold.

I don’t care if you get up in the morning and don’t wash, don’t put any make-up on, don’t do your hair, even, but you have to have clothes if you want to look different.

Voyagers discover that the world can never be larger than the person that is in the world; but it is impossible to foresee this, it is impossible to be warned.

I do not know myself, and God forbid that I should.

My son has followed fashion since he was a punk. He and I agree that fashion is about sex.

I’m not trying to be sexy. It’s just my way of expressing myself when I move around.

I don’t know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot.

I used to wonder if it was God’s plan that I should be alone for so much of my life. But I found peace. I found happiness within people and the world.

You can have the platinum album. But, you know, when you still feel like you haven’t quite found your place in the world, it kind of gives a crazy offset.

The truth is, I had always wanted to be a comedian, but I really didn’t have that kind of personality, and it’s a terrifying thing to say.

If you’re living in your time, you cannot help but to write about the things that are important.

I’m confident in who I am. I’ve come to a place in my life where I’ve accepted things that are me, as opposed to feeling pressure to explain myself to people around me. That’s just the way I’ve always tried to be. It didn’t change when I became a star.

I have a dogmatic certainty: God is in every person’s life. God is in everyone’s life. Even if the life of a person has been a disaster, even if it is destroyed by vices, drugs or anything else – God is in this person’s life. You can – you must – try to seek God in every human life.

Really I feel less keen about the Army every day. I think the Church would suit me better.

There is in me an anarchy and frightful disorder. Creating makes me die a thousand deaths, because it means making order, and my entire being rebels against order. But without it I would die, scattered to the winds.

I used to go away for weeks in a state of confusion.

There is a great deal of unmapped country within us which would have to be taken into account in an explanation of our gusts and storms.

In 7th grade, I believe, I wrote my first rap song. It was about everything I was seeing, everything that was going on around me.

I had nothing growing up, but I always wanted to be ‚sexy,‘ even before I knew what the word was.

I wear the same outfit or, at least, a different copy of it almost every day.

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.

I have more suits than days of the year that I get to wear them.

If I didn’t have my films as an outlet for all the different sides of me, I would probably be locked up.

If I love you, what business is it of yours?

If I could write directly on a typewriter or a computer, I would do it. But keyboards have always intimidated me. I’ve never been able to think clearly with my fingers in that position. A pen is a much more primitive instrument. You feel that the words are coming out of your body and then you dig the words into the page.

When it comes down to it, glam rock was all very amusing. At the time, it was funny, then a few years later it became sort of serious-looking and a bit foreboding.

Acting helped me as I was growing up. It helped me learn about myself, helped me travel, helped me understand life, express myself, all those wonderful things. So I’m very, very grateful; it’s a fun job. It’s a luxury.

I was ready to quit music. It felt to me like music equalled death.

Singing aloud leaves you with a sense of levity and contentedness.

Joanne‘ is a progression for me. It was about going into the studio and forgetting that I was famous.

When I was younger, I was testing myself and questioning everything, but now it’s less about that and more about these are the years of my life with my family.

Follow that will and that way which experience confirms to be your own.

I find only freedom in the realms of eccentricity.

Sometimes it’s the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination.

It is in our idleness, in our dreams, that the submerged truth sometimes comes to the top.

I find that when I get on stage now, I don’t want to perform a lot of my songs because they don’t feel like me. So I want to make songs that are timeless.

Life is too short to be little. Man is never so manly as when he feels deeply, acts boldly, and expresses himself with frankness and with fervor.

If I can get my dress on, my weight is under control.

If I hadn’t been a woman, I’d be a drag queen for sure. I like all that flair and I’d be dressing up in them high heels and putting on the big hair. I’d be like Ru Paul.

A fashion is nothing but an induced epidemic.

My performance outfits are very Marie Antoinette, sparkly corsets… and full skirts. And then we do another look that’s ’50s-inspired. Poufy skirts, big bows. Very fun, girlie and young, but otherwise, when I’m not in costume, I dress really normal.

Eventually you get to this point where you understand what you want to do and get across and sound like.