I've got a good man. He takes care of me. I don't have to be scared of anything because I know he will kick every ass... disrespect him and you've got a problem.

Being around people like Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick and Roberta Flack. . . had a great impact on me as a singer, as a performer, as a musician.

I don't like it when they [media critics] see me as this little person who doesn't know what to do with herself -- like I have no idea what I want, like I'm just a puppet . . . . That's demeaning to me, because that ain't how it is, and it never was.

I believe that children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside.

Teaching is the only major occupation of man for which we have not yet developed tools that make an average person capable of competence and performance. In teaching we rely on the "naturals," the ones who somehow know how to teach.

He who teaches a boy teaches three: a youth, a young man, and an old man