Quotes

[Madison Square Garden, 1995] This is for all of you out there tonight, reaching for a dream - don't ever give up! Never ever listen to anyone, when they try to discourage you, because they do that, believe me!

[taking a swipe at her critics at the 1999 Billboard Music awards] Forget the image, forget the ensemble, forget the rumors, forget the short skirts, the big hair, whatever! I owe this to the fans and I will never forget you so I want to accept this award on behalf of all of you. We've come a long way and I feel like I'm just getting started. Because as an artist, and most importantly as a person, I am genuinely happy to finally be free to be who I am. Thank you.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel . . . hopefully it's not a freight train!

Music is what I love and it's what I feel and it's in me and to know that I can do something that I enjoy and hopefully bring some enjoyment to other people through what I do is an incrediable feeling and I am just really thankful for it

[on the importance of her music] One person could say, "'Hero' is a schmaltzy piece of garbage', but another person can write me a letter and say, "I've considered committing suicide every day of my life for the last ten years until I heard that song and I realized after all I can be my own hero". And that, that's an unexplainable feeling, like I've done something with my life, ya know?

[interview in Hip Hop Magazine] A lot of the time they [the media] form the idea in listeners' minds. Calling me a "pop diva" without listening to my work so when I come out with an urban song it's like, "Pop diva goes black". I mean, puh-lease.

Butterflies are always following me, everywhere I go.

I'm not one of those people that goes into details of my personal life on national TV to get attention. Some things are better left unsaid

A lot of people are singing about how screwed up the world is, and I don't think that everybody wants to hear about that all the time.

I'm not vain, I'm insecure.

I decided to make my own ski-wear range after I found there were no fashion outfits for me to wear on the piste.

It's hard to be someone that people talk about and write about, you know? They don't know me.

I prayed very hard for this to happen and it happened. I don't even think about what I've achieved, I haven't focused on it and I wish I had, because I really want to enjoy it, and I don't know if I am enjoying it, because I am going through my life like a bulldozer. I still haven't marveled at it. I don't mind being compared to [Whitney Houston], there are people miles worse to be compared to, but if you really listen there's a difference.

People all of a sudden just see me and hear me having hit records and it seems to have come out of the blue. But really I have been working towards this my whole life, and this is what I say when people say I haven't paid my dues.

What I write is all from my imagination. Fact is, I haven't had time to experience all that, but that doesn't mean to say that I don't write from the heart, because I do. I put myself in other women's shoes, I can feel their pain and joy when I think about it. It's all the same, we're all women.

There's never been anything else in my life that inspired me at all. It's crazy, but I've always loved music and I've always known this was what I wanted to do. I can't remember a time when I didn't want to be a singer.

Someone said I never paid any dues. I feel my whole life was struggling, because we were poor. We were alone, we had nothing--no security. I feel I have paid my dues. I've been paying my dues all my life.

[on her parents' divorce] They went through some very hard times before I was born. They had their dogs poisoned, their cars set on fire and blown up. It put a strain on their relationship that never quit. There was always this tension. They just fought all the time.

I've always said that my father is half black and half Venezuelan and my mother is Irish. But people don't understand. They can't fathom that I'm African-American, Venezuelan and Irish.

And maybe there are some people out there who think a quarter Venezuelan is not a lot . . . Well, I may be only one quarter, but it's a strong quarter.

There was a time when all I was allowed to do was go to gay clubs, because my quote-unquote husband was so afraid of me being around straight people.

[on her glamor influences] Raquel Welch, Ursula Andress--I liked their little ensembles . . . You've got to throw Farrah Fawcett in there, too. I had the Farrah doll. She was my little style inspiration.

[on her height] I don't know why, but everybody thinks that I'm short. When they see me for the first time, women are always surprised to be obliged to raise their head.

I rarely go to bed before 5 or 6 am. I am a girl of the night. I hate getting up before 2 pm. And when I get up, I don't have breakfast, just a slice of pizza. I'm composing my songs in bed, because I'm getting inspired when I'm about to sink into sleep. The night inspires me.

I'd humbly like to become an inspiration to the biracial kids, who are the population of the new millennium. I'm everything and nothing at the same time: white, black and Latino. If I've managed to be accepted, the others can do it, too.

I can remember when I told myself for the first time, "I'm going to be rich and famous". I was about 5 or 6. I was in my mother's car, an old green dirty car. My sister was there, too. She was humming; she was about 15, she had just gotten married because she was pregnant. We were on a supermarket parking lot, and I was looking at the wealthy people through the window; I told myself, "I am going to be a star and I'll buy all these things for us".

I was the world's worst waitress.

[on not wanting to have kids] I would feel violated . . . I know that's a kind of weird thing to say, but that's how I am . . . It's hard to have kids in this world. I don't think I could properly educate a child right now. Maybe in the future, but I actually haven't thought about it. For now I enjoy my dog Jack's company. It's definitely because of childhood traumatic stuff. The whole not wanting to have a baby as a baby.

George Michael, you were such an inspiration. I'm honored to have not only been your fan, but a friend as well. Rest in peace.

It's true. The two lowest octaves are probably there because of the smoking. But of course it's not good to smoke. I always had a cold and constant throatache. One day I promised God that if he would give me my voice back I would never smoke again. I got three octaves back after quitting.

If you believe in yourself enough and know what you want, you're gonna make it happen.

[TRL appearance, 2001] I just want one day off when I can go swimming and eat ice cream and look at rainbows.

I know I can be diva-ish sometimes, but I have to be in control. The nature of my life, the nature of what I do, is divadom, it really is.

Whatever you're going through in your life, don't ever give up.

[L.A. Times, November 1993] It's not easy that everything you do, everybody has to come in and critique it and give their opinion. Sometimes it does help me and sometimes it hurts me as a person. That's life. I have feelings.

[on Jennifer Lopez] I don't know her.