I grew up in a very nice house in Houston, went to private school all my life and I've never even been to the 'hood. Not that there's anything wrong with the 'hood.

We have to teach our boys the rules of equality and respect, so that as they grow up gender equality becomes a natural way of life. And we have to teach our girls that they can reach as high as humanly possible.

I think music is something that can, and should, be used to get you into different things because eventually what goes up must come down -- we're not going to be the Number One group in the world forever -- so you have to have something else to fall back on.

Power means happiness; power means hard work and sacrifice.

As a child I trained myself to dance in very high heels. At 13, in Destiny's Child, we were told to wear heels, but at first we couldn't walk in them. We couldn't keep our knees straight, but we learned.

I have nine Grammy Awards. I wouldn't have that if I couldn't sing.

You know, equality is a myth, and for some reason, everyone accepts the fact that women don't make as much money as men do. I don't understand that. Why do we have to take a backseat?