We give scholarships to high school kids and a new library of books to every preschool child in the county where I was born. I didn't have books at home so I did all my reading at school. I love books and I believe that helping kids to read gives them a great start in life.

Everywhere I go, the kids call me 'the book lady.' The older I get, the more appreciative I seem to be of the 'book lady' title. It makes me feel more like a legitimate person, not just a singer or an entertainer. But it makes me feel like I've done something good with my life and with my success.

My nails are my rhythm section when I'm writing a song all alone. Some day, I may cut an album, just me and my nails.

If I could get their attention long enough, I felt they would see beneath the boobs and find the heart, and that they would see beneath the wig and find the brains. I think one big part of whatever appeal I possess is the fact that I look totally one way and that I am totally another. I look artificial, but I'm not.

Unless you have spent your life doing something, you are not likely to be successful, so always partner with people who are smarter than you.

I have a strict policy that nobody cries alone in my presence.

I thank God for my failures. Maybe not at the time but after some reflection. I never feel like a failure just because something I tried has failed.