After about three lessons [my] voice teacher said, "Don't take voice lessons. Do it your way. You're a song stylist. Always do it your way."

A rose looks grey at midnight, but the flame is just asleep. And steel is strong because it knows the hammer and white heat.

Success is having to worry about every damn thing in the world, except money.

Beneath the stains of time the feeling disappears, you are someone else I am still right here.

I was wearing black clothes almost from the beginning. I feel comfortable in black. I felt like black looked good onstage, that it was attractive, so I started wearing it all the time.

[My mother] made the money to send me.

There's a man going 'round taking names / And he decides who to free and who to blame / Everybody won't be treated all the same / There'll be a golden ladder reaching down / When the Man comes around.