To this day, some of my closest friends say, 'Gaga, you know, everything's great. You're a singer; your dreams have come true.' But, still, when certain things are said to you over and over again as you're growing up, it stays with you and you wonder if they're true.

I work very hard, but when God opens that door for you - when life opens that door for you, I should say - I think it's important to be giving, to return the love back.

I am the excuse to explore your identity. To be exactly who you are and to feel unafraid. To not judge yourself, to not hate yourself.

If you're laying in bed next to someone that really doesn't make you feel like the goddess that you are, you need to rediscover what it is that you truly want and need.

You have to fail and then get better. Then you have to fail again, and then get even better.

I consider myself to have one of the greatest voices in the industry.

I wanted to be a skinny little ballerina but I was a voluptuous little Italian girl whose dad had meatballs on the table every night.