Love is wonderful, amazing, and the best thing that can happen to us.

There's not enough time to be disrespecting... Life is too short.

In the studio you can really concentrate on performing the song where as on stage you also have to worry about connecting with so many people, they're definitely different.

...I would be a liar and my fans would hate me if I said to them, 'Oh, we're perfect and everything is great.' We have situations just like everyone else. We're not out in public trying to kill each other, but it's real. We love each other.

From being a little girl in the projects, going through all of the mess that I was going through, to ending up at the Inauguration for the first African-American president, I'm speechless right now because I never thought I'd - I never ever - I couldn't even see that far. Even when I ended up in the music business I couldn't see that.

You can look at my palm and see the storm coming. Read the book of my life and see I've overcome it.

It hurts when you have to smile and you don't want to smile, but the best thing to do is to smile.