As far as men go, they never gave me a chance to be me; they were always scared that somebody was going to take me.

Music makes us want to live. You don't know how many times people have told me that they'd been down and depressed and just wanted to die. But then a special song caught their ear and that helped give them renewed strength. That's the power music has.

This music business can suck all the love out of you, all the compassion for people - you can start to think you're better than them. But I want to continue to let people know that I'm no better and no worse, I'm just like you.

You can't get around pain and opposition, but you can try to be joyful in the trial, and thank yourself for the trial, and thank God for the strength to get through it.

I believe there are certain things that God uses to get us out of a bad situation, and I believe music was one of the things he used for me.

The important thing is to realize that no matter what people's opinions may be, they're only just that - people's opinions. You have to believe in your heart what you know to be true about yourself. And let that be that.

God comes first - if I don't love him, I can't love anybody, and if I can't love me I can't love nobody.