Madonna (entertainer)

"Yuki Matsumoto: "Madonna inspires creativity and expressions beyond gender, religion, race, nationality, culture and all borders. "Madonna’s philosophy and originality always invigorates the world audience every time she produces a new album. Conventions and trends are challenged and redefined for the new values. "Madonna is in sync with nature and balances her lifestyle to achieve her best physical and mental conditions. Her ever innovative spirits are in tune with her respect of nature. Despite her celebrity and never ending professional activities, Madonna always says FAMILY FIRST. Love and respect for all those who are dear to her are the most important values in life.""

"Church of England:"

"Nicolas Sarkozy: "The French like burgers, Madonna and Miami Vice." ."

"Al Gore: "I appreciate and respect her as an artist and as a person." ."

"Alex Rodriguez"

"Tracy Anderson:"

"Sofia Boutella: "Amazing. It was really hard work, but it has helped me to know myself a little bit more, I really like Madonna because she is a tireless worker.""

"Sandra Bernhard: "...I run into [Madonna] all the time, so it's not like there's any irresolvable strangeness. I like to think of the time when we were hanging out as the end of an era. We played out our friendship in the public forum, but it wasn't drunken or irresponsible airheads hanging out - she's a smart lady and I'm obviously my own brand of intellectual." ."

"Paulo Coelho: "Today is late Sunday and I just returned from the show of Madonna. And what did I see? A young 50 year-old dancing like a child, a queen, a teenager. It got me thinking about the fact that I believe we are aging differently from the previous generations. I remember for instance my parents at the age of 50 and they were already old, and more importantly they considered themselves as already old.""

"Steven Klein: "[Madonna] is very clear, surprisingly focused in conceiving innovative pictures. When you think about it you never see her back, you rarely see anyone's back in a photograph and it's fascinating to show its muscular structure". ."

"Lee Friedlander: "[She] seemed very confident, a street-wise girl. She told me she was putting a band together but half the kids that age are doing that. She was a good professional model.""

"Jenny Shimizu:"

"Ricki Lake: "I love that Madonna adopted this baby and has brought so much attention to Malawi. She's my hero." ."

"Emanuela Rossi: "I'm a big fan of Madonna, I love her music a lot. I like her persona, her ways to reinvent herself, not being the same all the time. I think it's vital and creative for an artist to look for new ways, new looks, different ways to sing but at the same time keeping those qualities that make you unique. Madonna is also a controversial artist that tends to amaze people in every possible way and the same time I think she's a very authentic person. She looks very visceral to me, also in her quests. She has become quite sophisticated over the years but she stays true to herself and still capable to push people's buttons. I think that's the key of her success.""

"Will Smith: "Madonna is in really good shape. I actually get a sexy chill every time I think about Madonna.""

"Al Pacino: "She was doing a dance and she was naked under her coat. Over the course of the dance, she became inspired and opened her coat, and there she was. She has an extraordinarily beautiful body, like cut out of ivory. One day, when I'm old and I'm wheeled out on my porch wrapped in a blanket, if I have a beatific smile on my face, I'll probably be thinking of that." [http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=7&entry_id=8532"

"Helen Mirren: "The thing that was imposed on me from the outside was crude and vulgar and distressful to me, and disturbing - that big tits, blonde hair, Diana Dors, blowsy kind of thing. (But) I think Madonna got it right. Madonna claimed it for herself, and I've always admired her for that. I loved that 'Sex' book she did. I thought it was fantastic, because it was a big two fingers up, 'This is my sexuality, it's not what you put on me, it's mine'.""

"Ricky Gervais: "The Mercer. It's just nice. Really cool. I turned up there last time, and there were about 20 paparazzi going, 'Ricky,' 'Ricky,' 'Ricky.' And I said, 'What are you doin' here?' 'We're here to see you.' I said, 'What [are] you really here for?' And they went, 'Madonna.' They were nice, but I knew the truth. Why would they be there for me?" ."

"Charlotte Gainsbourg: "Madonna was incredibly quick and professional. I was unable to say anything else than 'Hello','I’ll listen to it' and 'Good-bye' [when she asked to use a few lines from "The Cement Garden" for her song, "What it Feels Like for a Girl"]. That was incredibly stupid of me. Madonna was the idol of my youth and I grew up listening to her music.""

"Richard E. Grant:"

"Sarah Jessica Parker:"

"Ellen Pompeo:"

"Debi Mazar:"

"Alicia Silverstone: "I'd die if I was Madonna. I'd die. God, what a horrible way to live. And Michael Jackson! To be so famous and to feel so isolated. I feel so bad for them. I don't know how it feels, and I hope it never happens to me." ."

"Quentin Tarantino:"

"Rachel Weisz: "I think Madonna’s amazing. She constantly reinvents herself and I just went to see her art show in New York the other day and that was great.""

"Tom Cruise: "I've known Madonna for years. I really admire her." ."

"Michael C. Hall: "I caught Madonna live in Miami last year. It was a kick ass show; truly amazing. Her stage presence left me speechless, I just loved it." ."

"Nathan Rissman: It was amazing working with Madonna. She does everything 100 per cent, and so to be involved in what she was doing, for her to let me go forward and make this project was amazing. She's been involved creatively on every aspect. She knows pictures, she knows sound, she's really, really good. The most memorable thing about working with Madonna is seeing her in the village - seeing her really letting go of that celebrity status, really spending time with people, getting her feet dirty, and dancing, singing and crying with people. It was amazing to see her take on that new character. Madonna really wanted to bring some awareness to Malawi, and she really believed in me."

"Malin Akerman: "I got ice cream cones and put them on my boobs. I wanted to be just like her.""

"Emmanuelle Seigner: "I like her boss and ultra-feminist side. I hate the concept of "femme-objet", and the idea that women are still maltreated in certain parts of the world irritates me.""

"Toby Kebbell: "She's gorgeous. A lovely, stunning woman.""

"Michael Moore:"

"Andrea Riseborough:"

"Christoph Waltz: "It was fantastic (partying with Madonna). Everyone was there. I fought my way through because I mean, this is the hostess, the least I can do is thank her for the invitation. It was difficult, it took me about an hour and a half... In the end, I got there, and apparently I was standing right in front of her. You know, I looked for Madonna and there was this chick dancing, 'Where's Madonna?' (pointing at the girl). That was her, she was dancing like... I thought she was, you know, 23-24.""

"David Fincher: "Madonna is my Vatican. She’s my Sistine Chapel.""

"What else is there for me to conquer? Hopefully my ego. How will I know when I've succeeded? When I stop caring what anyone thinks."

"I've always been kind of obsessed with Frida Kahlo, so I was really into the idea of getting something that belonged to her. And then from Frida Kahlo I found out about Tina Modotti and then I started collecting her stuff and Edward Weston, and one person always leads to another person with me, because for me it started with Diego Rivera, then it went to Frida Kahlo, then it went to Tina, and Edward and... Also, if you're into Picasso, and you want to find out about him and that whole area of art and European culture, then you start reading about Man Ray and the surrealists and Andre Breton, and all of a sudden you're in that whole world and you start having interests in other people. It's like a disease."

"I am because we are. We all bleed the same color. We all want to love and be loved."

""When I got my first paycheck, $5'000 or something. I bought a Leger and I bought a Frida Kahlo self-portrait, but I don't know which came first. But I remember buying it and I had just gotten married and it looked completely out of place in my house in Malibu." (When asked what was the first painting she bought)."

"I am my own experiment. I am my own work of art."

"That consciousness is everything and that all things begin with a thought. That we are responsible for our own fate, we reap what we sow, we get what we give, we pull in what we put out. I know these things for sure."

"I've always known that Catholicism is a completely sexist, repressed, sin- and punishment-based religion."

"David Bowie has a huge influence on me because his was his first concert I went to see. I remember watching him and thinking I didn't know what sex he was, and it didn't matter. Because one minute he was wearing body stockings - the whole Ziggy Stardust thing - and the next minute he was the Thin White Duke in white double-breasted suits, and there's something so androgynous about him. And I think androgyny, whether it's David Bowie or Helmut Berger, that has really really influenced my work more than anything."

"Hollywood is about playing the game, and I can't think of any successful actresses who didn't play the game. there's a lot more renegades in the music business, from Patti Smith to Janis Joplin."

"Listen, everyone is entitled to my opinion."

"I am attracted to a thug. I like that quality, but I like the other side of it, too. Because all guys who go around behaving in macho ways are really scared little girls. So you have to look beneath the surface. There's a difference between my ideal man and a man that I'm sexually attracted to, believe me. Therein lies the rub."

"For me, a male image that I'm really moved by is somewhere between of Oscar Wilde type of a male: the fop, the long hair, the suits, too witty for his own good, incredibly smart, scathingly funny - all that. But then my other ideal is more like the Buddhist monk - the shaved head, actually someone who sublimates their sexuality."

"I'm not a feminist, I'm a humanist."

"Phallic symbols. You know Catholics. I used to draw people naked all the time in my art class and my nun teachers used to tell me I had to put clothes on them. So I just drew lines around their bodies. See-through clothes."