Women Singers From The United States

"They didn't understand it and I tried to make them see That one is only poor only if they choose to be Now I know we had no money but I was rich as I could be In my coat of many colors that Momma made for me Made just for me..."

"I don't feel special … I was just full of energy and loved to learn."

"She's very talented in everything she's ever done … [her brother Ian is also] a very talented boy, and I was advanced. But no one has seen anything like Alicia."

"She did have an extraordinary childhood. At the age of 1 month, she says, she was talking. At 6 months, she was reading. At the age of 4, she performed a scene from Romeo and Juliet on the Today show and wrote short stories based on the Peanuts characters. "In my fantasy I was always the savior. I would come to 'Peanuts' land and save everybody. Charlie Brown would fall madly in love with me. Peppermint Patty was so jealous.""

"Alicia was angelic … yet she could play Beethoven ferociously or Bartok at a raging tempo."

"I sometimes get a funny feeling, that Alicia Witt has to shut down half her cerebellum to have a conversation with me."

"It was her mother who launched Witt on her unusual trajectory from whiz kid to starlet. Back in 1977, Diane Witt — who, to give her her due as an amazing person, currently has the world's longest hair (documented as 12'8" in the 1994 Guinness Book of Records) — dropped a line to Good Housekeeping. She enjoyed the magazine, she wrote, and noted that her 2-year-old did, too. Housekeeping staff promptly visited and photographed "our youngest reader." Thanks to this bit of exposure, Witt was invited to appear on ABC's That's Incredible, where she played a scene as Shakespeare's Juliet. Working with the cameras set off lightbulbs in Alicia's head. "I loved it," she says. "It was like life, only 10 times more intense." At 7, brought to the attention of director David Lynch, she made her film debut in the sci-fi epic Dune as space princess Alia. She learned her lines in one reading. "It's easy," Witt says. "You memorize the thought process instead of the words." Of course. Dune opened and closed, and Witt stayed in Worcester, racing through her piano studies. She even created her own variations, in the style of Debussy, Chopin and other masters, on Over the Rainbow."

"Arguably the smartest person ever to perform in the genre that gave us Green Acres. Exposed to Shakespeare as an infant — her mother, Diane, a former junior high reading teacher, would read aloud from his plays — Witt was able to recite from Romeo and Juliet and the sonnets at 2. By then, on some cognitive tests she was scoring at the level of a high school senior."

"Look at the girl I did Urban Legends with, my last big hit, in '98. One of the girls in that, Alicia Witt — who was on the TV series, Cybill — she without a doubt did the best work on television last year when she guest-starred on the most difficult show to guest star on, which was The Sopranos. She played a non-Italian mafia type on The Sopranos — she was the best thing in the hour. To me, this girl is outstanding. This girl has movie star potential. Now, she was in Cecil B. Demented. I'm just amazed she's not a much bigger star already — not out of any disappointment in Alicia. But I just can't believe the town hasn't just sort of like scooped her up and made her as much of an "It Girl" as, for instance, Goldie Hawn's daughter or Gwyneth Paltrow, because I think this girl is really — and she's also genuinely funny in a wonderful, sexy, screwball comedy way."

"no grand intention no pain to mention just too many days that fade to blue and look how it came out perfect for better would have been for worse if I’d have been the one to settle down that walk with you"

"isn’t it nice to know that you’re not my consolation prize doesn’t it feel like freedom breathin in and out now isn’t it good to see all the love in someone else’s eyes doesn’t it all make sense that you’re better off without me"

"and tho you lost your way it’s not too late god knows you damn well tried and all the stones you tossed they’re ripples now waves you left behind they’re leading you back you can go home again"

"and for the falling stars the broken hearts mansions in your mind and all the roads that were lost the signs you missed turns that passed you by maybe it’s not too late to find your way it’s not your place to say what if you can you can go home again"

"I’m done with wrapping boxes buying things that no one wanted trying on my own to save the day while dad plays cards and bro reads verses mom’s in tears between the curses I need a fucking holiday I’m not ready for Christmas."

"It just occurs to me the Grinch was not so mean he had a point or two I think he’d have liked me."

"I’m not ready for Christmas don’t need a gift list don’t give a shit how many shopping days are left this holiday season give me one reason i should believe it’s ever gonna change and why should i be merry when every January i come back so very broken hearted I’m not ready for Christmas I think i’ll skip this one and Santa I will see you next year."

"looks like it’s time to walk away looks like my moment here is done your heart is broken in too many pieces and I’m not fighting for crumbs"

"damn my intuition here it goes wish i didn’t know the things I know you're backing off from me i saw it happening the moment she came back to you"

"hold your head up high to face the past stare it in the teeth question everything you never ask the earth shall drink the meek is there lighting in your veins is there something that remains nothings ever gonna change so take yourself out in the rain life is leadin while you wait waitin for your judgement day"

"You'll say I'm self-destructive — I constructed all this tragedy. Go tell them all it's all my fault You'll tell them I was crazy. And anyway it's over now Nothing left to say."

"My so-called faith went up in flames Till I believed in all your lies, For the life of me I don't know why. They got you wrong, You're not that strong. I don't belong here!"

"I'm bruised again, I wear it well, The self-inflicted tale they tell. I singed my hair, I broke my nails. You'd love me then, If all else failed. The night was long and dark and just Another dagger to my trust. I thrust it in until I bleed I wiped my point for you to see. And anyway, It's over now. Nothing left to say. I don't know why, I don't care how, It's over anyway. It's broken in pieces. You've got the space you needed. Too late to try, Just say good-bye It's over anyway."

"so the moral of this week is: if u do something really, really stupid in front of someone ur just getting to know & they still think youre awesome, then you got yourself a friend."

"i am always doing things i can't do. that's how i get to do them."

"I like to play any character that allows me the freedom to explore it and teach the audience something they didn't know, and show them a journey they identify with … or be inspired, or moved. Anything that touches someone's heart is important for me."

"I don't know that I'm actually bipolar, but I definitely have huge mood swings, and I'm definitely passionate about the way I feel. I'm not really lukewarm one way or the other."

"I don't consider myself to be a quote-unquote "good girl". I'm not prim and proper and polite. I'm very honest, and I love talking about sex, or people's deviances. I love psychology. I like listening to or talking about any personality traits that are unusual. That's what I like about acting."

"All we can do is live every single day and do our best to be present with the ones that we love and with everybody that we come in contact with … The timing of everything seems too divine sometimes to ignore."

"I like digging into these characters that are a lot more complex, and there's a lot that isn't apparent on the surface … In a weird way, you can access all that fear and pain. … Nothing makes me happier than when somebody figures out I was in something, and then they'd seen me in something else, and had no idea it was the same person… Then I feel like I've done my job. … I've always loved finding characters that are not always the most likable ones when you first meet them, and finding a way to make them people that viewers will identify with, even against their better judgment."

"Everything was okay, as long as I could dream. Its amazing, really, the difference between having a dream and not having any left that can come true. It's the difference between living and dying."

"When I was a kid, my dream was to be a farmer and marry Charlie Brown. I wanted to rescue him and make him happy. Besides, he was always lusting after "the little redhead girl"."

"I'm so much happier now that people seem to find better things to ask me about than all my "accomplishments" from when I was a little girl. I feel like that was so long ago, and so irrelevant to who I am now, that I am glad the focus isn't really on that as much any more."

"I just tend to admire people who go for what they believe in, like David Lynch for example, and just say what goes through their heads, and are not afraid of people not accepting them. I have no respect for people who deliberately try to be weird to attract attention, but if that's who you honestly are, you shouldn't try to "normalize yourself". It's a fine line."

"Whatever you've accomplished there's always more to experience."

"I've always wanted to do my own thing, and my parents allowed me to do what I needed."

"My entire film career's been dependent on my ability to look unattractive."

"I’m always hyper-aware of how not to be a you-know-what. So to actually let it go and to lean into all the ridiculous fame nonsense that I’ve been trying to side-step for all of these years just felt really, really fun. It just felt great and to play someone who had such an enormous ego and someone who takes herself so seriously, and is so insufferable, came very naturally to me."

"I did work at Christie’s for a couple of weeks, getting ready for The Devil Wears Prada, getting people coffee and doing whatever they needed around the office. It was amazing. I got to see some wonderful art and everybody was really nice. It was great."

"It's easier to think about the way I'm least daring. When I meet people for the first time, I'm friendly but shy. I'm much less outwardly nervous than I used to be, but I still get anxious sometimes. I'm not very daring in my street style, usually because there's a photographer around! I am getting more daring now—I'll wear my mom jeans in public that haven't been tailored 'just so' yet, just because they feel good. For a long time I was afraid of the harsh things people would say about me, but I might as well be happy."

"When I was younger I thought about becoming a nun for a while. You know how it is when you're growing up and you're going to be a lot of different things, but I actually wanted to be an actress before I wanted to be a nun. The nun was more of a side-bar thing."

"I have a lot more respect for it as a business. I understand fashion a lot more. Style, for me, is something I still can't get right."

"Before I met him, I wasted so much time. I was just annoying and narcissistic and smelled bad. He’s protective without being possessive, passionate without needing to show his temper."

"We've all done things we shouldn't, it's just I did stuff at college, when nobody knew about it, so I'm not a saint. … I wasted time doing self-destructive things but it didn't work. I found out you can only dance on so many tabletops. I got that all out of my system and now I'm healthy and I'm grounded."

"Taking a year off and going to school was the best thing I could have done after The Princess Diaries. It taught me that I don't need Hollywood or a job to make me happy."

"I was hanging out the other night with a bunch of friends I've known forever. They were saying, "Look at you. You've grown into a swan." I looked at them and said, "My awkward phase lasted about three years longer than all of yours combined." I related to the physical and emotional awkwardness Mia goes through. She has incredibly low self-esteem. A lot of my life was spent having the same thing, but I'm getting over that now."

"Eat it, lick it, snort it, fuck it!"

"I don't think you can ever count somebody like her out. Because she may appear one way, but she's very clever."

"In the summer of 2021, the world was shocked to learn that Britney Spears had been forcibly inserted with a contraceptive IUD as part of her legal conservatorship, and that her father had control not only of her finances, but her performance schedule, access to her children, and ability to visit with her boyfriend. These are just some of the rights that are routinely stripped from people with mental illnesses and disabilities, and for those who lack the public visibility and privilege of someone like Spears, there is almost no recourse."

"Britney’s been doing it since she was like 13. It's kind of fair that she had a little bit of a meltdown. I mean, she's been through a lot. I think she's gonna be alright now. She's an intelligent girl."

"Watching Britney Spears the other night [on the MTV Video Music Awards] was like watching a public execution. How could the people at MTV, the people around her, not know this girl was fucked up? People came in expecting a train wreck, and they got more than they bargained for."