"After a ten minute prayer, the gist of which was, "Oh Lord, just sing through Mark tonight and keep him out of the picture altogether," I considered the prospect of lining up a great number of such concerts, then staying at home and sending a cardboard likeness of myself for God to sing through."

"That's what music is about, and those are the types of experiences I value most in looking for the visceral and unidentifiable thing it is that makes music music, and not something else."

"Birds seen flying around, you never see them too long on the ground, You want to be one of them..."

"I hope they understand that I really understand That they don't understand"

"I know what it feels like to have a broken nose. And ain't nobody hit you in it. It's really cause that shit that you snorted and put all in it. That time you thought I was finished no I just experimented and it helped me adjust and be ok, with being demented"

"Can't we just all get a bong and tag along."

"Why pray to a god who would rather speak through say, a stone? Too bad that God made so many people who are interested in music and so few stones who are."

"You can’t, can’t be, where I,I be Follow me and you’ll see and you’ll see."

"I much prefer making music to talking about it. There's something visceral about instruments and voices that transcends words."

"No I'm not no loser, I'll see you in Hell."

"This is my story, this is my song If you feel it, muthafucka, you can't go wrong to the screw-face niggaz, whatch you on? Get off that, get a goal and focus dawg"

"For even in hell, I still have faith to one day be free with my father at the gates but make no mistakes, I'll show you what time takes to be a success on earth, mixed with all the hate"

"And if I die before I wake, I pray the lord my soul to take but please don't cry, just know that I have made these songs for you, and if I die before I wake I pray the lord my soul to take cause I'm ready for a funeral"

"I've got some issues that nobody can see and all of these emotions are pouring out of me I bring them to the light for you it's only right"

"I never gave a fuck, I never gave a fuck what niggas thought about me. I mean, I did, but like fuck it. You know what I'm sayin'?"

"I know it's easy to imagine but its easier to just "do" If you can't "do" what you imagine then what is imagination to you?"

"if I fall if I die know I lived it to the fullest, if I fall if I die know I lived and missed some bullets"

"Cause day and night, the lonely stoner seems to free his mind at night, he's all alone through the day and night, the lonely loner seems to free his mind at night"

"Salutations my niggas, I'm aware that I'm different, you can still keep it hood while you're smoking just listen, it don't matter your race just take a blunt to the face"

"Blood sweat and tears homie I'm made of it"

"you don't really care about the trials of tomorrow, rather lay awake in a bed full of sorrow"

"Life is much more of a compromise than I ever imagined."

"So I'm not worried about the emotions I carry with me, because I'm happy that I have them I think it's good for the work I do. The emotions that are not healthy are the ones you hold inside, like anger."

"Diana Ross is a big inspiration to all of us. We all grew up watching everything about her - her mike placement, her grace, her style and her class."

"You can't just sit there and wait for people to give you that golden dream, you've got to get out there and make it happen yourself."

"A reporter once asked me if I ever cried. I wonder if people think I'm just as hard as a rock and have no emotions at all."

"You know, you do need mentors; but in the end, you really just need to believe in yourself."

"“I really, deeply believe that dreams do come true. Often, they might not come when you want them. They come in their own time.”"

"“My travels led me to where I am today. Sometimes these steps have felt painful, difficult, but led me to greater happiness and opportunities.”"

""You need to find the power within to make things happen for yourself. When you realize this, you are unstoppable.”"

"It was heartbreaking because I found out he played for your team, not mine."

"I think that whatever size or shape body you have, it's important to embrace it and get down! The female body is something that's so beautiful. I wish women would be proud of their bodies and not dis other women for being proud of theirs!"

"To be given the opportunity to help shape new artists' careers and mentor them to see their dreams come to fruition is a task I welcome with open arms."

"I think an artist can fit under a few different categories depending on how much you explore your creativity. It can vary from artist to artist from musician to performer to vocalist. I thrive on creativity. So in the long run I want to be an all around entertainer."

"Even when I was little, I knew I was meant to perform. I would watch specials on TV or videos of Janet or Whitney, and I would start crying because I was like 'I want that so bad'."

"We are coming slowly but surely around a corner, not taking the things that we used to."

"I was born in Staten Island, New York. But I call my hometown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, because that's basically where I ended up from age eight on. But right after Staten Island... I've lived everywhere from Texas, to Japan for three years, to New Jersey. I'm this traveling girl. My father was in the Army, so I guess I'm an Army brat."

"We are young, heartache to heartache we stand No promises, no demands Love is a battlefield. We are strong, no one can tell us were wrong Searchin our hearts for so long, both of us knowing Love is a battlefield."

"Don't count on me I engineer on every Move we make from here I'll take the lead You take the pain You see, I engineered This game."

"There's a long goodbye, and it happens every day, when a passerby invites your eye to come away. Even as you smile a quick hello you let her go, you let the moment fly... Too late you turn your head, you know you've said the Long Goodbye."

"The days of wine and roses laugh and run away like a child at play Through the meadow land toward a closing door A door marked "nevermore" that wasn't there before"

"Shine little glow-worm, glimmer, glimmer. Shine little glow-worm, glimmer, glimmer. Lead us lest too far we wander. Love's sweet voice is calling yonder."

"Cigarette holder, which wigs me, over her shoulder she digs me: Out cattin' that Satin Doll."

"From Natchez to Mobile, from Memphis to St. Joe, wherever the four winds blow I been in some big towns an' heard me some big talk, but there is one thing I know A woman's a two-face, a worrisome thing who'll leave ya to sing the blues in the night."

"I remember too, a distant bell... and stars that fell... like the rain out of the blue."

"I know all the songs that the cowboys know 'bout the big corral where the doggies go, 'Cause I learned them all on the radio. Yippie yi yo kayah"

"When my life is through And the angels ask me to recall The thrill of them all Then I shall tell them I remember you"

"[My] publicity agent … went to hear Father Divine and he had a sermon and his subject was 'you got to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative.' And I said 'Wow, that's a colorful phrase!'"