Aretha Franklin Quotes

"We all require and want respect, man or woman, black or white. It's our basic human right."

"Every birthday is a gift. Every day is a gift."

"Sometimes, what you're looking for is already there."

"Be your own artist, and always be confident in what you're doing. If you're not going to be confident, you might as well not be doing it."

"You cannot define a person on just one thing. You can't just forget all these wonderful and good things that a person has done because one thing didn't come off the way you thought it should come off."

"I'm not ever going to retire. That's - that wouldn't be good, for one, just to go somewhere and sit down and do nothing. Please. No, that's not moi."

"I think it would be a far greater world if people were kinder and more respectful to each other."

"People really don't have to give you anything, so appreciate what people give you."

"Music does a lot of things for a lot of people. It's transporting, for sure. It can take you right back, years back, to the very moment certain things happened in your life. It's uplifting, it's encouraging, it's strengthening."

"Being the Queen is not all about singing, and being a diva is not all about singing. It has much to do with your service to people. And your social contributions to your community and your civic contributions as well."

"When God loves you, what can be better than that?"

"Beyonce is very outspoken on feminist issues. So I think that's good. That could be brought to the forefront more."

"Being a singer is a natural gift. It means I'm using to the highest degree possible the gift that God gave me to use. I'm happy with that."

"I was in my dad's church, his Baptist church, and I think the first song I ever performed was 'Jesus Be a Fence Around Me.'"

"There's a lot of great singers out here."

"It really is an honor if I can be inspirational to a younger singer or person. It means I've done my job."

"I used to have hamburgers coming and going, especially when I was on the road. Now, occasionally I will still have that quarter pounder because I love fast food, but you have to keep it to a minimum. I am now opting for salads and just healthier lunches."

"Women absolutely deserve respect."

"I love 'Anne of Green Gables.' I have for years. That's one of my favourite things. She's such a can-do kind of girl; that's why I'm crazy about her."

"I think women and children and older people are the three least-respected groups in our society."

"People are not as nice as they used to be. There used to be a time when we conversed. You don't get a lot of real responses now. They used to be more polite and well-mannered people, generally. It's minimal now."

"And I was booked once to go on 'Ed Sullivan' and I got bumped and ran out the back door crying."

"I wanted to design a line based on Hollywood's Golden Era. I talked with Stephen Burrows and with Willi Smith and with one or two other people, but it just seems like such a hard field to break into. I need someone like Calvin Klein's manager to get behind me!"

"'Rocking With Leroy' used to come on when I would come in from school. It was a very, very big R&B broadcast of the day when I was a young girl. And I would come in and put my books down, lie down on the floor, and listen to 'Rocking With Leroy.'"

"Music changes, and I'm gonna change right along with it."

"We've come a long way, but there is still a lot of discrimination."

"My faith always has been and always will be important to me."

"I know people I feel are extremely talented, but I don't know that I've ever heard any geniuses."

"I love Wal-Mart, and not just because my record is there. You can get some things there that you cannot find at Saks or Bergdorf's or other upscale stores."

"The term 'Sock it to me!' was a big, big thing in our neighborhood - all the kids were saying it."