Annie Lennox Quotations

Women's issues have always been a part of my life. My goal is to bring the word 'feminism' back into the zeitgeist and reframe it.

The future hasn't happened yet and the past is gone. So I think the only moment we have is right here and now, and I try to make the best of those moments, the moments that I'm in.

I have different hats; I'm a mother, I'm a woman, I'm a human being, I'm an artist and hopefully I'm an advocate. All of those plates are things I spin all the time.

Humankind seems to have an enormous capacity for savagery, for brutality, for lack of empathy, for lack of compassion.

Most women are dissatisfied with their appearance - it's the stuff that fuels the beauty and fashion industries.

Dying is easy, it's living that scares me to death.

I think music is the most phenomenal platform for intellectual thought.

We all fight over what the label 'feminism' means but for me it's about empowerment. It's not about being more powerful than men - it's about having equal rights with protection, support, justice. It's about very basic things. It's not a badge like a fashion item.

Please don't ask me for the actual answer to anything, because I don't have it. Because all I do is look at stuff and ask questions. What can I say? I just think the world's barking mad. Look, I'm not an expert. I'm just an ordinary person.

I can't understand why the front pages of newspapers can cover bird flu and swine flu and everybody is up in arms about that and we still haven't really woken up to the fact that so many women in sub-Saharan Africa - 60 percent of people in - infected with HIV are women.

Our ancestors are totally essential to our every waking moment, although most of us don't even have the faintest idea about their lives, their trials, their hardships or challenges.

Fame for fame's sake is toxic - some people want that, with no boundaries. It's unhealthy.

Having children, they're not your property. They need to figure out their own views. I think my daughters have a pretty healthy self-awareness, but I can't speak on their behalf.

When you go to Africa, and you see children, they're usually barefoot, dirty and in rags, and they'd love to go to school.

There are two kinds of artists left: those who endorse Pepsi and those who simply won't.

Nelson Mandela is awe inspiring - a person who really sacrificed for what he believed in. I feel truly humbled by him.

It's not fair to compare one artist to another because they all come with their own sort of elements to the picnic, you know.

Life expectancy in many parts of Africa can be something around the age of thirty five to thirty eight. I mean you're very fortunate if you live to that age. In fact when I went to Uganda for the first time one of the things that occurred to me was that I saw very few elderly people.

I have a reputation for being cold and aloof, but I'm so not that woman. I'm passionate. I love my girls, being with my girlfriends, getting involved with issues that affect other women and children who are suffering.

I was perceiving myself as good as a man or equal to a man and as powerful and I wanted to look ambiguous because I thought that was a very interesting statement to make through the media. And it certainly did cause quite a few ripples and interest and shock waves.

You just decide what your values are in life and what you are going to do, and then you feel like you count, and that makes life worth living. It makes my life meaningful.

I'm not really keen on comebacks. Eurythmics was an incredible thing. When I look back on that work, I feel very satisfied with it.

For me, pointing and clicking my phone is absolutely fine. People say that isn't the art of photography but I don't agree.

The word feminism needs to be taken back. It needs to be reclaimed in a way that is inclusive of men.

The general population still thinks HIV is something that came in the 80s and went away, or that it only affects the gay population or intravenous drug users.

You know, I would say that songwriting is something about the expression of the heart, the intellect and the soul.

I've never been a social person. When I grew up, the other girls would all be combing their hair and exchanging lipstick, and I just couldn't do that group thing.

Whatever you do, you do out of a passion

Ask yourself: Have you been kind today? Make kindness your daily modus operandi and change your world.

Charity is a fine thing if it's meeting a gap where needs must be met and there are no other resources. But in the long term we need to support people into helping themselves.

Fear paralyses you - fear of flying, fear of the future, fear of leaving a rubbish marriage, fear of public speaking, or whatever it is.

I think my daughters have a pretty healthy self-awareness but I can't speak on their behalf.

I don't think feminism is about the exclusion of men but their inclusion... we must face and address those issues, especially to include younger men and boys.

I have always felt a little homeless. It's a strange thing.

Why are we not valuing the word 'feminism' when there is so much work to be done in terms of empowerment and emancipation of women everywhere?

I love to be individual, to step beyond gender.

If we value what we've inherited for free - from other women - surely it's right morally and ethically for us to wake up and say, 'I'm a feminist. '

The world is a heartbreaking place, without any question.

I will go out of my way to avoid the shopping crowds and the extreme consumerism - I hate all that.

I think Scotland could take a stand in a wonderful way, ecologically and morally and ethically.

I'm not a saint. I'm not an angel. I'm a human being.

Motherhood was the great equaliser for me; I started to identify with everybody.

I enjoy multi-tasking, so I want to do a lot of different things. I want to keep all the plates spinning.

I used to be obsessed about how I presented myself. I didn't want other people dressing me because I didn't want to be treated like a clothes horse.

I have a calling in my soul, if you like, to try to make my life in some way worthwhile. What is the value of my existence?

The inner world is very potent for me - I don't ascribe to any God or Jesus or Buddha - I just have a sense of it and revere it along with the natural world and human consciousness.

As a creative person, you just put something out into the consciousness of the society you live in.

I am fascinated by history and particularly the Victorian era.

I'm a female but I have a masculine side and I'm not going to negate that part of myself.

Men need to understand, and women too, what feminism is really about.

One wouldn't want to have the same dilemmas at 50 as one had at 15. And indeed I don't. I have a very different take on life.

If you want to open a supermarket chain and put your face all around the globe, selling your baby and your dog, if it makes you happy, who am I to disagree, as the song goes. But it's not for me. I've always tried to keep my integrity and keep my autonomy.

In a sense, the music business and I haven't always been the best of bedfellows. Artists often have to fight their corner. Your music goes through these filters of record labels and media, and you're hoping you'll find someone who'll help you get your work into the world.

I was brought up in a tenement house in a working district. We didn't even have a bathroom! We had a gaslight in the hallway and a black-and-white TV.

Life is not quantifiable in terms of age, but I suppose in my fifties I am more grounded and more at ease in my own skin than when I was younger. I have a confidence that I didn't have before from the experiences I've had.

The dynamic between two individuals starts off with everything warm and nice and fabulous and good. Working and living together can serve you quite well, but when it starts to go wrong - oh, boy!

You wouldn't find a Joni Mitchell on 'X Factor;' that's not the place. 'X Factor' is a specific thing for people that want to go through that process - it's a factory, you know, and it's owned and stitched-up by puppet masters.

As a mother, you have that impulse to wish that no child should ever be hurt, or abused, or go hungry, or not have opportunities in life.

You have to face things, have faith in what you do and go for it. Think, 'What's the worst that could happen?'

I have a lot to be grateful for.

Making a Christmas album is looked upon by some people as the thing you do when you are heading towards retirement.

I would say that although my music may be or may have been part of the cultural background fabric of the gay community, I consider myself an outsider who belongs everywhere and nowhere... Being a human being is what truly counts. That's where you'll find me.

I understand what it is for a woman to want to protect their children and give them the best they can.

When you're that successful, things have a momentum, and at a certain point you can't really tell whether you have created the momentum or it's creating you.

Actually, I'm quite a domesticated person. I love the little things of home.

I don't have clear-cut positions. I get baffled by things. I have viewpoints. Sometimes they change.

I watch 'Mad Men,' I knit scarves, I cook and am very, very normal. Honestly.

I've always tried to keep my integrity and keep my autonomy.

Those in the developing world have so few rights - we take a lot for granted in the developed world.

I am a communicator; that seems to be my natural place. And I'll always be passionate about the world, because it's so bonkers.

I didn't want to be perceived as a girly girl on stage.

I don't feel there are enough women artists out there who are saying anything of tremendous relevance.

I don't take myself as seriously as some people think, and I'd hate anyone to think I was preaching. That's the last thing I want.

I only want to make music because I have a passion for it.

I sang a lot as a little girl and entered competitions. I loved singing in choirs, but it was as I got older that I really found my voice.

I think life on the road really suits very egotistical men. It's set up for kings.

I also started writing songs because I had this burning activity in my heart and had to express myself.

I was born in 1954. My parents were brought up in the war years, and life was hard.

I'm not a Christian, but I think the Christian message is a good one.

My issue with the state of women became incredibly stimulated when I was visiting developing countries and it became obvious that women bore the brunt of so many things in society.

If people like your music, you can't guarantee they're going to love you.

Music is a great vehicle for communications, and I have a certain platform. I have an opportunity and I have to take it.

The person who inspired me the most was a friend of mine, Anita Roddick. I know that Anita wasn't known to be an ardent feminist, but she truly was.

Feminism is a word that I identify with. The term has become synonymous with vitriolic man-hating but it needs to come back to a place where both men and women can embrace it. It is particularly important for women in developing countries.

Music is an extraordinary vehicle for expressing emotion - very powerful emotions. That's what draws millions of people towards it. And, um, I found myself always going for these darker places and - people identify with that.

Over the years, I was never really driven to become a solo artist, but I was curious to find out who I was as an individual creative person. It's taken some time, but now I feel I've truly paid my dues. I guess I'm at a point now where I'm more comfortable in my own skin.

If someone says something unpleasant, I can't say it doesn't smart a bit. It always does. Someone can take a really nasty swipe if they want because it kind of feels powerful for a person to write in a paper and get that thing out there.

I mean, I'm 48 years old and I've been through a lot in my life - you know, loss, whether it be death, illness, separation. I mean, the failed expectations... We all have dreams.

I'm appalled the word feminism has been denigrated to a place of almost ridicule and I very passionately believe the word needs to be revalued and reintroduced with power and understanding that this is a global picture.

If I hadn't been a singer, I might have been a photographer or an artist. But it's singing I love. I sing all the time, and I feel really good that I've expressed myself.

I don't have any interest to go to Israel. I don't think I'd ever have a cause to go.

I'd rather support the issues I truly believe in than give my vote to parties that court votes at the time of the election. I like to think that my vote strengthens the green foundation stone.

Women's issues have always been a part of my life.

I have always been a very visual person and a keen observer.

I'm not intensely private - I talk a great deal about my life and my work - I just don't play the game to excess.

Anita Roddick was amazing. Her presence in a room was full of light, and everything she worked to achieve still resonates now.

Churches, depending on their policy, can do fantastic work with people in the community.

Every artist has to make their own statements and they have to live with them.

I don't want to be owned by a corporation and obliged to make a certain type of album. I want to be free.

I like where I live here, in London.