Aretha Franklin Quotations

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

I am doing what I love to do, and you cannot beat that, especially when the audience appreciates what you prepare for them. It's very, very gratifying.

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 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.

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.

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.

I'm the lady next door when I'm not on stage.

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

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

Don't say Aretha is making a comeback, because I've never been away!

I donate heavily to the church and various churches in the Detroit community and food banks.

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

I go to the healthier foods that are less chemically treated. I am drinking lots of water to get rid of the toxins in my body. It's a natural flushing. Water flushes your system and is also very good for your skin.

Falling out of love is like losing weight. It's a lot easier putting it on than taking it off.

If a song's about something I've experienced or that could've happened to me it's good. But if it's alien to me, I couldn't lend anything to it. Because that's what soul is all about.

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.

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

I sing to the realists; people who accept it like it is.

I always felt rock and roll was very, very wholesome music.

I saw the Supremes when they were still singing in little black skirts and white blouses.

I think the hardest thing is losing weight. That's the hardest thing more than anything else.

I'm a big woman. I need big hair.

Let's start with the church. As you know, it's my background, it's a natural setting for me and it's definitely my roots.

Now, occasionally I will still have that quarter pounder because I love fast food, but you have to keep it to a minimum.

I like Beyonce's music - some of it, not all of it.

I'm never tired of going to the studio. I enjoy recording and documenting everything and trying new things.

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.'

Parents have to really talk to their children before they leave home.

Columbia was a wonderful label for me. Wonderful. The records I made there garnered me an audience. I won a number of polls during the years that I was at Columbia. The Downbeat Jazz Poll. Leonard Feather, who was a huge critic back in the day, different polls that he had. The Playboy poll, a number of polls. So the music was great.

I've been around long enough for people to know who I am and what my contributions are. They know me as more than just an artist. I think they know me as a woman as well.

I don't feel one's personal medical condition is everybody's business. It just isn't something you advertise, and it's not open to discussion.

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

I love producing, writing. I rarely write with other writers unless I have a real great respect for them. Like Burt Bacharach, or Carole Sager, or Stevie Wonder. Somebody like Smokey - like that. Otherwise, I choose to write alone.

I remember singing around the house to records that were playing. All kinds of music. And the great James Cleveland was often in our house, and I grew up with his sound as well.

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 have broken through the glass ceiling, and they're now more and more in the power seats.

I've always felt that rock & roll was very, very wholesome.

My heart is still there in gospel music. It never left . . . I'm gonna make a gospel record and tell Jesus I cannot bear these burdens alone.

Gospel goes with me wherever I go. Gospel is a constant with me.

Clark Terry is an American Master. I love to listen to him, particularly 'Mumbles.' I was so delighted when we received degrees together, along with Edward Kennedy, at the New England Conservatory in 1997.

Call in the Caped Crusader, Green Hornet, Kato, too. I'm in so much trouble I don't know what to do.

You're a no good heartbreaker, you're a liar, and you're a cheat. I don't know why I let you do these things to me.

Politics are not my arena. Music is.

It's so glamorous, you have to see it." (describing the $92 million Rock & Roll Hall of Fame)

I've never recorded anything I didn't like.

Yes, I've always been fashion conscious.

...the people at large absolutely gave James Brown respect. He was an original like a Rembrandt or a Picasso

R&B is not a fad; it's the truth.

Trying to grow up is hurting. You make mistakes. You try to learn from them, and when you don't, it hurts even more.

I love to sing. It's just a natural thing for me.

The man who gets me is getting one hell of a woman.

The milk of kindness flows through my body, I shall follow Jesus to the Taco Bell and give thanks.

On the sly, scoping for love.

And I've been hurt hurt bad. I might be just twenty-six, but I'm an old woman in disguise twenty-six goin'on sixty-five.

Judy Garland is a singer with a capital S. And talk about soul. This woman was soul personified. Judy Garland is a class by herself.

As a parent you try to maintain a certain amount of control and so you have this tug-of-war ... You have to learn when to let go. And that's not easy.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me.

Better friends than lovers. Sugar can't you see? You need you and I really need me.

Soul is a constant. It's cultural. It's always going to be there, in different flavors and degrees.

If you disrespect everybody that you run into, how in the world do you think everybody's supposed to respect you?

People really don't have to give you anything, so appreciate what people give you. And just don't let that go to your head, whatever it is they give you.

I sing to the realists, people who accept it like it is. I express problems. There are tears when it's sad and smiles when it's happy. It seems simple to me, but for some people, I guess feelin' takes courage.

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

I don't think I can carry it, but I am absolutely thrilled to be receiving this award, ... does not come to California very often.

I still have another couple of duos that I'm working on, ... I really would like to finish that ASAP and get it out.

We were a little upset initially. Detroit is a city of music legends, and we thought it would be remiss to come all the way here and not use at least one artist from Detroit. But I'm appreciative of the fact that they did ask me to do the halftime show several times before, and the anthem this time.

with all the other geniuses. I was mesmerized when I heard him live.

A fellow Detroiter, Wilson Pickett was one of the greatest soul singers of all time. He will absolutely be missed. I am thankful that I got the chance to speak to him not too long ago.

I didn't think there was enough, by any means. And it was my feeling: 'How dare you come to Detroit, a city of legends -- musical legends plural -- and not ask one or two of them to participate.