Madonna

To be brave is to love someone unconditionally, without expecting anything in return. To just give. That takes courage, because we don't want to fall on our faces or leave ourselves open to hurt.

A lot of people are afraid to say what they want. That's why they don't get what they want.

No matter who you are, no matter what you did, no matter where you've come from, you can always change, become a better version of yourself.

I see a huge paradox in me – the intense need to be loved and the search for approval juxtaposed with the need to nurture other people, to be the mother I never had.

Art can heal it if art is allowed to exist. And if art is slowly wiped off the face of the planet, then what tools do we have to reach people, to appeal to them and all of their senses?

I think that its an artist's responsibility to have a point of view. Society takes its cue from popular art. People need something to look to, something to provoke them into questioning whether they completely hate something or completely love something. I think art should be controversial. I think it should make people think.

To me, the whole process of being a brush stroke in someone else's painting is a little difficult.

When in doubt, act like God.

I became an overachiever to get approval from the world.

People say that I'm so controversial but I think the most controversial thing I've ever done is to stick around.

Women have been so oppressed for so long that they believe what men say about them. And they believe they have to back a man to get the job done... As women we have to start appreciating our own worth and each other worth. Seek out strong women to be friend, to align yourself with, to learn from, to be inspired by, to collaborate with, to support, to be enlightened by.

Fame is a form of misunderstanding.

Life is a mystery, everyone must stand alone...

If I have learned one thing in my life, it is this — just go with it. If you relax, it doesn't hurt as much.

I don't think ultimately God punishes. I think we bring about our own destruction or our own creation.

I think all of us make the mistake of thinking we're going to change people when we get together. But we're not. People are who they are. And people change in their own time.

Words can never be taken back, photographs can never be taken back, nothing can ever be taken back.

The beast is the modern world that we live in! The material world. The physical world. The world of illusion that we think is real. We live for it; we're enslaved by it. And it will ultimately be our undoing.

One thing I've learned is that I'm not the owner of my talent; I'm the manager of it.

Nothing lasts forever. Should I?