Madonna ciccone quotes

If I have to be the person who opens the door for women to believe and understand and embrace the idea that they can be sexual and look good and be as relevant in their 50s or their 60s as they were in their 20s, then so be it.

Some people out there think everything I do is a publicity stunt, they think when I go to the bathroom it's a publicity stunt.

Yoga is a metaphor for life. You have to take it really slowly. You can't rush. You can't skip to the next position. You find yourself in very humiliating situations, but you can't judge yourself. You just have to breathe, and let go. It is a workout for your mind, your body and your soul.

I laugh at myself. I don't take myself completely seriously. I think that's another quality that people have to hold on to... you have to laugh, especially at yourself.

The essence of femininity is to absolutely love being a woman.

Every time I reach a new peak, I see a new one I want to climb.

A good relationship is a competition of generosity.

No one knows you better than you know yourself. Do the thing you want. Don't wait for someone else

I wanted to be a nun. I saw nuns as superstars. When I was growing up I went to a Catholic school, and the nuns, to me, were these superhuman, beautiful, fantastic people.

When I get down on my knees, it is not to pray.

I'm so used to people slagging me off. Since the beginning of my career I've been told I have no talent, I can't sing and I'm a one-hit wonder.

Fame is a by-product. It's not a goal. What matters is loving your work and loving what you do

Not only do we suffer from racism and sexism, but we also suffer from ageism. And that is that once you reach a certain age, you're not allowed to be adventurous, you're not allowed to be sexual and I think that's rather hideous. [...] I mean, is there a rule? Are you just supposed to die when you're 40?

I feel that most gay men are so much more in touch with a certain kind of sensitivity that heterosexual men aren't allowed to be in touch with, their feminine side. To me they're whole human beings, more so than most of the straight men that I know.

Love´s nothing else than a war in which both are the winners.

I believe in equal rights for all people.

New York wasn't everything I thought it would be. It did not welcome me with open arms. The first year, I was held up at gunpoint. Raped on the roof of a building I was dragged up to with a knife in my back, and had my apartment broken into three times. I don't know why; I had nothing of value after they took my radio the first time.

Manipulating people, that's what I'm good at

Being loved keeps you young.

If you want something bad enough the whole world conspires to help you get it.

I want to keep growing and living life to the fullest for as long as I'm on this planet.

Sick and perverted always appeals to me.

I think the biggest reason I was able to express myself and not be intimidated was by not having a mother. For example, mothers teach you manners. And I absolutely did not learn any of those rules and regulations.

I am a tip-top starlet. That is my job that I am paid to do.

If you're sure of who you are it doesn't really matter what people call you, does it?

Fame gets you in the door but it doesn't keep you in the room.

I think art should be controversial. I think it should make people think.

I refuse to act the way someone expects me to.

We're in the world of creating illusions and giving people the ability to dream and to be inspired or moved.

I don't care if you hate me or love me, as long as I make you think.

Better to live one year as a tiger, then a hundred as sheep.

A lot of places I go are dangerous, like Tel Aviv or Rio, but that never stops me from going there and putting on a show. I have good security. I don't worry about that.

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

I am my own experiment. I am my own work of art.

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

Romance should be spontaneous, but in my career I'm totally in control.

As much good as it does, social media can also encourage stupidity and degradation.

I came to the realization that a strong female is frightening to everybody, because all societies are male-dominated, black societies, poor people, rich people, any racial group, they're all dominated by men. A strong female is going to threaten everybody across the board...

Fame is a form of misunderstanding.

If you want to change the world, change yourself.

Popularity comes and goes. You need to know who you are, what you stand for, and why you're here.

We live in a world where people like to pit women against each other. And this is why I love the idea of embracing other females who are doing what I'm doing. It's important for us to support each other.

I want to be like Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, and John Lennon... but I want to stay alive.

I want the good life, but I don't want an easy ride. What I want is to work for it, feel the blood and sweat on my fingertips.

You don't want to be the smartest person in the room; you want to be the dumbest in the room. You want to be surrounded by other thinking people who are going to say something that makes you think, "Oh, my God, that's an amazing idea. Why didn't I think of that."

I've always been under scrutiny. But I used to just not really pay attention to what people said.

I learned a lot about humility and patience, keeping my mouth shut.

Just because I'm presented life in a certain way doesn't mean I do all these things. It's just something I choose to express.

The physical body is assembled just like a chair or a building or a flower, but the revolutions we start, the people we affect and inspire, that is eternal. So, in that respect, we do achieve immortality, and that makes me less fearful.

Isn't it amazing that there are laws of the universe that you can actually find out about, live your life according to and change the world for the better?

One of the many things I learned from all of this: If you aren't willing to fight for what you believe in, then don't even enter the ring.

The one thing I don't understand is when people make comments who are clearly not fans of mine. I think, why are you here? Why are you wasting your time? It's fascinating.

Power is being told you're not loved and not being destroyed by it.

You don't have to have a language in common with someone for a sexual rapport. But it helps if the language you don't understand is Italian.

I am not reinventing myself. I am going through the layers and revealing myself. I am on a journey, an adventure that's constantly changing shape.

I’m a role model for those who dare to be different. For those who dare to take a stand in their life and have an opinion

In the end, by having a point of view, by taking a stand for things you believe in, you're ultimately always going to offend people. That's good. It's certainly more important to take a stand on some thing and offend people, than to be careful all of your life and have everyone approve of what you do. Or, as my psychiatrist likes to say, better to live one year as a tiger than 100 as a sheep.

I'll flirt with anyone from garbagemen to grandmothers.

I know there's a lot of competition in the world of magazines and newspapers and we have to make headlines and be sensational and sell, and saying bad things about me is going to sell more papers than writing good things about me.

I get strength from my art - all the paintings I own are powerful.

Rejection is the greatest aphrodisiac.

If you're not comfortable with a strong woman you're not comfortable with your own feminine instincts. You're not comfortable, period. You're going to be threatened by everything that's not exactly like you are ... and that is the measure any man.

The fact of the matter is that you can use your beauty and use your charm and be flirtatious, and you can get people interested in your beauty. But you cannot maintain that. In the end, talent is the only thing. My work is the only thing that's going to change any minds.

I stand for freedom of expression, doing what you believe in, and going after your dreams.

There's no borderline for the things that I can say, do, and create.

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 think you can be defiant and rebellious and still be strong and positive.

I'm not a reluctant pop star. I'm very grateful and happy for everything that I have and for things when they go well. On the other hand, I've had enough of the other side to know that if it doesn't, I will survive that and life goes on.

I think lines are meant to be crossed anyways. The entire time I was singing on the cross, there's numbers flipping over my head. You know, starting at one and going up to 12 million.

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 the ultimate challenge is to have some kind of style and grace, even though you haven't got money, or standing in society, or formal education. I had a very middle, lower-middle class sort of upbringing, but I identify with people who've had, at some point in their lives to struggle to survive. It adds another color to your character.

I love meetings with suits. I live for meetings with suits. I love them because I know they had a really boring week and I walk in there with my orange velvet leggings and drop popcorn in my cleavage and then fish it out and eat it. I like that. I know I'm entertaining them and I know that they know.

You're getting angry, you know I can see. You're just jealous, cause you can't be me.

There is order in the universe, even though it looks like chaos. We separate the world into categories: this is good and this is bad. But life is set up to trick us. It's a series of illusions we invest in. And ultimately those investments don't serve our understanding, because physicality is always going to let you down, because physicality doesn't last.

When you're writing something and you know it's good, you get flushed, you can feel the blood coursing through your veins, you feel alive, all your nerve endings stand up, something just clicks.

I have had many challenges in my life, including some very big ones when I was young and I've learned a lot of valuable lessons along the way. I have seen life from just about every angle you can see it from.

Fame can be very disruptive. It can be like a drug. It gives you the feeling that you're happy, it gives you the feeling of self-importance, it gives you the feeling of fullfilment; but it can distract you from what is really important.

Its boring not to take risks

My father was very strong. I don't agree with a lot of the ways he brought me up. I don't agree with a lot of his values, but he did have a lot of integrity, and if he told us not to do something, he didn't do it either.

Sure, having my pictures taken in the nude and doing things that I did got me in the door but it didn't keep me in the room. To have lasted as long as I've lasted, obviously, I have to have something more going for me.

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

I don't take drugs. I never did. All the feelings that drugs are supposed to produce in you - confidence or energy - I can produce naturally.

I didn't set out to write certain kinds of songs - I just set out to write good songs.

I wouldn't say I wanna conquer the world anymore. But I want to be a part of making the world a better place. I want to inspire people and I wanna be part of the solution.

I don't think anyone strives to be anything negative. I just think that it's our nature to only focus on a few things in life and forget about a lot of other stuff.

Why did I want to break all the rules? Because the rules didn’t make sense, that’s why

I might be responsible for as many gay marriages as I am for heterosexual divorces.

You realise that having a number one record and being loved and adored isn't the most important thing in the world. But at the same time, I don't have a problem with it.

It doesn't matter who you are, it's what you do that takes you far.

I am a survivor. I am like a cockroach, you just can't get rid of me.

I'm attracted to men who are going to stand up to me.

I think that everyone should get married at least once, so you can see what a silly, outdated institution it is.

Everyone probably thinks that I'm a raving nymphomaniac, that I have an insatiable sexual appetite, when the truth is I'd rather read a book.

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?

My nature is to provoke, that's true. I can't help myself. But it's always with good intentions.

It's none of your business what people say about you.

Straight men need to be emasculated.... Every straight guy should have a man's tongue in his mouth at least once.

Honestly, I don't read newspapers, magazines, whatever. They're just not part of my lexicon. I don't want to be manipulated, or manipulated about other people's work.

I like to be provocative. I like to make people think. I like to touch people's hearts. And if I can do all three of those things in one fell swoop, then I feel like I've really accomplished something.

There's one thing you can't download and that's a live performance. And I know how to put on a show, and enjoy performing, and I'll always have that.

I don't trust any man who hasn't kissed another man.

We learn our lessons; we get hurt; we want revenge. Then we realize that actually, happiness and forgiving people is the best revenge.

After years and years of everybody commenting on the way I look and dress and being photographed, one starts to become self-conscious and starts to plan things more. You end up judging yourself more, what looks good and what doesn't.

When I'm hungry, I eat. When I'm thirsty, I drink. When I feel like saying something, I say it.

We all fall to the floor at some point. It's how you pick yourself up that's the real challenge. Isn't it?

I always felt like I was a freak when I was growing up and that there was something wrong with me because I couldn't fit in anywhere.

Sometimes you just have to go and make a mess of things to get people to pay attention.

Being able to step outside of yourself in order to help someone else is why we're all here, it's what we should all be doing if we can.

If your joy is derived from what society thinks of you, you're always going to be disappointed.

A lot of people are just really confused by me; they don’t know what to think of me, so they try to compartmentalize me or diminish me. Maybe they just feel unsafe. But any time you have an overtly emotional or irrational, negative reaction to something, you’re fearing something that it’s bringing up in you.

Poor is the man whose pleasures depend on the permission of another.

I hope I will always have the ability to create art and live in a world where I can speak freely, and I can inspire people. I don't know what form that will take.

When we take a picture, we have a negative. We put the right solution on it and, suddenly, the picture comes to life. So what do we do? We take the negative and turn it into a positive.

I was used to dancing, but only when someone told you what to do. So in the nightclub I was all over the place, I combined everything. Street dance, modern dance, a bit of jazz and ballet, I was Twyla Tharp, I was Alvin Ailey, I was Michael Jackson. I didn't care, I was free.

What else is there for me to conquer? Hopefully my ego. How will I know when I've succeeded? When I stop caring what anyone thinks.

I wanted to be famous, I wanted everybody to love me. I wanted to be a star. I worked really hard, and my dream came true.

When the day is done the most important thing is loving people and sharing love.

I always acted like a star long before I was one.

I don't think about my old stuff. I just move forward.

I do think of myself as a queen, but I don't think I'm the only queen. There's room for other queens. We reign over different kingdoms.

I'd like to think I am taking people on a journey; I am not just entertaining people, but giving them something to think about when they leave.

I'm a gay man trapped in a woman's body!

I feel just as hungry today as I did the day I left home.

I want to appeal to people's sense of humanity and interconnectedness. I feel like I have the platform I'm standing on for a reason. It's not just to make people happy and get people to dance and sing, to feel an escape. It's also to get people to listen and to bring important issues to the forefront.

Express yourself, don't repress yourself.