Quotes from Tori Amos

Not everyone wants you to become your potential, for whatever reason.

My brother was a fantastic cheerleader for my development as a musician. He was almost 10 years older than me and would really push me to develop as a songwriter.

Musically, I always allow myself to jump off of cliffs. At least that's what it feels like to me. Whether that's what it actually sounds like might depend on what the listener brings to the songs.

I became a mom at 37 and having a child has been an emancipation for me.

You have to be clear what your message is and what you're doing. I mean, Miley Cyrus is an amazing talent, and sometimes you kind of just want to say, 'We know you're not Hannah Montana anymore. We know that, my dear. My darling. Now, go be great.'

There are enough scary rock & roll mothers in the world.

I don't feel I'm as good a mum as my mum was.

I guess my husband is a muse as well.

I've worked with many powerful men in the music industry.

When I got older, I chose to look at Christianity as another myth.

I have built my world through Native American mythology.

Tori's my legal name. My niece and nephews, they all call me Aunt Ellen, because I went by my middle name years ago, before I turned 18.

The music industry is a vicious business. It chews women up and spits them out.

There is a phenomenal amount of pressure on women in this industry: they are considered vintage by the time they hit their mid-30s.

My father has a pragmatic mind. He marched with Dr King in the 60s, and he's very much for women's rights.

I'm a grown woman. I've earned my experiences, my scars.

I don't mind a dirty girl. But what I find tragic is when we, as women, become not the subject of our own story but someone else's object.

The violence between women is unbelievable...women try to make each other crawl so that their knees are bleeding.

I had a very strict upbringing with my dad and was very close to my mum, who was extremely loving.

I have so many different personalities in me and I still feel lonely.

There are ways to stimulate being prolific, and part of that is making pilgrimages, and being open to listening, changing up the routine.

My mother says I was two-and-a-half when I started playing. My father was a minister, and when he went to church in the morning, she would put on Fats Waller, Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole and Cole Porter records. I'd crawl up on the piano stool, sit on a phone book and play.

There are older men with younger women but you don't see a lot of older women with younger men. There are some women who have been able to do it but not often.

A key to keeping your husband is getting him to miss you. That keeps a marriage fresh.