Quotes from Annie Lennox

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.

Such is the scale and depth of poverty in many parts of the world that it won't be ended overnight. That is why if, like me, you want to see an end to poverty, you need to be in it for the long haul.

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.

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.

I wouldn't say that I've mellowed. I'm less mellow, perhaps.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

Just having medicine isn't equivalent to medical care. You need the health systems, you need to create the social framework so that people feel safe.

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.

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

HIV/AIDS has no boundaries.

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

When I look at the majority of my own songs they really came from my own sense of personal confusion or need to express some pain or beauty - they were coming from a universal and personal place.

We all come from women, and there's something extraordinary about the mothers who raised us.

Women empowering other women.They get the psycho-social support. They become part of a community.

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

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.

Money is a good thing and it's obviously useful, but to work only for money or fame would never interest me.

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?