Quotes from Alicia Keys

Maturity and experience are part of my liberation.

I grew up in the middle of everything. I walked the streets alone, I rode the trains alone, I came home at three in the morning alone; that was what I did.

Most times, your blessings are also your curses. And for me, I have this ability to express myself so clearly with pen and paper, but when it comes to expressing myself verbally, I put up a big wall.

What breaks my heart is suffering of any kind. Too often, our world is divisive and cruel where it needs to be uniting and loving.

When I had nothing else, I had my mother and the piano. And you know what? They were all I needed.

Sometimes I've gotten photographs back and people have literally shaven off pieces of me, and I tell them to put it back.

I always want to stay focused on who I am, even as I'm discovering who I am.

I'm a very caring person.

When I first started getting into the business, a young woman in a music game that was mostly men, I did feel inadequate.

My mom is definitely my rock.

I lived with my mom in a really small apartment. My bedroom was like in the living room. That's why I still love to sleep on couches now.

I have my mother who is an Irish-Italian, and my father who is African, so I have the taste buds of an Italian and the spice of an African.

But when I first fell in love with the piano, I knew it was me. I was dying to play.

Soul music is timeless.

Music is funny. I shouldn't even ever talk about music, because you can have all the ideas in your head, and it never goes exactly the way that you think it's gonna go.

I look forward to my first visit to Israel. Music is a universal language that is meant to unify audiences in peace and love, and that is the spirit of our show.

At the end of the day, so many things that we hold so much value with, it just doesn't even mean anything. I really try to stay focused on being really positive.

I think you are who you are, and your kids will see who you are. So you'd better be a good person, because they are going to see it, and that's going to shape them. They are going to become you.

I don't have a ton of friends, but the friends I have are great ones. I don't have huge family, but the family I have is a great one.

I pray before everything. When I wake up, before I eat, before I perform, before I go to sleep, in the moments I need guidance.

To be able to help a 13-year-old kid from the Bronx follow her dreams just by letting her know she's not forgotten in this crazy world - that's why I got involved with Frum Tha Ground Up.

You're stronger, and you're better, and you're ready for whatever.

A lot of times I watch TV and I watch film and there's so many things I'd love to talk about that I feel don't get the opportunity to be shown. Sometimes things become very stereotypical and one-sided, and I feel like it's such a colorful world.

Prayer keeps me centered.