Quotes from Madonna Ciccone

I hope that I inspire women to believe in themselves, no matter where they come from; no matter what education they have; what particular background they originate from.

People hear the soul, black influence in my voice. I grew up listening to CKLW and all the black stations like WLBS.

I know there's more to life than making lots of money and being successful and even getting married and having a family.

I guess some people are brilliant enough to be brilliant on their own and never doubt anything and come up with fabulous things. But I think it's good to get into arguments with people and have them say, 'That sucks' or 'You're crazy' or 'That's cheesy' or 'What do you think of this?'

I'm attracted to artists like Frida Kahlo, because her work was her life, her questions, her outrage, her suffering, her pain. Everything is in her work.

I suppose I sometimes used to act like I wasn't a human being... Sometimes I look back at myself and remember things I used to say, or my hairstyle, and I cringe.

I've always been acutely aware of differences and the way you are supposed to act if you want to be popular.

David Bowie really played with ideas, and iconography and imagery. He's brilliant man. And a gentleman, too.

It takes a Real man to fill my shoes.

I can't even think of the words of what I'm feeling. This man [Prince] was my everything, we had a family. I am beyond deeply saddened and devastated.

My idea of the perfect man would be someone intelligent and clever enough, but also kind and compassionate enough to stand up to me - to stand up to me with compassion.

I have the same goal I've had ever since I was a girl: I want to rule the world.

Having money is just the best thing in the world.

I love being a mother. My children fill me up in many ways, and inspire me in many ways, but I need a partner in my life and I think most people feel that way.

Art keeps me alive. I've obviously been devastated or heartbroken all my life, since my mother's death.

I do think that the birth of my daughter was sort of a rebirth for me. It made me look at life in a completely new way. And that made me appreciate life in a way I don't think I ever had before.

My daughter has a problem picking things up in her room. So if you leave your clothes on the floor, so if you leave your clothes on the floor, they're gone when you come home.

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

Rejection is the greatest aphrodisiac.

Hollywood is about playing the game, and I can't think of any successful actresses who didn't play the game. There's a lot more renegades in the music business, from Patti Smith to Janis Joplin.

I try to have thick skin, but every once in a while I read something that someone says about me, and it's so slanderous and moralistic and it has nothing to do with my music.

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

Cosmic systems intertwine, astral bodies drip like wine, all of nature ebbs and flows. Comets shoot across the sky, can't explain the reasons why, this is how creation goes.

I think everybody has a bisexual nature. That's my theory. I could be wrong.