Madonna Ciccone

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

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

“If any of you have seen my shows, you know that I don't skimp on them and the same is true for the gym. We spend what it takes to make a globally first-class gym.”

“Be strong, believe in freedom and in God, love yourself, understand your sexuality, have a sense of humor, masturbate, don't judge people by their religion, color or sexual habits, love life...”

“Obviously, I feel a great sense of responsibility being a good parent and raising my children. I don't take that job very lightly. Who they are, what they become and what they contribute to...”

“As an artist myself, I know what it's like to put your heart and soul into something. You can feel the presence of another person.”

“I go to Malawi twice a year. It's where two of my children were adopted from, and I have a lot of projects there that I go and check up on and children who I look after. It's sort of a commi...”

“If you have children, you know you're responsible for somebody. You realize you are being imitated; your belief systems and priorities have a direct influence on these children, who are like...”

“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...”

“I like to change. A new lamp, a piece of art, can transform a room.”

“When I left Michigan and I came to New York, that was my goal, to be a professional dancer. And I sort of fell into singing by accident in a way.”

“I went to the University of Michigan for one year, and fortunately they had a foreign-film cinema, and I discovered it, and I thought I died and went to heaven.”

“I'm ambitious. But if I weren't as talented as I am ambitious, I would be a gross monstrosity.”

“Everybody in our family studied a musical instrument. My father was really big on that. Somehow I only took a year or two of piano lessons and I convinced my father to let me take dancing le...”

“I'm always looking for something new: a new inspiration, a new philosophy, a new way to look at something, new talent.”

“I sometimes think I was born to live up to my name. How could I be anything else but what I am having been named Madonna? I would either have ended up a nun or this.”

“There are moments when I can't believe I'm as old as I am. But I feel better physically than I did 10 years ago. I don't think, Oh God, I'm missing something.”

“I wouldn't live in Chicago cause it's too conservative, aside for the fact that Oprah Winfrey lives there.”

“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.”

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