1.
We all require and want respect, man or woman, black or white. It's our basic human right.
Aretha Franklin
We all necessitate and crave esteem, regardless of gender, ethnicity or color. It is a fundamental entitlement of humankind.
2.
Be your own artist, and always be confident in what youre doing. If youre not going to be confident, you might as well not be doing it.
Aretha Franklin
"Craft your own masterpiece and trust in yourself. If you don't believe in yourself, then it's not worth doing."
3.
Music does a lot of things for a lot of people. It's transporting, for sure. It can take you right back, years back, to the very moment certain things happened in your life. It's uplifting, it's encouraging, it's strengthening.
Aretha Franklin
4.
Soul is a constant. It's cultural. It's always going to be there, in different flavors and degrees.
Aretha Franklin
5.
I'm a big woman. I need big hair.
Aretha Franklin
6.
If you disrespect everybody that you run into, how in the world do you think everybody's supposed to respect you?
Aretha Franklin
7.
I sing to the realists, people who accept it like it is. I express problems. There are tears when it's sad and smiles when it's happy. It seems simple to me, but for some people, I guess feelin' takes courage.
Aretha Franklin
8.
Being the Queen is not all about singing and being a diva is not all about singing. It has much to do with your service to people. And your social contributions to your community and your civic contributions as well.
Aretha Franklin
9.
People really don't have to give you anything, so appreciate what people give you. And just don't let that go to your head, whatever it is they give you.
Aretha Franklin
10.
Don't say Aretha is making a comeback, because I've never been away!
Aretha Franklin
11.
Falling out of love is like losing weight. It's a lot easier putting it on than taking it off.
Aretha Franklin
12.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me.
Aretha Franklin
13.
My faith always has been and always will be important to me.
Aretha Franklin
14.
Better friends than lovers. Sugar can't you see? You need you and I really need me.
Aretha Franklin
15.
I've been around long enough for people to know who I am and what my contributions are. They know me as more than just an artist. I think they know me as a woman as well.
Aretha Franklin
16.
Being a singer is a natural gift. It means I'm using to the highest degree possible the gift that god gave me to use. I'm happy with that.
Aretha Franklin
17.
Music changes, and I'm gonna change right along with it.
Aretha Franklin
18.
As a parent you try to maintain a certain amount of control and so you have this tug-of-war ... You have to learn when to let go. And that's not easy.
Aretha Franklin
19.
When God loves you, what can be better than that?
Aretha Franklin
20.
Women have broken through the glass ceiling, and they're now more and more in the power seats.
Aretha Franklin
21.
My heart is still there in gospel music. It never left . . . I'm gonna make a gospel record and tell Jesus I cannot bear these burdens alone.
Aretha Franklin
22.
Judy Garland is a singer with a capital S. And talk about soul. This woman was soul personified. Judy Garland is a class by herself.
Aretha Franklin
23.
I love to sing. It's just a natural thing for me.
Aretha Franklin
24.
You're a no good heartbreaker, you're a liar, and you're a cheat. I don't know why I let you do these things to me.
Aretha Franklin
25.
The milk of kindness flows through my body, I shall follow Jesus to the Taco Bell and give thanks.
Aretha Franklin
26.
I love 'Anne of Green Gables.' I have for years. That's one of my favourite things. She's such a can-do kind of girl; that's why I'm crazy about her.
Aretha Franklin
27.
R&B is not a fad; it's the truth.
Aretha Franklin
28.
Trying to grow up is hurting. You make mistakes. You try to learn from them, and when you don't, it hurts even more.
Aretha Franklin
29.
The man who gets me is getting one hell of a woman.
Aretha Franklin
30.
And I've been hurt hurt bad. I might be just twenty-six, but I'm an old woman in disguise twenty-six goin'on sixty-five.
Aretha Franklin
31.
I remember singing around the house to records that were playing. All kinds of music. And the great James Cleveland was often in our house, and I grew up with his sound as well.
Aretha Franklin
32.
I'm never tired of going to the studio. I enjoy recording and documenting everything and trying new things.
Aretha Franklin
33.
I don't feel one's personal medical condition is everybody's business. It just isn't something you advertise, and it's not open to discussion.
Aretha Franklin
34.
Yes, I've always been fashion conscious.
Aretha Franklin
35.
On the sly, scoping for love.
Aretha Franklin
36.
I think the hardest thing is losing weight. That's the hardest thing more than anything else.
Aretha Franklin
37.
I was in my dad's church, his Baptist church, and I think the first song I ever performed was 'Jesus Be a Fence Around Me.'
Aretha Franklin
38.
Parents have to really talk to their children before they leave home.
Aretha Franklin
39.
If a song's about something I've experienced or that could've happened to me it's good. But if it's alien to me, I couldn't lend anything to it. Because that's what soul is all about.
Aretha Franklin
40.
I saw the Supremes when they were still singing in little black skirts and white blouses.
Aretha Franklin
41.
I've never recorded anything I didn't like.
Aretha Franklin
42.
I sing to the realists; people who accept it like it is.
Aretha Franklin
43.
...the people at large absolutely gave James Brown respect. He was an original like a Rembrandt or a Picasso
Aretha Franklin
44.
Now, occasionally I will still have that quarter pounder because I love fast food, but you have to keep it to a minimum.
Aretha Franklin
45.
I know people I feel are extremely talented, but I don’t know that I’ve ever heard any geniuses.
Aretha Franklin
46.
I love producing, writing. I rarely write with other writers unless I have a real great respect for them. Like Burt Bacharach, or Carole Sager, or Stevie Wonder. Somebody like Smokey - like that. Otherwise, I choose to write alone.
Aretha Franklin
47.
I donate heavily to the church and various churches in the Detroit community and food banks.
Aretha Franklin
48.
I've always felt that rock & roll was very, very wholesome.
Aretha Franklin
49.
Let's start with the church. As you know, it's my background, it's a natural setting for me and it's definitely my roots.
Aretha Franklin
50.
Clark Terry is an American Master. I love to listen to him, particularly 'Mumbles.' I was so delighted when we received degrees together, along with Edward Kennedy, at the New England Conservatory in 1997.
Aretha Franklin
