Lady Gaga
I wanted to be a skinny little ballerina but I was a voluptuous little Italian girl whose dad had meatballs on the table every night.
I believe in a passion for inclusion.
I've been actually really very pleased to see how much awareness was raised around bullying, and how deeply it affects everyone. You know, you don't have to be the loser kid in high school to be bullied. Bullying and being picked on comes in so many different forms.
Meditation helps me to calm down.
I am my own sanctuary and I can be reborn as many times as I choose throughout my life.
I believe that if you have revolutionary potential, you must make the world a better place and use it.
I guess you could say it's always been my destiny to be a performer.
I was called really horrible, profane names very loudly in front of huge crowds of people, and my schoolwork suffered at one point.
I hope when I'm dead I'll be considered an icon, though.
I like pushing boundaries.
I'm confident in who I am. I've come to a place in my life where I've accepted things that are me, as opposed to feeling pressure to explain myself to people around me. That's just the way I've always tried to be. It didn't change when I became a star.
If you know me, and you call me Stefani, you don't really know me at all.
Don't say I hate institutionalised religion - rather than saying I hate those things, which I do not, what I'm saying is that perhaps there is a way of opening more doors, rather than closing so many.
I was so ashamed of who I was.
Madonna and I are very different. Just saying. We're very different. I wouldn't make that comparison at all, and I don't mean to disrespect Madonna: she's a nice lady, and she's had a fantastic, huge career - biggest pop star of all time.
It sometimes makes people feel better about themselves, you know, to put other people down, or make fun of them, or maybe make mockery of their work and that doesn't make me feel good at all.
I'm half living my life between reality and fantasy at all times. It's best not to ask questions and just enjoy.
I love being able to be political without any political affiliation.
What the Pope thinks of being gay does not matter to the world. It matters to the people who like the Pope and follow the Pope... It is not a reflection of all religious people.
When you're around me and really see that all I do is live and breathe for my work, it's not strange, it's just Gaga.
What I've discovered is that in art, as in music, there's a lot of truth-and then there's a lie. The artist is essentially creating his work to make this lie a truth, but he slides it in amongst all the others. The tiny little lie is the moment I live for, my moment. It's the moment that the audience falls in love.
I love imperfections.
A record deal doesn't make you an artist; you make yourself an artist.
I'm definitely a Polaroid camera girl. For me, what I'm really excited about is bringing back the artistry and the nature of Polaroid.
I went to see 'Phantom of the Opera' with my grandma and my mom when I was very little. The stage, the voice, the music... Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has been a massive inspiration to me for some time - the storytelling, that deliciously somber undertone in his music.
There really is no difference between the bully and the victim.
Gay marriage is going to happen. It must.
I don't care about money.
I'm not interested in people positioning me next to other artists.
I think what's important is for us to decipher what is honest and what is dishonest and be accepting of those things and not operating from fear.
I am not some goddess that dropped down from the sky to sing pop music; I am not some extra-incredible human person that needs to be told how wonderful they are all day and kissed.
People want you to fail.
In order for me to be successful... In order to be a great artist - musician, actor, painter, whatever - you must be able to be private in public at all times. That is what we do.
I work all day, do research, sketch my ideas, prepare for performances.
When I was younger, I felt pressure to become someone else once I became successful.
I'm not a supermodel. That's not what I do. What I do is music. I want my fans to feel the way I do, to know what they have to offer is just as important, more important, than what's happening on the outside.
Being beautiful is not so fun when you're in a business with all men.
Everybody always laughs because I feel so much more comfortable with, like, a giant paper bag on my whole body and paint on my face. Sometimes I try really hard to take it all off. But inevitably what's underneath is still not a straight edge. And I don't think it ever will be.
Hair is about when you're younger. I am my hair.
In case you're wondering whether I lip synch, the answer is no... people think so because I sound so good.
I never wanted to look pretty on stage and sing about something we've all heard about before.
I wouldn't say that I am one of the greatest dancers, but I am really quite good at what I do.
I've worked since I was a five-year-old to be a performer.
I live in Hollywood, but you can't make me love Hollywood. I'll never love Hollywood.
No press, no television. If my mom calls and says, 'Did you hear about?' I don't want to know nothing about anything that is going on in relation to music. I shut it all off.
It's honestly true that money means nothing to me.
You start to become successful, and everybody starts to drive your money train to the bank, and they're not thinking anymore about what you want as an artist or if any of that even matters to you. It genuinely upsets people in my life that I don't care about money, and that's not my problem.
If I can be a leader, I will.
If you were to ask me what I want to do - I don't want to be a celebrity, I want to make a difference.