Madonna Ciccone
There's always elements of danger in New York, but people are always out on the street. I don't feel scared there at all.
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.
People like it when others are gossiping. When you hear a story about someone's demise or some big faux-pas they made, everyone wants to tune into it, because it's nice to know that someone else made a mistake. It makes you feel elevated for a moment.
Men are such power-seeking creatures, and they usually kill people to get to the throne.
No one knows you better than you know yourself. Do the thing you want. Don't wait for someone elseCollection: Waiting
Why did God create men? Because vibrators can't mow the lawn.Collection: Funny
May the angels protect you, and sadness forget you.Collection: Sadness
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.Collection: Philosophy
If your joy is derived from what society thinks of you, you're always going to be disappointed.Collection: Single
I don't care if you hate me or love me, as long as I make you think.Collection: Hate
No matter who you are, no matter what you did, no matter where you've come from, you can always change, become a better version of yourself.Collection: Inspirational
I know the aspect of my personality, being the vixen, the heartbreaker and the incredibly provocative girl is a very marketable image, but it's not insincere. You just can't take it seriously.Collection: Girl
On any given night, catch me on the floor, working up a sweat, that’s what music’s for.Collection: Night
It doesn't matter who you are, it's what you do that takes you far.Collection: Matter
A lot of people are afraid to say what they want. That's why they don't get what they want.Collection: Inspirational
We all fall to the floor at some point. It's how you pick yourself up that's the real challenge. Isn't it?Collection: Real
I like to be provocative. I like to make people think. I like to touch people's hearts. And if I can do all three of those things in one fell swoop, then I feel like I've really accomplished something.Collection: Heart
I think there are just as many assholes meeting the old-fashioned way as there are meeting in the new hookup culture.Collection: Thinking
Express yourself, don't repress yourself.Collection: Express Yourself
Rejection is the greatest aphrodisiac.Collection: Music
I'm attracted to men who are going to stand up to me.Collection: Men
A good relationship is a competition of generosity.Collection: Generosity
When I'm dead and no longer the threat. My comfort is that all the great artists since the beginning of time have always been completely misunderstood and never fully appreciated until they were dead.Collection: Artist
I'm not claiming to appeal to the same people that Christina Aguilera or Britney Spears are going to appeal to. I'm not trying to. I'm doing what I want to do.Collection: People
Popularity comes and goes. You need to know who you are, what you stand for, and why you're here.Collection: Needs
Once you start turning over rocks and reaching out to help people, there's a whole avalanche coming right behind it. And it seems never-ending. But when you see the fruits of your labor, you feel like it's possible.Collection: Rocks
I became an overachiever to get approval from the world.Collection: World
All the criticism is ultimately a blessing in disguise. Because now people know about Malawi [due to the child adoption]. And now people know about the orphans there. And hopefully it's gonna turn around. And a positive is gonna come out of the negative.Collection: Children
Being blond is definitely a different state of mind. I can't really put my finger on it, but the artifice of being blond has some incredible sort of sexual connotation.Collection: Mind
I pay attention to what's going on around me. I'm always looking for new energy, new talent, new voices. When you do that I think it's easier to come up with fresh ideas. It's not that my career has been based on surprising people, but it's been about challenging myself - to constantly do new things that are going to broaden my own mind and in the process, hopefully, connect with other people.Collection: Thinking
Publicly humiliating someone for your own gain will only come and haunt you. God's going to have his revenge.Collection: Revenge
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.Collection: Successful
If you're going to be an artist, real life is your inspiration.Collection: Real
When I first moved to New York I wanted to be a dancer, I danced professionally for years, living a hand-to-mouth existence.Collection: New York
I am attracted to a thug. I like that quality, but I like the other side of it, too. Because all guys who go around behaving in macho ways are really scared little girls. So you have to look beneath the surface. There's a difference between my ideal man and a man that I'm sexually attracted to, believe me. Therein lies the rub.Collection: Girl
I'll rest when I'm dead. I'm hungry and life is short!Collection: Life Is Short
People want to hear the dirt. But this is not really anything I want to talk about.Collection: People
Art keeps me alive. I've obviously been devastated or heartbroken all my life, since my mother's death.Collection: Heartbroken
You can be sexy, but you can't be 50Collection: Sexy
I've gone from having a huge fan base to losing a huge fan base to having a kind of fluctuating fan base. I've always had a core of fans who've stuck by me but, depending on the kind of music I do, I end up appealing to certain groups of people and alienating others.Collection: People
Younger people are generally more adventurous - they're more open, more fun - have you met many guys my age? Guys my age are married or divorced or grumpy, fat and balding.Collection: Fun
When I came to New York it was the first time I'd ever taken a plane, the first time I'd ever gotten a taxi-cab, the first time for everything. And I came here with 35 dollars in my pocket. It was the bravest thing I'd ever done.Collection: New York
I think for the most part men have always been the aggressors sexually. Through time immemorial they've always been in control. So I think sex is equated with power in a way, and that's scary in a way. It's scary for men that women would have that power, and I think it's scary for women to have that power - or to have that power and be sexy at the same time.Collection: Sexy
I've created a very unconventional family. I have lovers who are three decades younger than me. This makes people very uncomfortable.Collection: People
Whenever I do my live shows, I feel artistically inspired and excited because I get to do and say a lot of things that I can't if I just make a record. A lot of times it's the only way people are going to hear my music because you don't get to have your music played on Top 40 if you're above the age of 35.Collection: People
I've always wanted to be taller. I feel like a shrimp, but that's the way it goes. I'm five-foot four-and-a-half-inches - that's actually average. Everything about me is average. Everything's normal, in the books. It's the things inside me that make me not average.Collection: Book
Go down where all life begins, go down that's where my love is.Collection: Love
I suffered fools so gladly.Collection: Low Self Esteem
What else is there for me to conquer? Hopefully my ego.Collection: Ego