Gladys Knight

“I had some great mentors as I was coming up and starting to sing so early - I've been singing since I was four.”

“We all have a responsibility, and since I've been so wonderfully blessed, I really want to share and to make life at least a little better. So every chance I get to share the gospel or uplift people, I will take full advantage of that opportunity.”

“I have a thing about working with young people. I adore them.”

“Mary J. Blige has made the most improvement, to me, and the depth of the spirit and the soul in her music, the way she sings, gives her that 'it' factor.”

“Love is what makes the world go around. I know it's a big cliche to use, but it is the absolute truth. There is nothing else like it. I know that is what everybody is striving to feel: in relationships, in brother- and sisterhood, and in all of the things that we aspire to have in our lives.”

“I have a wonderful family!”

“Soul is just that inner spirit. I use that inner spirit for whatever it is I do.”

“I'm comfortable singing jazz. The only thing I was concerned about is that everybody, even in jazz, has their own style. To me, the queen of doodling was Ella Fitzgerald, and scatting is something I never thought I could do.”

“When you pay your money to see me, I want you to have the best concert you can have from me.”

“I am a Barack Obama fan from head-to-toe - always have been. He's not perfect; nobody is going to be that way.”

“The Lord tells us where we are going and tells us when we are coming.”

“Nobody has a perfect anything. We don't have perfect lives. We're not perfect beings.”

“Believe me when I say this: you can't please everyone in concert, even though I still want to. Someone always wants you to sing a song that isn't necessarily on your set list.”

“I got into gambling when I was playing a casino. I was a hermit in those days. I would go onstage, go to my room, or if we had to travel, I'd get in a car or a plane, whatever. But I didn't do anything. One day, this friend of mine said, 'Do you want to play some blackjack?'”

“I always kind of thought I want to be a good person, I want to be right to my fellow men and love them like we're supposed to.”

“I have a squash casserole that everybody, even my kids, love. I won't tell my kids how to make it.”

“I know how hard it is to send two kids to college when you ain't got nothing. I know people may not think of me in that way, but this business gives you ups and downs.”

“I go to as many football games as I can.”