Top 275 Quotes & Sayings by Alicia Keys - Page 2

My parents weren't married. It wasn't like my dad up and left. I maintained a steady relationship with my grandparents. My dad's mother is my nana, and I'm closer to her than almost anybody in this world.

Music is funny. I shouldn't even ever talk about music, because you can have all the ideas in your head, and it never goes exactly the way that you think it's gonna go.

I love the written word so much, I know it's gonna flow naturally.

The desire to play has always been in me. I remember my first experience at about four or five of really dying to sing and dying to play that came from no one telling me to do so.

When I was younger, my mother and I, we'd have these crazy, crazy fights. Everyone would storm out mad, and the only way that I'd be able to express myself was to write her. We would write letters back and forth for days. When I'm writing, I feel uninterrupted. I write what I'm going through and how I see it.

Not because I'm trying to be fabulous, but I love those big crazy Jackie O shades.

I've always valued the input of the people I love. So in the past, whenever I'd make a decision - what to wear to an event, whether to pursue a job opportunity - I'd consult those closest to me, like my mother, husband, or manager.

I want to continue to produce film, television, and theater, and to make the most amazing music that I've made in my life.

People don't expect me to be as funny as I am.

I would hate to make music and people love me for something that isn't me.

A lot of times I watch TV and I watch film and there's so many things I'd love to talk about that I feel don't get the opportunity to be shown. Sometimes things become very stereotypical and one-sided, and I feel like it's such a colorful world.

I feel like B sides are always better, no matter whose record it is.

I've learned that while I'd be a fool not to stay open to the advice and experiences of the smart, amazing people in my life, I also need to listen to what I have to say.

I definitely want to act, but I also want to score movies, and I have this idea to fuse classical music with other styles that would give it a different perception.

If I didn't love it, I would not record it.

For me, doing a show, the excitement of singing live, and the possibility that you're not gonna be perfect - that's the thrill of it.

It's not until I hear songs that I've done, that I realize how much of an inspiration music from the '60s and '70s has been.

When I was first learning songs, I'd have a favorite song, and I'd take the chords and twist them around. I'd learn the chords and then play them backward. That was my first experimenting with writing a song.

I grew up in a pretty tough neighborhood.

I don't dream - only if I'm uncomfortable or I'm going through something.

I love children and I love family and I love that interaction. Because I had a really close relationship with my mother, I understand that deep powerful love, and it's so beautiful. To be a mother to a child is the most brilliant gift; it's gorgeous.

I love Bono. I really respect what he has done for Africa and how he has used his fame to do good in the world. I hope I can do half as much in my life.

Stevie Wonder's records introduced me to '70s soul when I was 12 or 13.

Most times, your blessings are also your curses. And for me, I have this ability to express myself so clearly with pen and paper, but when it comes to expressing myself verbally, I put up a big wall.

I have this vintage Harley-Davidson motorcycle jacket. When I put it on, it has this supercool feeling to it.

I fell in love with the piano. I knew it was me. I was dying to play.

I'm the cofounder of Keep a Child Alive. We provide medicine for families affected by HIV and AIDS in places like Africa and India.

Once people see this 'Unplugged,' I just want them to feel the spontaneity, to feel passionate... I want you to see another side of me, that's free, and feel where my head is, where whatever happens, happens. I want you to feel inspired.

Sometimes I've gotten photographs back and people have literally shaven off pieces of me, and I tell them to put it back.

My mother is an actress, and she used to drag me from theater to theater and reading to reading.

I was tired and I had overworked myself and burnt myself out. So I went to Egypt by myself. When I saw what was built there, it made me understand how powerful we are, that we can create anything. And I felt like I needed to create things that were timeless too.

I promised myself that I'd never actually admit to listening to 'New Kids on the Block.'

I really appreciate Frank Ocean's lyrical style, I appreciate the way that he can kind of draw you into this personal space, but it's still lyrical. It's almost poetic, in a way, but it's very personal at the same time.

The last thing I want is to walk into my house after a long day and see all the Grammys and awards. It would make me feel weird.

When you're talented, you're talented.

I was worried that one day, 40 years from now, I would look back and wouldn't be able to remember the details of my life, so I've written them all down.

I think you are who you are, and your kids will see who you are. So you'd better be a good person, because they are going to see it, and that's going to shape them. They are going to become you.

I'm very happy with my body.

How terrible would it have been if I had come out with some watered-down version of who I am? People fell in love with the real me, and I still feel blessed that that was how the journey began.

As a lyricist, you love to hear other great lyrics or other great concepts.

I grew up in the middle of everything. I walked the streets alone, I rode the trains alone, I came home at three in the morning alone; that was what I did.

I have big everything on the bottom, but I love my legs. You've got to love what's yours.

I have solid decent people around me, and I believe that is all it is, because you will get destroyed if you have people bringing you down.

I love my heritage! I have my mother, who is an Irish-Italian, and my father who is African, so I have the taste buds of an Italian and the spice of an African.

I love my legs.

I'm a very caring person.

If we took the time to learn more about different places and people, perhaps we would have more empathy for each other.

Risk the fall to know how it feels to fly.

The more you know the stronger you become, the closer you feel to yourself and the farther you can go.

You can't really compare people. That's one of the biggest lessons I've learned, because comparing yourself to someone else really stops you from being who you are.

Sometimes you need to start again, in order to fly

The most important thing to remember is that you can wear all the greatest clothes and all the greatest shoes, but you’ve got to have a good spirit on the inside. That’s what’s really going to make you look like you’re ready to rock the world.

Create the world you want, and fill it with the opportunities that matter to you.

I believe if you can find something to give back to, your soul will feel fulfilled in a very powerful way.

Be driven, be focused, but enjoy every moment, because it only happens once.

All of us are different. That's what makes us interesting and special. I don't want to be anything like another person. I want to be totally myself and go against the grain, forge my own path. I've learned that being different is what makes you stand out. It makes everything so much more intriguing.

There's something so powerful about being my own gorgeous, beautiful, individual, unique self.

Love is giving of yourself in a way that is free of fear.

Everything you want to be, you already are. You're simply on the path to discovering it.

Love is accepting people for who they are and what they are, regardless.