A Quote by Alicia Keys

My mother was raised very, very strict Catholic in the Midwest. There was so much fear and intimidation [in the faith]. So, growing up, I was always looking for my connection. I've found myself praying before meals, before bed; there's always been this gratitude for things that are bigger than me.
The reason I always loved 'The Omen' so much, and what has always been scariest to me, is anything to do with God. Anything to do with God is quite frightening because fear is something that's very much expressed in a church environment, and I grew up in one. And the fear of God was very much instilled me at a very young age.
I'm an ex-Catholic priest. I have such a complex relationship to Catholicism. On the one hand, if I called myself a Catholic it would have to be a very unorthodox one, as I just don't believe all of the teachings of the Church. But on the other hand, I'm an educated man because the Catholic Church educated me. It gave me something that is really important to me. So I always think about my faith. I always have it, and sometimes I can't talk about it, and sometimes I can. I am like an adolescent in that way. Teens are asking questions: who is God and what does it mean to have faith?
I've played a mother before, but it's always been a very young child, which is closer to what I can imagine my own life looking like.
I've always been a very rebellious, philosophical person, so my mother set the foundation for my appreciation for nature and my empathy for other people. But then, being a sort of rebellious, philosophical thinker, I'm always looking for new ways to shake things up. So I feel like I'm really lucky to be alive in a time where there's so much opportunity to disrupt and shake it up. It's sort of a combination between that and having the foundation that my mother gave me.
I do believe in God. I was raised Catholic. For me, personally, I was always very thoughtful about projects that I chose for myself.
Hymns have always sounded like sung spells to me. I never felt included in the magic of the God songs I heard growing up - I knew I was going to hell before anyone ever told me that I was. People found comfort in this all-knowing source, but I felt frightened and found out. I developed some weird and very dramatic complexes.
I have always had a deep connection with my faith, and I was fortunate to have been brought up in a Christian environment. My faith is a very important part of who I am.
Beauty is deeper than just what you look at in a picture. You could fancy what you like, but as a woman my mother always raised us to believe in ourselves. I'm very grateful for the fact that my mother brought me up that way.
I was always fat and not very athletic. Finally in my junior year I went on a diet. I got down from 220 to 140. It was very funny, all of a sudden I was much more popular. I could get dates with pretty girls who had turned me down before. I was the same person! It was a learning thing for me, part of growing up. I realized it was all so artificial.
We were not rich by any means. My dad was a plasterer and worked long hours - I hardly ever saw him when I was growing up. He had always gone to work before I woke up, and usually, I would be in bed before he came home.
I still look forward to doing things I've never done before. But the fear beforehand is always worse than the actual moment. Leading up to it, especially before the match, is when the butterflies are at their worst. But in the match, the creatures - my fans - fuel me. They're a huge superpower for me and my survival.
I was brought up by my mother and my two sisters, although they're older than me and fled the nest very young, so I was technically raised as an only child, but I was very much loved.
I was always bigger than the other girls. My sisters are very, very beautiful and very skinny, and I've always had a more muscular body. So I grew up with a different mentality.
Before I went into comedy I was a loner, very much wrapped up in my own thoughts. But I always liked myself and the way I thought.
I wouldn't have known anything about Catholicism if I hadn't been dating Gert. In those days, Catholics were much less ecumenical than they are today. Gert was always of the mind that she wouldn't go to another church except the Catholic Church. So when I would date her in New York City and later when we went to Oxford before we got married we always went to the Catholic church.
Growing up, there was a lot of pressure for women to be good-looking, but my mum was very strict, and she didn't allow me to wear make-up. Looking back, it was good for me. It slowed me down from becoming an adult too quickly.
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