If you can't help me grow, there's no point with you being in my life.

Common is one of the nicest people I've ever met, and to describe him as a vile rapper because he has an opinion... just says a lot about the state of America. You are allowed to have an opinion in the United States - he's never harmed anybody, he just has an opinion about a president that wasn't good for our country.

For me, hair is an accoutrement. Hair is jewelry. It's an accessory.

I'm going to do as much as I can with this life, and then I'm going to make sure to take some time off and be simple and ride my bike and hang out with friends.

Soul music is about longevity and reaching and touching people on a human level - and that's never going to get lost.

I like a man who smells good. Puts on cologne; lotions his body. It keeps me wanting. I like feeling that way.

If I feel really ugly or unhappy, sometimes I'll choose bright colors so they'll make me feel good. Yellows, pinks, light blues and orange. I just want to feel good all the time if I can. And colors and hairstyles and all that kind of helps out.

I was reared in a Jehovah's Witness household. I was taught that every man should be judged by his deeds and not his color, and I firmly stand where my grandmother left me.

I love foods that start in my cheeks and then vibrate up.

I just think it's silly to be stingy with compliments. If you see someone and they strike you as beautiful in any way, why not let them know?

I've always been a firm believer that soul music never dies. The artists we still listen to today, years after their music was first heard are mostly soul artists; Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye, Chaka Khan. We still sing along to all of them with our hearts.

You owe it to yourself to live beautifully. And I am.

To be a queen of a household is a powerful thing.

I could float in the pool for hours, just letting the water carry me.

I'm being all of me, and it feels stupendous. I don't want to leave this feeling.

Sometimes I felt as a writer I was purging, and it almost hurt to purge to that level. Now it doesn't feel that way, maybe because I'm older. Maybe life has given me some punches, but it didn't knock me down.

The highs, the lows, the peaks, the valleys, whatever, it's all going to go into the art, whether I'm singing or acting or whatever.

There's a high school in Camden, New Jersey, I call the Jill Scott School. It's the Camden Creative Arts High School. Those teachers and kids are so passionate about what they do, and 98 percent of the senior class went on to college.

The video for 'Whatever' is kind of a documentary in a way. It's showing that love can last. Not just in your early 20s or your late 30s, but in your 50s, 60s and 70s. There's an awful myth out there that when you get married, love and lovemaking fade. It's not true.

Heartbreak was the impetus to me writing poems and music in the first place. Over the years, I had my heart broken so badly that if I didn't find a way to get all the pain out, I was going to lose my mind. I was crazy! Like, wanting to slash tires and smash car windows. Crazy! I was so hurt that I had to write.

A woman is more than the sum of her parts.

There are black marriages that are still going strong 40 years later. You hear so many myths that there aren't any people making it, but there are. As long as there are some, there's hope.

Back in my mid-20s I was told I'd never be able to have children as I wasn't having periods. Doctors tried to start up my monthly cycles, but when nothing worked, they actually offered me a hysterectomy. Without it, they said I might get ovarian cancer in the future. I chose not to have the operation, and am so glad I didn't.

I've always enjoyed shows like 'The X-Files,' where you're on the edge of your seat and you're so invested in these characters.

My mother's a genius. She just kept feeding me art on whatever we had; paper plates, silver platter, didn't matter. You know, she just kept feeding it to me. So we went to see all kinds of theater. We would go to the art museum pretty much every Sunday, and I would watch her. She let me know that art was supposed to touch.

We all get angry and jealous sometimes, none of us is perfect, but we should not try to be different.

I'm going to keep it real gully with you; the first two months, I wanted to give him back. I expected someone to come and save me because after you have the baby, nobody cares about you anymore. Nobody cares if you sleep, nobody cares if you eat. It's just you and this all-consuming thingy!

Everything starts with writing. I heard Nikki Giovanni and was blown away. I just thought 'wow'; she was writing from a black girl's perspective, and the imagery was so vivid that I started doing spoken word.

For anyone who feels they are overwhelmed by their job, or maybe they take their job too seriously or are working too hard, I say go to a safari, particularly the Okavango Delta, and just be humbled.

That's what I enjoy most about my music - that it heals in its own time and makes us look at ourselves in its own time.

My son has godmothers, godfathers, grandparents and so many others in his life who love him as much as I do. They're there for both of us. I may not have a mate or husband, but I'm definitely not a single parent.

Being a mom, it feels like I did something so powerful and amazing. It's such a gigantic blessing, and a confirmation that the Creator exists. And all of that has made me feel sexier and stronger. I call it 'lava in my spine.'

I panicked when my son, Jett, stopped eating baby food. He's only two, but his food vocabulary is fantastic. He likes my baked tilapia and string beans with chopped garlic. But he really likes pizza. Sometimes every inanimate object to him is pizza.

I just think fashion is about enjoying yourself and being comfortable in your skin and allowing you to be you - all the way live.

Our minds do understand that people of all races find genuine love in many places. We dig that the world is full of amazing options.

I am a huge Prince fan. It's a very rare thing for him to have people open for him. It's been the Time and Sheila E., and that's about it. Building a relationship with him has been like a dream come true. I've been looking for a mentor, and I feel like I have that in him.

I've done a lot of fighting in my time, and I'm down to do some more. I don't want to, but you know, there's just certain things that you can't sit down and take.

I'm going to be a strict mum. I know that love is the most important thing - you've got to have lots of kisses and cuddles - but you also need to mix it with discipline or you'll be in a heap of trouble.

I need to find creative diversity because if I get stuck, I get unhappy.

When I was growing up, my mother would take me to plays and museums, and we'd talk about life. Those times helped shape who I became.

I defy any woman who is pregnant and trying to concentrate really hard not to feel distracted.

I'm the girl that waits for the director to say, 'I like that,' or 'Can you boost it up?,' or 'Can you pull it down?' I'm that kind of actor. I started in theater, so that's the feedback that I'm accustomed to. It's the feedback that I really thrive off of.

There are repercussions to everything, even advancement and success. And I think that the repercussions to my success was the loss of my marriage.

I've learned that friendship does not equate business, business does not equate friendship.

At my aunt's funeral, I promised myself that I wouldn't be bound by the belief that I'm supposed to stay in anything - whether it's a relationship, a job, a house, or a circumstance - if it makes me miserable. She gave me the courage to find my own happiness.

I think the first time I really heard poetry was in the schoolyard. Just the little limericks that kids say when they're jumping rope and playing games. I think that's the first time I heard rhyming words - I don't know if I'd call that the definitive poetry, but that's when I heard rhyming words said and not necessarily sung.

People think that lemon is good for the voice, but it dries it out.

Heartbreak was the impetus to me writing poems and music in the first place.

'Saturday Night Live' is a show that I think I could have a lot of fun on, just being different characters and maybe singing, too.

Whatever happens in my life, whether I stand up or I fall down, whatever the case, I'm going to use it in my art. Why? Because I'm an artist and I have to.