I'd rather be onstage with a pig - a duet with Jennifer Lopez and me just ain't going to happen.

I really rebel against authority.

Butterflies are always following me, everywhere I go.

I'm not one of those people that goes into details of my personal life on national TV to get attention. Some things are better left unsaid.

My mother is Irish, my father is black and Venezuelan, and me - I'm tan, I guess.

In this world, I call the shots and I think I know best.

People are like, 'What is your whole obsession with butterflies?' I'm like, 'I'm not obsessed. I like them. Can't anybody like something?'

You really have to look inside yourself and find your own inner strength, and say, 'I'm proud of what I am and who I am, and I'm just going to be myself.'

Forget the image, forget the ensemble, forget the rumours, forget the short skirts, the big hair, whatever! I owe this to the fans and I will never forget you so I want to accept this award on behalf of all of you.

I am very insecure about my looks, and I always have been because of being mixed race.

Time is irrelevant to me. I never wear a watch.

I could do my own nails... I went to beauty school in the 11th grade. But why would I do that now?

Whatever you're going through in your life, don't ever give up.

So when you feel like hope is gone, look inside you and be strong, and you'll finally see the truth - that a hero lies in you.

You really just want to know that somebody loves you for you. Sometimes you feel like an ATM machine with a wig on it.

I try not to be a jerk. I really do. I try to be nice and cordial.

One day I promised God that if he would give me my voice back I would never smoke again. I got three octaves back after quitting.

I work myself into the ground. But I think I'm a nice friend and a good person, and I try to do my work as best I can.

I've seen the real extreme diva behaviour and I don't think that's who I am.

I've seen other artists put out movies that went straight to DVD, and no one cared. Maybe their own fans bought the thing, and that was fine.

Never, never listen to anybody that try to discourage you.

A lot of people are singing about how screwed up the world is, and I don't think that everybody wants to hear about that all the time.

I don't think anyone knows as much about what's right for me as I do.

If critics have problems with my personal life, it's their problem. Anybody with half a brain would realize that it's the charts that count.

Never listen to anybody who try to discourage you.

It's hard to be someone that people talk about and write about, you know? They don't know me.

I'm very hard on myself and I have too many issues.

I definitely feel more complete than before. There's a void you have when you don't feel you've found the other part of who you are, so I'm in a different place now and that's nice to experience.

But I think I'm a nice friend and a good person, and I try to do my work as best I can.

I always felt like the rug could be pulled out from under me at anytime. And coming from a racially mixed background, I always felt like I didn't really fit in anywhere.

I think the greatest gift to me is that I can express myself in songs. It helps me get through some of the hardest times of my life. It also helps me celebrate some of the best times.

I wrote my own anthem: it's called 'Mariah's Theme.' It's on the 'Rainbow' album from '99. Back in the day.

I never thought that I would have love again, but it's amazing how the universe brings love to you.

My brother and sister had a much worse childhood, I think, because they were older, and they had to deal with a lot more racism because they grew up in the '70s and I grew up more in the '80s. So they had to deal with crosses being burned on their lawn and their dogs being poisoned.

Some of us talk about other people and what they do and la la la. But I'm not that person.

I've been blessed to live my dream more than half my life, so I want help give that back to someone else.

It's in my genes. My mother was an opera singer. I'm clearly dramatic.

I think certain people like to torture me because they think I've had it easier than I actually have and they think: 'Oh, she's got this, she's got that, she's always had everything perfect,' and it's sooo not true.

My heart has never been broken, I've never broken anyone else's.

I can still count on one hand the number of men I`ve slept with.

I don't mind being compared to Whitney, there are people miles worse to be compared to.

Being biracial is so much a part of who I am that it's almost, 'Let it go already.' It's intrinsic to me. I think a lot of my fans relate to me because they felt different.

I've been working on my craft for a long time. People never want to let go of the whole 'Glitter,'... I'm like, 'It's eight years later, people. Let's move on.

I started singing when I started talking.

Basically, I started singing when I started talking. Music has just been my saving grace my whole life.

Christmas is always the most fun. I start looking forward to Christmas before it's even summertime.

Honestly, everybody gets talked about. Some people control their press a little more than others. Some people feed the press and move it the way they want to. I don't do that.

Especially since I started studying acting, I feel like I'm always super-aware of my emotions and my feelings and what's going on with me at every moment. I definitely think I wasn't very present prior to that.

The fans never send me crazy things. They send me things that they put so much time and effort into making, and they are so amazing.

Trust is not very easy for me at all. I want to be a trusting person, but I've been bruised so many times - not to sound woe-is-me about my life.