"I was kind of a wild child. I wasn't taught the niceties of life."

"I need instant gratification."

"Just like my father, I've always loved education. In school I was a member of the honor society."

"I've considered having my nose fixed. But I didn't trust anyone enough. If I could do it myself with a mirror."

"Eighteenth century American furniture and the design of the architects Greene and Greene are my special love."

"I hear these melodies. I hear horn lines and string lines. That's what's fun about recording with an orchestra."

"I have one son. Of everything I've done in my life, nothing matches the feeling of having life growing inside you."

"I've always liked working really hard and then doing nothing in particular. So, consequently, I didn't overexpose myself; I guess I maintained a kind of mystery. I wasn't ambitious."

"My mother had a great voice. Not like mine, not like my sister's, not like my son's - a high soprano voice, but like a bird. I mean, really beautiful."

"My friend Quincy Jones says we won our first Grammys together in 1963. I have no recollection. I don't even remember the room. When he showed me the picture, I remembered what I wore. But it's like awards don't mean anything."

"I also have intense relationships with furniture... probably because we practically had none when I was growing up."

"I'm interested in the truth, and unauthorized biographies are not. Yes, I would like to correct those errors someday."

"I still like my antique clothes."

"Performing, for me, has always been a very inner process."

"I'd started going to acting classes at 14, played 'Medea' at 15 and really wanted to be a classical actress."

"Why am I so famous? What am I doing right? What are the others doing wrong?"

"I'm tired of malicious articles slandering me."

"Most awards, you know, they don't give you unless you go and get them - did you know that? Terribly discouraging."

"When I was working a lot, I felt guilty as a parent. I couldn't pick up my son every day from school, bake him cookies and that kind of thing."

"I don't read music. Not even essentially. Not even nonessentially."

"I was raised on the streets, in hot, steamy Brooklyn, with stifled air."

"I do have friends that are Republicans, and we have very spirited conversations on a whole range of issues. I am often baffled by why they are Republicans, but I enjoy the dialogue and can move beyond politics to find common ground in my personal relationships."

"I'll see a celadon green room in an 18th century New Hampshire house and just fall in love. Colors stay in my head."

"I got sent to a health camp when I was about 6 years old, and we all had to wear the same starchy blue uniform. The lady who took care of me after school knit me a burgundy sweater. It was the only thing that gave me any individuality."