Quotes By Madonna Ciccone

I sometimes think I was born to live up to my name. How could I be anything else but what I am having been named Madonna? I would either have ended up a nun or this.

Part of the reason I sort of shot out like a cannon out of Michigan and left home at such an early age is because I had to feel independent.

When I first came to New York I was a dancer, and a French record label offered me a recording contract and I had to go to Paris to do it. So I went there and that's how I really got into the music business. But I didn't like what I was doing when I got there, so I left, and I never did a record there.

But I love the idea - whether it's in my work or where I live - exploring new frontier, and I like putting myself in strange places and trying to survive and figure things out and gather up an infrastructure. I like knowing that I could figure out a way to live anywhere.

I always thought I should be treated like a star.

I want to be like Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, and John Lennon... but I want to stay alive.

Sometimes you want to go for a walk and you don't want to be watched. You just want to be anonymous and blend in. Especially when I travel, I feel that way, because I can't really go out and see a city the way other people can and I miss out on a lot.

I stand for freedom of expression, doing what you believe in, and going after your dreams.

I grew up in a high school where it was very conservative, and I felt like people disapproved of me, and I felt like an outsider.

If I was a girl again, I would like to be like my fans, I would like to be like Madonna.

A lot of places I go are dangerous, like Tel Aviv or Rio, but that never stops me from going there and putting on a show. I have good security. I don't worry about that.

I really saw myself as the quintessential Cinderella. I think that's when I really thought about how I wanted to do something else and get away from all that.

I think my biggest flaw is my insecurity. I'm terribly insecure. I'm plagued with insecurities 24/7.

As an artist myself, I know what it's like to put your heart and soul into something. You can feel the presence of another person.

On the one hand, the idea of marriage and the sort of traditional family life repulses me. But on the other hand, I long for it, you know what I mean? I'm constantly in conflict with things. And it is because of my past and my upbringing and the journey that I've been on.

In this business, my business, I get to meet all kinds of incredible people, fascinating people, glamorous people and sexy people and highly intellectual people. And you meet them and you go 'interesting, interesting, interesting'. They're interesting, but not very many people stop you in your tracks.

I think in the end, when you're famous, people like to narrow you down to a few personality traits. I think I've just become this ambitious, say-whatever's-on-her-mind, intimidating person. And that's part of my personality, but it's certainly not anywhere near the whole thing.

If any of you have seen my shows, you know that I don't skimp on them and the same is true for the gym. We spend what it takes to make a globally first-class gym.

I get strength from my art - all the paintings I own are powerful.

I have the same goal I've had ever since I was a girl: I want to rule the world.

I have my work and my faith... If that's boring to some people, I can't tell you how much I don't care.

I wouldn't live in Chicago cause it's too conservative, aside for the fact that Oprah Winfrey lives there.

I always felt like I was a freak when I was growing up and that there was something wrong with me because I couldn't fit in anywhere.

I don't like rooms you never use or that are wasted space but I also like a sparseness and a cleanness.

My father was very strong. I don't agree with a lot of the ways he brought me up. I don't agree with a lot of his values, but he did have a lot of integrity, and if he told us not to do something, he didn't do it either.

Prince Charles is very relaxed at the table, throwing his salad around willy-nilly. I didn't find him stiff at all.

I don't go to the sale rack. But I wouldn't say I am decadent in my spending. I am careful.

Be strong, believe in freedom and in God, love yourself, understand your sexuality, have a sense of humor, masturbate, don't judge people by their religion, color or sexual habits, love life and your family.

I like to change. A new lamp, a piece of art, can transform a room.

Poor is the man whose pleasures depend on the permission of another.