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Once You Realize There Is A Higher Power, You Know You're Not Alone, That You Have A Purpose On The Planet. You Control Your Destiny Instead Of Letting The Day Lead You Where It May. You Seize It, Take It And Lead It.

-Queen Latifah

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Once You Realize There

Queen Latifah

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Once You Realize There Is A Higher Power, You Know You're Not Alone, That You Have A Purpose On The Planet. You Control Your Destiny Instead Of Letting The Day Lead You Where It May. You Seize It, Take It And Lead It.

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African American

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It Is What It Is

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I Feel Strongly That Women Who Look Like Me Should Feel Great. So I Am Not Changing.

Be Bold, Be Brave Enough To Be Your True Self.

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I Totally Want Like 18 Babies.

I Don't Care How Much Money You Have, Free Stuff Is Always A Good Thing.

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I Enjoy Going To Work And Having A Good Time. It's Tough When You Got To Work With People Who Just Are In A Bad Mood All The Damn Time.

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I Promised My Mom That If, After A Year Of Putting 150 Percent Into My Career It Didn't Work Out, I Would Go Back To School. I Never Did Go Back.

I Decided Early On That I Was Going To Put On My Crown And Rule My World By Acting Right And Treating Myself Like A Queen.

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I Actually Enjoy That I Never Really Needed To Be Hanging Out With Every Celebrity In Hollywood; I Just Go Home And Hang Out With My Cousins, My Best Friends. I'm Not Treated Like Royalty; They Love Me To Death, But They Don't Treat Me Like Royalty. So It's Easy For Me; They'll Tell Me The Truth, Whether It Hurts Or Not. And I Need That; I've Always Been Given That.

I Like To Keep Some Coloring Tools Around To Draw Vistas.

Most People Don't Have So Much Talent That They Can Become A Success All Their Own. We All Need People To Help Us And Lift Us Up.

If My Brother And I Wanted Money In Our Pockets, We Had To Get Jobs - My First Was At 15, At Burger King.

I Don't Have Any Regrets. If I Could Have Talked To My 19- Or 20-year-old Self, I Would Have Said, 'you're Going To Be Fine. It Ain't That Serious!'

Those Curveballs Are Always Coming-eventually, You Learn To Hit Some Of Them.

I'm Proud Of Everything I Do, But I Think I'm The Most Happy About Becoming A Rapper. It Was My Entrance Into Everything. That Helped Me Get Into Acting.

Bowling, I Like Bowling. I've Been Getting Into This Bowling Thing. It's Kinda Fun.

I've Never Wanted To Be Put Into A Box, Not Musically.

Having A Belief In God, Being Able To Find Joy, Despite Your Circumstances Or Put Yourself Outside Of Yourself, And Stop Looking Inwards And Look Outwards A Little Bit Really Helps To Carry Through Tough Times. Giving Makes You Feel Better.

I Need Something Bigger Than Myself. And The Only Thing That Can Be Would Be A Child. Someone Who Would Help Me Live Even More Selflessly.

You Just Have To Connect With People Who Believe In Your Vision And Who Will Work With You And Advance Your Cause.

I've Been Giving Back Since I Was A Teen, Handing Out Turkeys At Thanksgiving And Handing Out Toys At Toys Drives For Christmas. It's Very Important To Give Back As A Youth. It's As Simple As Helping An Old Lady Across The Street Or Giving Up Your Seat On The Bus For Someone Who Is Pregnant.

You Almost Have To Step Outside Yourself And Look At You As If You Were Someone Else You Really Care About And Really Want To Protect. Would You Let Someone Take Advantage Of That Person? Would You Let Someone Use That Person You Really Care About? Or Would You Speak Up For Them? If It Was Someone Else You Care About, You'd Say Something. I Know You Would. Okay, Now Put Yourself Back In That Body. That Person Is You. Stand Up And Tell 'em, "enough!

To Wanna Be Me Is To Go Through Not Just The Good But The Bad. You Wanna Share My Story Identically? Man, You Gonna Take Some Lumps.

[when I'm Not Working I Like To] Listen To Music, Watch Something Really Funny Like South Park.

Listening To Music

I Wish Every Woman Would Love Herself And Embrace What She Was Given Naturally.

You Have To Allow Your Mind To Create And Then If You Want To Censor Something And Bring It Down Or Point It In A Different Direction, Then You Can Do It.

I'm Probably Proudest Of Being Able To Lift A Lot Of Us Out Of The 'hood. That's The Biggest Thing, That I've Been Able To Employ A Lot Of People And Give Them Opportunities.

I'm The Daughter Of A Sister Whose The Mother Of A Brother Who's The Brother Of Another.

When It Came Time To Be A Professional Rapper, I Wouldn't Sign Anything Without Reading It. There Was No Way I Was Going To Have People Make Decisions For Me Or Wake Up One Day And Find That I Was Broke Because I Never Bothered To Read A Contract.

I Never Pictured Myself As Just A Rapper; I Always Wanted To Act And Do Whatever Else I Could Do. I Always Felt Like I Could Do A Lot Of Different Things.

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When There's Something That Impacts A Family Member Or Friend, That Is Difficult For Them, You Want To Do What You Can To Help. Sometimes You Can't Do Anything And It Makes You Feel Like You're Helpless, So Those Emotions Cross A Big Barometer, But They're A Big, Broad Stroke When It Comes To Someone Who You Care About. If You Have Compassion In Your Heart, You Just Care.

If There Are Kids Who Want To Follow In My Footsteps, I'd Say That My Shoes Are Too Big For Them To Fill! But Their Shoe Size Is Just Perfect.

I Never Really Took Any Acting Classes. I'm Just A Natural Ham, I Guess.

I Tend To Share Whatever I Know In General. I've Never Been A Person To Horde Information For The Sake Of My Own Skin, You Know What I Mean? Not Share So Somebody Doesn't Take Your Job, I've Never Had That Kind Of Insecurity. I Also Had A Management Company, Too, So We Were Always One Of Those Companies That Shared Information With Our Artists. Whatever They Wanted To Know, As Much As They Wanted To Know, They Could Know.

I'm Not Allowed To Get A Big Head, I've Still Got To Do The Simple Things In Life.

For Myself Music Definitely Informs My Emotions. And I Can Literally Play A Song That Will Get Me Where I Need To Be Emotionally. I Don't Have To Think About The Tragic Things That Happened In My Life Or The Greatest Things That Happened In My Life.

I Am Used To Being On Tours With People Who Are Fantastic Performers And I Respect Them And I Love Their Music. But The Bottom Line Is They Got The Vision For What We Are Trying To Do.

There Were Musicians That Influenced Me, But They Weren't All Women. Teena Marie Was A Big Influence Because She Wrote And Produced Her Own Music, Which Let Me Know That Women Could Write And Produce Their Own Music, Which Was An Empowering Moment For Me.

I Often Go To Bed In My Birthday Suit. But I Like Teddies And Cute Little Undies That Match. I Like A Sexy Bra And Panty Set, Or Little Shorts.

Yeah, I'm From Jersey; It's Almost Like I Was Automatically Born A Nets Fan.

For Me, It Might Sound Cliche, But Beauty For Me Really Does Start On The Inside. It's Like A State Of Mind, A State Of Love If You Will. Then, Whatever You Can Do On The Outside Is All Like A Bonus.

What Would Your Life Be Like If You Found Out You Had 3 Weeks Left? And You Know That You Had Not Begun To Live? And You Had All These Dreams And All These Possibilities. And All These Things You Wanted To Do And Things You Wanted To Say And Now Time's Up?

Look At People For An Example, But Then Make Sure To Do Things Your Way. Surround Yourself With Positive People.

Running For Office Was Definitely Something I've Thought About. When I Was Younger, I Wanted To Major In Political Science. And I've Been Engaged In Current Events Since I Was A Kid. If I Can Make A Difference And Feel Passionately And Capable, Then I Would. Why Not?

When You're Rapping, You Do Have To Perform To A Certain Degree, But Not Every Rapper Is Necessarily A Gifted Actor.

I Made Decisions That I Regret, And I Took Them As Learning Experiences... I'm Human, Not Perfect, Like Anybody Else.

When We Understand That We Are A Human Race, What Affects You Affects Me, What Affects Her Affects You And So On And So On, Then We'll Look At This Thing [hiv/aids] For What It Really Is. It's A Disease That's Out To Kill All Of Us. What Will Make It Continue Is Our Prejudices, Our Ideas About It, And The Fact That We Don't Look At Ourselves As One Giant Community.

Sometimes When I Am In A Situation That I Have Never Been In, I Kind Of Pull Back A Little Bit To Observe Things; It Doesn't Really Last Long Though I Have To. I've Resigned To Myself To The Fact That I Have To Be Me.

I'm Thinking Wanting To Succeed Is Something In My Dna; I'm Not Like 'i've Got To Succeed,' I Just Don't Think About That... I See A Silver Lining In Everything And I See A Lesson In Everything.

[hiking] Is Not That Crazy, But When You Look Back And You See That Mountain You Just Climbed, You Say, "i Can't Believe I Did That."

The Movie I've Seen A Million Times Is 'steel Magnolias,' Directed By Herbert Ross, Starring Sally Field And Julia Roberts.

There's No Way I Can Represent For Everyone. I Can't Represent For All Women Or All Big Women Or All Black Women. It's Important For People Not To Make Celebrities Their Source Of Who They Should Be In Life. I Can't Take On The Pressure Of Being Perfect. Nobody Is.

It's Not Always Easy To Do The Right Thing. But, Doing The Right Thing Makes You Strong, It Builds Character.

When I'm Doing Something I Love, I Can Lose Sleep. I Can Go And Go And Go And Go. My Work Ethic Is Pretty Intense. But When It Comes To Doing Something That I Don't Love Every Day, I'm Not Very Good At It. That's Called Work, And I Don't Like Work That Much.

If You Try To Follow Everyone Else's Mold, You'll Probably Fail At Some Point Because God Created Us Uniquely For A Reason.

I Don’t Want To Be A Supermodel; I Want To Be A Role Model.

I Try To Only Commit Myself To Things That I Think I Can Accomplish And Commit Myself To 100 Percent. I Try Not To Bite Off More Than I Can Chew.

There Are A Lot Of People Who Helped Make Queen Latifah Who She Is Today. I Don't Forget, But A Lot Of People Do And Get Big Heads.

When I Was Around 18, I Looked In The Mirror And Said, 'you're Either Going To Love Yourself Or Hate Yourself.' And I Decided To Love Myself. That Changed A Lot Of Things.

Loving Yourself

I Designed My Whole Image. That Was All Me. I Just Bought Some Regular Clothes, Threw A Medallion Around My Neck, And That Was It. The Next Thing I Know, That's The Look.

I'm As Involved As I Can Be. Whenever I'm Asked To Do Something, I Always Tend To Show Up.

I Was Not Born A Size 2. I'm Not Skinny, Period. I'm Not Willing To Sleep With The Director Or Step On Somebody Else's Neck To Get The Job.

There Are Two Things I Wear. One Is A Curvation Undergarment Over My Whole Body, And Then Maybe I'll Also Put On Some Spanx. They're So Great. They Have A Way Of Smoothing Everything Out, And Then You Can Just Put On Whatever You Want. It Accents You And Makes You Feel Pretty.

Even If You Don't Have Anything, Even If You've Got A Quarter In Your Pocket, To Share With Someone Else Who Has Nothing Really Helps.

I Don't Have To Really Be In The 60s. Every Time I Hail A Cab In New York, And They Pass Me By And Pick Up The White Person, Then I Get A Dose Of It. Or When They Don't Want To Take You To Harlem. I Grew Up With That.

Two Records Put Me Over The Top With Hip-hop. One Of Them Was 'planet Rock,' And The Other Had No Lyrics - It Was Called 'numbers,' From A Group Called Kraftwerk. Every Kid In The 'hood In New York And New Jersey Was Popping, Locking, And Breaking To That Record. It Was The Hottest Track On The Street At The Time.

I Want Every Day To Be Life For The Living, Not Just Traipsing Through It Existing. I'm Just Interested In Life And The World And Exploring.

Once You Realize There Is A Higher Power, You Know You're Not Alone, That You Have A Purpose On The Planet. You Control Your Destiny Instead Of Letting The Day Lead You Where It May. You Seize It, Take It And Lead It.

Business Is Fun. Controlling Your Own Destiny Is Fun. Creating An Idea And Turning It Into A Movie; Finding An Artist And Guiding Their Career And Bringing Them To Some Type Of Status - There's Joy In That.

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