Quotes by India Arie

Even when it doesn't look good, it's always good. Even the worst thing, there's always something good that comes out of it. I've learned that.

Sound is energy, and that energy resonates with your energy. And it gives you a certain feeling.

Saying things on paper that I would never, ever say, and saying things to myself, admitting things to myself, about myself and my personality, just putting it on paper, is how I deal with emotional pain.

You deal with what comes to you. If it's something you don't like, you deal with it the best you can. If it's something that you love, you rise to the occasion.

In my opinion, you just have to make the music. Make the music and work as hard as you can to get it out there.

Why not be a person who is loving towards humankind as a whole and people as individuals?

So many people have been abused. It's not rare; it's a very common human experience, and we survive.

I always pray when I write songs that my spirit guides, or whoever is with me, inspiring me, would let me speak the truth.

I like being a role model -- people have told me that I am a role model for empowered women, but I don't see myself that way.

I'm in show business, and I'm an entertainer, but I also see myself as an artist doing social and spiritual work.

Music lives in my mother -- she's played in bands in Detroit and toured and did the whole thing. So I have somebody who's done it all to just talk to. And we write songs together.

Denying any person their humanity is a game we should all stop playing.

When I was growing up, I only saw really brown people on 'The Cosby Show,' and they were rich, and their parents were doctors. It wasn't like my home.

There's just something creatively fulfilling about watching a movie and writing a song for it because it helps you put on another pair of shoes.

I want my music to be a contribution, and I want the people who love me on Earth and in Heaven to be proud of who I am, and I want to be proud of myself, and I don't want to look back and say, 'Oh God, why did I say that?'

I don't really consider myself a teacher. I think -- like, I have opinions like everyone else, and I just share my opinions.

I want to always be classy and honest, and I always want to have fun with music, and if I can't really express who I am through my music, then it's not really fun anymore.

At 16, I started really loving country music, and Collin Raye just had the most amazing ballads!

I've been trying to arrive at a person who is self-defined and able to make my own mistakes rather than having other people make them for me.

If we can just focus our attention where it matters, we can effect change.

Just like the air you breathe or the water you drink, music shapes you. The trouble is, most people don't use it to spread love and healing. But I think music can make a social contribution if you're responsible with it.

The thought crossed my mind about not wanting to alienate my fan base, but I don't know what would alienate them or bring them in, so I decided not to think about it.

Now that I have better producer chops, a country album is something I want to do one day. I don't know who's going to put it out. But when I do, I don't think people will call it 'country music.' They'll probably call it 'neo-soul.'

If I were not a black artist but I was still singing, playing guitar, and singing ballads that are spiritual and cerebral, I'd be easier to market because people accept that from white female singer-songwriters faster.

Every once in a while, I find something that I'm interested in just because of the singing, like the Goo Goo Dolls.

Between '06 and '09, I dealt with pain by eating. And I was like, 'Oh, crap, eating makes you gain weight!'

I hope that the things that I sing about will be an inspiration for people to be original.

I'm really judgmental, especially about things that I feel make my life harder.

I've spent my entire life trying to figure out why I was different than everybody else. Why is my voice so deep? Why am I so muscular?

There's a difference in being opinionated and judgmental; I'm still trying to figure out what that fine line is -- I think we are all.

I do believe in prophecy.

You wash your hands when you shake a bunch of hands. You have to wash your energy when you're around people. It's hard for me to say self-care is washing, although I think it is. So I made music for self-care. That's what it's for.

The subconscious doesn't distinguish sarcasm and jokes. It just accepts what it hears. That's the power of words.

I was born in love with music. My mother is a singer. Many of my aunts and uncles on my mother's side are musical. My grandparents sang and played blues piano. It's literally in my blood.

If I don't have the right clothes, I feel weird walking out; I don't feel comfortable in what I have on. I have different colors that I want to wear on different days because it makes me feel different.

This celebrity culture that hypnotizes people into thinking a person is literally not real because you see them on television is a spell the watcher him- or herself must break.

I like Brandy a lot. She's a vocal prodigy.

I'm actually not a fan of the word 'woke.' I think the connotation of that means being socially aware, which is a beautiful thing to be. But it does not take into account being self-aware.

I made a conscious decision when I was recording 'Acoustic Soul' to -- and this is one of my mantras -- follow the music and let the chips fall where they may.

You need to take care of you and fortify yourself and then move out to take care of others.

I'm kind of like a folk singer mixed with soul, but I feel like if you really are a lover of hip-hop music, make the beat banging as possible and then put the message in so that people get the honey with the medicine.

Listening to 'Songs in the Key of Life' always puts me in a good mood.

Obviously, I've been heartbroken. We all know what that feels like.

I had been on what seemed to be a hiatus to the outside world, but I was actually working very hard on my health, my emotional health, and my business.

For me, the healing process starts with graciousness and forgiveness.

Nina Simone sacrificed so much to be as bold as she was about being black and about being female in an era where that could have cost her life.

I loved her music and the fact that she was a classically trained pianist and that her voice was so unique, but what made Nina Simone my hero is that I had never seen anyone in the public eye who looked anything like me at all, ever.

I am really excited to be partnering with Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula. Aside from being a longtime fan of their products, they're a family business with a strong ethical foundation, and that makes us a great match.

Songs like 'Peaceful World' and songs that are responsible with their lyrics and talk about love and harmony can take the forefront and do something for real.

In hindsight, I feel like I made the right decision to choose production that would get played on black radio.

Some people say, 'If she's so real, why does she call herself with a made-up name?' Well, India is my real name. Or they say, 'If she's so real, why does she wear makeup?' I didn't know there was anything wrong with makeup.

Joe Sample was one of my heroes. I met him at the Curacao Jazz festival, and I fanned out like he was the Beatles!

I am on an album with theater icon Billy Porter called the 'Soul of Richard Rodgers.' Our duet is called 'Carefully Taught.'

What I love about Stevie Wonder is the way he makes people feel. He's one of the best examples of how music can heal.

I always have something by Stevie Wonder in my CD player.

When it comes down to the song writing, I'm just very slow -- very slow. Because the songs are about my life, so I'm doing emotional work on myself.

When someone is themselves through their music, it's soul music. James Taylor is soul music to me 'cause it's just him talking about him. It doesn't have anything to do with black or growing up in the church; it's where it comes from. It's just soul music.

I'm not just making rhymes and making melodies. I'm expressing my true life force, energy.

It's OK to wear white in the wintertime. Do what you want.

'Open Door' was a world music project and bilingual. It was in Hebrew and English, and it's great. I do think it's really beautiful. But it's very emotional and very dark -- in a good way.

Everything in my music has always been emotionally and spiritually motivated... But after I started doing yoga, the place where I came from changed drastically.

I didn't even listen to Bob Marley until I was 17.

In Denver, all we really had was pop radio, so I grew up on all that late '70s pop stuff -- Billy Joel, James Taylor, Lionel Richie, Elton John, Steve Miller and Toto. Great love songs and really hooky and melodic music -- I have all of that stuff in my heart.

Just to keep myself balanced, I do things like yoga and meditation.

To spread love, healing, peace, and joy is my mission in life -- and so I speak up.

You're only human. Let's break free of this gravity of judgment. And fly high on the wings of forgiveness.

Anyway, in my performance style, I'm a singer-songwriter. People can call it neo-soul or RandB or whatever. But at the core, when you see me live, I'm a singer-songwriter.

It's always sad to me when certain people are excluded from being considered beautiful... because of someone else's expectation. That bothers me.

The songs that I've written about Africa, and AIDS and HIV and about the power of humanitarian love, those songs, I'm gonna sing them because I know that it's real.

What is socially irresponsible, once again, is just all my opinion. But there are things that I don't think are cool.

There's hope. It doesn't cost a thing to smile. You don't have to pay to laugh. You better thank God for that.

It's not fair that people ignore AIDS in Africa because it's Africa. It's not fair.

The truth, it needs no proof. Either it is or it isn't.

There is one relationship I was in that I learned a lot from. I learned a lot from the situation about myself and about relationships and about love, about how to relate to people, about forgiveness and the stuff that comes with being in a relationship.

Break the Shell: Child, it's time to break the shell Life's gonna hurt but it's meant to be felt You cannot touch the sky from inside yourself You cannot fly until you break the shell.

When I look in the mirror and the only one there is me

Every freckle on my face is where it's suppose to be

And I know my creator didn't make no mistakes on me

My feet, my thighs, my Lips, my eyes, I'm loving what I see.

Some people just don't like to be their self. I'm always looking, analyzing myself.

I'm still afraid of things, obviously -- we're human. But I like that feeling of being afraid.

Things that I'm afraid to do are always about being afraid of being exposed. Every time, that's what it's always about.

In the music industry it's just you're either Black or white, and this is the box you get put in.

Because you never know where life is gonna take you, And you can't change where you've been, But today, I have the opportunity to choose.

Strength, courage and wisdom...it's been inside of me all along.

I was born in love with music. My mother is a singer, many of my aunts and uncles on my mother's side are musical, my grandparents sang and played blues piano. It's literally in my blood. My mother wrote an original song to teach me the days of the week.

It seems nobody really talks about what we do with our emotional pain. Only the ascendant perhaps, who have learned how to fully meditate or do yoga or whatever through their emotional pain.

You're only human.

Let's break free of this gravity of judgment

And fly high on the wings of forgiveness.

Beautiful jewelry, a beautiful room -- that's what museums are -- a beautiful painting, a beautiful face, it makes you feel good to look at, and that's a beautiful thing.

There's a million ways to make people happy.

I was very fortunate to have learned the transforming power of music early in life. As an adult I want to share that power by inspiring people to care about their neighbors near and far. Being a UNICEF Ambassador allows me this kind of opportunity.

It's in my music, and its on my mind all the time. To spread love, healing peace and joy is my mission in life -- and so I speak up.

When it comes down to the song writing, I'm just very slow -- very slow. Because the songs are about my life, so I'm doing emotional work on myself. As I'm writing these songs, I have to learn these lessons and dig real deep into my heart to write this stuff.

Your real job in this world is to be you.

The thing that makes me most vulnerable is romantic relationship.