Madonna - People Quotes

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I pay attention to what's going on around me. I'm always looking for new energy, new talent, new voices. When you do that I think it's easier to come up with fresh ideas. It's not that my career has been based on surprising people, but it's been about challenging myself — to constantly do new things that are going to broaden my own mind and in the process, hopefully, connect with other people.

Madonna
I've gone from having a huge fan base to losing a huge fan base to having a kind of fluctuating fan base. I've always had a core of fans who've stuck by me but, depending on the kind of music I do, I end up appealing to certain groups of people and alienating others.

Madonna
I hate polite conversation. I hate it when people stand around and go, 'Hi, how are you?' I hate words that don't have any reason or meaning. Also I hate it when people smoke in elevators and closed in places. It's just so rude.
Answering the question 'What irritates you the most?'

Madonna
Nobody wants to be a schoolteacher anymore, and education is at an all-time low. Schools are not places whore people learn, they're just pens that people got baby-sat in and teachers get shot at.

Madonna
Fame is a by-product. Fame is something that should happen because you do work that speaks to people and people want to know about your work. Unfortunately the personality of people has taken over from the work and the artistry and it's this thing now that stands on its own. I don't think one should ever aspire to being famous.

Madonna
People have this idea that if you're sexual and beautiful and provocative, then there's nothing else you could possibly offer.

Madonna
The cross is a very powerful symbol and it symbolizes suffering, but it also is connected to a person who was loving and sharing and his message was about unconditional love. I tried to take a powerful image and use it to draw attention to a situation that needs attention. For me, we all need to be Jesus in our time. Jesus' message was to love your neighbor as yourself and these are people in need.

Madonna
I could never be Queen Of America. I've pissed off too many people. I've got the queens of America on my side but other than that...

Madonna
I've always been kind of obsessed with Frida Kahlo, so I was really into the idea of getting something that belonged to her. And then from Frida Kahlo I found out about Tina Modotti and then I started collecting her stuff and Edward Weston, and one person always leads to another person with me, because for me it started with Diego Rivera, then it went to Frida Kahlo, then it went to Tina, and Edward and... Also, if you're into Picasso, and you want to find out about him and that whole area of art and European culture, then you start reading about Man Ray and the surrealists and Andre Breton, and all of a sudden you're in that whole world and you start having interests in other people. It's like a disease.

Madonna
Many people see Eva Peron as either a saint or the incarnation of Satan. That means I can definitely identify with her.

Madonna
Phallic symbols. You know Catholics. I used to draw people naked all the time in my art class and my nun teachers used to tell me I had to put clothes on them. So I just drew lines around their bodies. See-through clothes.

Madonna
A lot of people are afraid to say what they want. That's why they don't get what they want.

Madonna
I think that life is a paradox and you have to embrace that in your work and your belief systems... you can't be a literalist, and that's the trouble that people always find themselves in. That's why people always hit a wall with any of my stuff, because you can't take it literally.

Madonna
I think that its an artist's responsibility to have a point of view. Society takes its cue from popular art. People need something to look to, something to provoke them into questioning whether they completely hate something or completely love something.

Madonna
The fact of the matter is that you can use your beauty and use your charm and be flirtatious, and you can get people interested in your beauty. But you cannot maintain that. In the end, talent is the only thing. My work is the only thing that's going to change any minds.

Madonna
I wanted to be a nun. I saw nuns as superstars. When I was growing up I went to a Catholic school, and the nuns, to me, were these superhuman, beautiful, fantastic people.

Madonna
It amazes me when I talk to people in their early 20s and they've never read the classics, things we read as children. When you don't have knowledge and understanding, then fear rises in you.

Madonna
I don't think evil is sexy! I don't think being cruel and mean and hurting other people is sexy!... Although I have been quite attracted to some very bad boys!

Madonna
"When I experienced what was going on first hand, I just got sucked into the whole thing. Thank God I did. I met some amazing people and, hopefully, I've changed the lives of a lot of children. Just as important, I think it's been an incredible growing and learning experience for me." (About her work in Malawi).

Madonna
I went to New York. I had a dream. I wanted to be a big star. I didn't know anybody. I wanted to dance. I wanted to sing. I wanted to do all those things. I wanted to make people happy. I wanted to be famous. I wanted everybody to love me. I wanted to be a star. I worked really hard and my dream came true.

Madonna
I came to the realization that a strong female is frightening to everybody, because all societies are male-dominated — black societies, poor people, rich people, any racial group, they're all dominated by men. A strong female is going to threaten everybody across the board.

Madonna
I'd like to think I am taking people on a journey; I am not just entertaining people, but giving them something to think about when they leave.

Madonna
Some people out there think everything I do is a publicity stunt, they think when I go to the bathroom it's a publicity stunt.

Madonna
A lot of people are just really confused by me; they don't know what to think of me, so they try to compartmentalize me or diminish me. Maybe they just feel unsafe. But any time you have an overtly emotional or irrational, negative reaction to something, you're fearing something that it's bringing up in you.

Madonna
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.

Madonna