You can fool people. You can fool anybody anytime of the day, but you can't fool yourself. At night, when you go home, you've got to be straight up with you.
— Whitney Houston
I would stay in my room for days, for days at times, just trying to get it together, to know what my next phase was going to be.
Loneliness comes with life.
I am not self-destructive. I am not a person who wants to die.
My mother was the first singer I had contact with. She sang constantly to us around the house, in church.
Being around people like Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick and Roberta Flack, all these greats, I was taught to listen and observe.
I have a mother that's very strong and family that surround me and constantly tell me they love me.
My daughter is my greatest inspiration.
I believe that children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside.
From the beginning, the camera and I were great friends. It loves me, and I love it.
I'm not crazy about arenas just because I can sell them out. It doesn't do anything for my ego at all. I want to play places where people don't have to sit in the nosebleed seats and wonder what the hell is going on.
Nobody likes to be picked on. Nobody.
When I heard Aretha, I could feel her emotional delivery so clearly. It came from down deep within. That's what I wanted to do.
I'm the kind of person, if, if I have a day that is nerve-wracking, or my week has been bad or something's going down, I won't eat. Some people eat, I don't eat. And it shows in my physical frame.
I've always been a thin girl. I'm not going to be fat, ever. Let's get that straight. Whitney is not going to be fat, ever. Okay?
In grammar school some of the girls had problems with me. My face was too light. My hair was too long. It was the black-consciousness period, and I felt really bad.
I'm either my best friend or my worst enemy.
I wanted to be a teacher. I love children, so I wanted to deal with children. Then I wanted to be a veterinarian. But by the age of ten or eleven, when I opened my mouth and said, 'Oh, God, what's this?' I kind of knew teaching and being a veterinarian were gonna have to wait.
I've got some good saints out there - that's right - that pray for me constantly. You've gotta have that! You do.
I'm good where I am at this moment.
I have priorities. Maintaining my daughter is my first.
God gave me a voice to sing with, and when you have that, what other gimmick is there?
I finally faced the fact that it isn't a crime not having friends. Being alone means you have fewer problems.
I've turned down a lot of arena dates because I've done the big-arena thing. Now, I want to do something where people can feel me and I can feel them.
When I decided to be a singer, my mother warned me I'd be alone a lot. Basically we all are. Loneliness comes with life.
I love to sing, but it's just not fun anymore.
When I decided to be a singer, my mother warned me I'd be alone a lot. Basically we all are.
I'm a person who has life and wants to live, and always have.
No one makes me do anything I don't want to do.
What's in your soul is in your soul.
I'm older, I'm matured... I'm looking forward to the years to come. Good years.
I think over the years, being a mother, I've matured in so many ways.
I'm just fiercely protective. It's like, that's my lair and nobody messes with my lair.
I decided long ago never to walk in anyone's shadow; if I fail, or if I succeed at least I did as I believe.
I like being a woman, even in a man's world. After all, men can't wear dresses, but we can wear the pants.
My mother taught me that when you stand in the truth and someone tells a lie about you, don't fight it.
I almost wish I could be more exciting, that I could match what is happening out there to me.
