I never sing a song the same way twice.

Ever since that day when I was 11 years old, and I wasn't allowed in a photo because I wasn't wearing a tennis skirt, I knew that I wanted to change the sport.

I think self-awareness is probably the most important thing towards being a champion.

Don't let anyone define you. You define yourself.

Champions keep playing until they get it right.

Pressure is a privilege - it only comes to those who earn it.

I have often been asked whether I am a women or an athlete. The question is absurd. Men are not asked that. I am an athlete. I am a women.

A girl didn't get an athletic scholarship until the fall of 1972 for the very first time.

The main thing is not a matter of wanting to win; the main thing is being scared to lose.

I can't stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession, let alone two years or ten years.

When Lester plays, he almost seems to be singing; one can almost hear the words.

New Orleans is the only city in the world you go in to buy a pair of nylon stockings they want to know your head size.

I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That's all I know.

The only reason they're out there is to see me fall into the damn orchestra pit.

Lust may be in the heart, though it be not seen by others; as guests may be in the house, though they look not out at the windows.

I try to improvise like Les Young, Louis Armstrong or someone else I admire. What comes out is what I feel.

If I don't have friends, then I ain't nothing.

I've been told that nobody sings the word 'hunger' as I do.

If you think dope is for kicks and for thrills, you're out of your mind. There are more kicks to be had in a good case of paralytic polio or by living in an iron lung.