What can be said about Beyonce that hasn’t already been said?
Videos by American Songwriter
There are lots of stars in the world, but only one Queen.
With more streams than global waterways and more praise than Britain’s Royal Family, Beyonce is a worldwide icon. We know her songs, we know her look, we know her famous husband and ever-growing famous children.
But do we know what she’s said about all of these things outside of her songs? What does the woman who brought us Lemonade have to say about her trials and tribulations?
That is the subject of today’s inquiry. So, sit back, and let’s dive into the Houston, Texas-born Beyonce’s 30 greatest quotes.
1. “If everything was perfect, you would never learn and you would never grow.”
2. “When you love and accept yourself, when you know who really cares about you, and when you learn from your mistakes, then you stop caring about what people who don’t know you think.”
3. “My style offstage is so different from onstage. I love a pair of sexy heels with jeans, a nice jacket, or a little dress.”
4. “I like to walk around with bare feet and I don’t like to comb my hair.”
5. “I truly believe that women should be financially independent from their men. And let’s face it, money gives men the power to run the show. It gives men the power to define value. They define what’s sexy. And men define what’s feminine. It’s ridiculous.”
6. “I’m over being a pop star. I don’t wanna be a hot girl. I wanna be iconic. And I feel like I’ve accomplished a lot. I feel like I’m highly respected, which is more important than any award or any amount of records. And I feel like there comes a point when being a pop star is not enough.”
7. “I think it’s healthy for a person to be nervous. It means you care—that you work hard and want to give a great performance. You just have to channel that nervous energy into the show.”
8. “I can never be safe; I always try and go against the grain. As soon as I accomplish one thing, I just set a higher goal. That’s how I’ve gotten to where I am.”
9. “In my videos, I always want to be a powerful woman. That’s my mission.”
10. “I grew up upper-class. Private school. My dad had a Jaguar. We’re African-American, and we work together as a family, so people assume we’re like the Jacksons. But I didn’t have parents using me to get out of a bad situation.”
11. “I always treat myself to one meal on Sundays when I can have whatever I want. Usually, it’s pizza, which is my favorite indulgence.”
12. “I just try to write songs that people are going to have a dialogue about.”
13. “I love my job, but it’s more than that: I need it.
14. “I don’t really like to call myself a brand, and I don’t like to think of myself as a brand. I’m a singer, a songwriter, a musician, and a performer. And an actress, and all the other things that I do. When you add it all together, some might call it a brand, but that’s not my focus.”
15. “When you’re a pop star, it’s a little conservative; you always have to stay in a box. You have fans that are five and fans that are 65; there are so many people wanting so many things.”
16. “Who I am on stage is very, very different to who I am in real life.”
17. “I wanted to sell a million records, and I sold a million records. I wanted to go platinum; I went platinum. I’ve been working nonstop since I was 15. I don’t even know how to chill out.”
18. “Power means happiness; power means hard work and sacrifice.”
19. “To be able to travel the world, especially to places I never thought I’d be… it’s really, you know, still fascinating for me.”
20. “I always have breakfast, say, scrambled egg whites, a vegetable smoothie, or whole-grain cereal with low-fat milk. For lunch and dinner, I eat a lot of fish and vegetables. And throughout the day, I try to stay hydrated.”
21. “We all have our imperfections. But I’m human, and you know, it’s important to concentrate on other qualities besides outer beauty.”
22. “For me, it’s about the way I carry myself and the way I treat other people. My relationship and how I feel about God and what He does for me is something deeply personal. It’s where I came from, my family, I was brought up in a religious household and that’s very important to me.”
23. “Tina Turner is someone that I admire because she made her strength feminine and sexy. Marilyn Monroe, because she was a curvy woman. I’m drawn to things that have the same kind of silhouettes as what she wore because our bodies are similar.”
24. “I’m a human being and I fall in love and sometimes I don’t have control of every situation.”
25. “One of the reasons I connect to the Super Bowl is that I approach my shows like an athlete.”
26. “I’m a people pleaser. I hold a lot of things in. I’m always making sure everybody is okay. I usually don’t rage; I usually don’t curse.”
27. “Any other woman who has to go to work and pick up the kids and make dinner—that’s way harder than what I have to do.”
28. “I discovered after going to music festivals that I am a rock fan. I love the guitars, the phrasing, and the abandon of rock fans.”
29. “Playing Etta James in the movie ‘Cadillac Records’ really changed me. It was a darker character, and I realized that if anything is too comfortable, I want to run from it. It’s no fun being safe.”
30. “There are a lot of things I never did because I believe in watching those true Hollywood stories and I see how easy it is to lose track of your life.”
(Photo by Kevin Winter/PW18/Getty Images for Parkwood Entertainment)
