Grace Jones is a force of nature. Visually and musically, she’s set trends and broken rules for decades. Born in Jamaica on May 19, 1948, the 74-year-old Jones is still touring, and still hula hooping in front of fans.
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The model, performer, and actor has appeared on screen with everyone from Eddie Murphy to Pee-wee Herman. She’s a Grammy nominee and a fashion icon. Even her album covers have become the stuff of myth.
But with all this talent and magnetism oozing from her pores, one might wonder what thoughts and ideas emanate from her mouth in conversation. Yes, outside of her dazzling songs and music videos, what does Jones have to say about the world around her? About love, her craft? Without further ado, here are the 30 best Grace Jones quotes.
1. “When I perform on stage I become those male bullies, those dominators from my childhood. That’s probably why it’s so scary because they scared me.”
2. “When I was modeling, I spent half my life staring at thousands of perfect reflections. It got to a stage where I was losing all sense of reality—so after I quit modeling, I took all the mirrors out of my house.”
3. “I don’t collaborate. You’re born alone, you die alone, you get on stage alone.”
4. “To be honest, my life is not really as way-out and myth-loaded as people like to portray it.”
5. “I was a go-go dancer, too. I called myself ‘Grace Mendoza’ to fool my parents.”
6. “The problem with the Dorises and the Nicki Minajes and Mileys is that they reach their goal very quickly. There is no long-term vision, and they forget that once you get into that whirlpool, then you have to fight the system that solidifies around you in order to keep being the outsider you claim you represent.”
7. “Listen to my advice; I have some experience. In a way, it is me being a teacher, which is what I wanted to be. I still feel I could go into teaching. What is teaching but passing on your knowledge to those who are at the beginning? Some people are born with that gift.”
8. “I had no childhood, really, so I imagined more than played, and that definitely led to my show business image, the theatrics, and the drama of my life.”
9. “I’ve had more misrepresentations than I can handle, and people have told the wickedest lies about me. A lot of them have taken their frustrations out on me, and I don’t like that because it can wound. Not necessarily me, but those around me. Journalists can be so bad.”
10. “In the Seventies and Eighties we all had our fun, and now and then we went really too far. But, ultimately, it required a certain amount of clear thinking, a lot of hard work, and good make-up to be accepted as a freak.”
11. “Rock n’ roll can get quite overwhelming. You can get caught up in the cycle.”
12. “I’m too vain, one of my biggest sins, but it saved me; I can see what excess does.”
13. “I was the only black girl at my junior high school. I had an afro, a Jamaican accent, I looked really old.”
14. “Be like Sasha Fierce. Be like Miley Cyrus. Be like Rihanna. Be like Lady Gaga. Be like Rita Ora and Sia. Be like Madonna. I cannot be like them, except to the extent that they are already being like me.”
15. “I like dressing like a guy. I love it. When I was modeling I used to do pictures where I would dress up like my little brother. No makeup, and I looked like a boy.”
16. “There is some Eighties music that is just timeless. The melodies, the lyrics… I called it church. Church in a club. You can shout and dance. The best of the Eighties was club church.”
17. “For me, a diva is like the great opera singer, the great film star—out of reach, in their own world, with a real gift for invention: attention-demanding performance artists with a flamboyant, compelling sense of their own importance so special and inimitable it verges on the alien.”
18. “I was born into a very religious family where everything was about setting the right example for the community and having to obey orders blindly. I felt that everyone was growing up in the world, except me. This is probably one of the reasons why I had such a rebellious attitude towards any form of authority.”
19. “Hiding, secrets, and not being able to be yourself is one of the worst things ever for a person. It gives you low self-esteem. You never get to reach that peak in your life. You should always be able to be yourself and be proud of yourself.”
20. “Use, don’t abuse.”
21. “One creates oneself.”
22. “I like conflicts. I love competition. I like discovering things for myself. It’s a childlike characteristic, actually. But that gives you a certain amount of power, and people are intimidated by that.”
23. “I didn’t think I had a voice at all, and I still think of myself as an interpreter of songs more than a singer. I thought it was too deep; people thought I was a man. I had a very strong Jamaican accent, too; the accent really messed me up for auditions.”
24. “I have been so copied by those people who have made fortunes that people assume I am that rich. But I did things for the excitement, the dare, the fact that it was new, not for the money. And too many times I was the first, not the beneficiary.”
25. “I don’t like people who hide things. We’re not perfect, we all have things that people might not like to see, and I like to show my faults.”
26. “I feel feminine when I feel feminine. I feel masculine when I feel masculine. I am a role switcher.”
27. “When I started modeling, I’d raise my arms and it was all muscle and all the other models had nothing. Really, everybody thought I was a man. I don’t have to do much to have muscles. It’s just genetic.”
28. “Shock always sells, you know? But you could shock in good taste.”
29. “Most performers take themselves too seriously. They forget there is a difference between the characters they play on the screen or stage and themselves, but the public doesn’t forget there is a difference. They see how silly it is if you try to be the same person all the time.”
30. “I believe in individuality, that everybody is special, and it’s up to them to find that quality and let it live.”
Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Netflix
