You have to take criticism with a grain of salt because you're never going to please everybody.

You can live a wonderful life, you can love God with all your heart, and you can love your husband or wife very passionately and have a balance in your life. I live by balance.

Education helps you to be a well-rounded person, period. It teaches you how to take in information and data, process it, and use it for life building. Education was key in my family. You were going to college.

It's not just about getting a song on the radio or appearing on television. It really is about helping people change their lives one day at a time.

I was brought up by great parents and great grandparents who told me, 'Never, ever think that you're better than anyone else or that what you do is so important that the world won't miss you once you're gone,' and I kind of translate that into the stardom thing.

People love gospel music. It's calming. It's soothing. It gets right to the point of whatever you're dealing with.

There is a sound that comes from gospel music that doesn't come from anything else. It is a sound of peace. It is a sound of, 'I'm going to make it through all of this.'

Good food is healthy food. Food is supposed to sustain you so you can live better, not so you can eat more. Some people eat to live, and some people live to eat.

My direction has never really changed, because I don't think that you can really work gimmicks in gospel music. With gospel music, there is this central theme that always comes around about the love of God, the love of Jesus and the power that you have through Jesus Christ. You don't need a gimmick when you have that.

Of course, my faith has a lot to do with being able to be public without being a public nuisance.

God is love. He loves everybody. He loves you.

Nobody talks about how Puffy went to Howard University or about Lil Wayne attending the University of Houston. All the young kids know is what they see on the videos. They don't realize that these guys have taken managerial and business courses, and know how to brand and how to market themselves. They're very smart.

The more I grow, and the older I get, the more I am enjoying my life and know how precious it really is.

As humans, we have the tendency to call on God only when we think that we're in dire straits as opposed to cultivating a real relationship with Him every day. And that's what my music tries to convey to all the listeners - try to cultivate it every day.

I'm very involved with kids because after being a teacher for seven years, I just can't stop loving the kids. I am a teacher forever.

Tramaine Hawkins has been a mentor, a confidante and an example of greatness. She has been through a lot in her life, and her career has spanned over 50 years. To me, that's what you call a legend.

Those of us who are blessed, we owe it to our fellow citizens and folks who we are around to do something special for them.

All of my lyrics are based on the one thing that's never failed me, and that's the Word of God.

I didn't grow up in one of those restrictive Christian households where you couldn't do this or that. We were brought up with a great collection of good morals and good values, but we also had fun. We'd go to church on Sunday, but then have ice cream, roller skate or play in the park afterwards.

Gospel is just the truth of the word of God. Anybody can sing it, anybody; anybody can perform it.

When I write a song, it comes from the heart and is based on a specific experience. You can't really say that one experience is greater than another, because all of your experiences take you through life on this journey.

I do a medley of hymns in all of my sets, whether I'm in an arena, in a theater, in an amusement park.

I cook everything from Italian to Cajun food. I have now mastered the roux for gumbo. I love cooking.

When you win a Grammy... you're thinking about you winning. It is amazing. Your peers and folks in the record business are saying, 'This is what we think of you.' And that's why the Grammy will always be, to me, the ultimate in what you get as far as a music trophy, because it is the one.

The only time I really eat out is when I'm on the road. Then, I make the same choices that I would make at home - salmon and lots of oily fish and veggies.

I'm very respectful in everything I wear. I think about it.

I started out in a professional choir at 13 years old. We traveled to different places, and I had a close relationship with the leaders of our choir. We were recording when I was 15, so it wasn't like I had to wait until 25 to find out certain things.

I truly do have the most amazing child on the face of the earth. I know all parents say that about their child, but Taylor truly is special.

I truly believe that my songs bring the answers and the solutions, as opposed to just talking about the problems. My music at its core is joyful.

The great thing about Gospel is that you don't have to have an album every year in order to keep working.

Luckily, I don't have to be anybody but Yolanda, because people don't expect me to be anything other than who I am. For an artist, it's a great place to be.

I think more people in the mainstream, folks like Nancy Wilson and Luther Vandross, they have openly expressed their love for God, and when mainstream artists start expressing their love for God openly in their concerts and including gospel songs in their concert, and, you know, people started embracing it.

You don't just become number one because you sing like everybody else. There is something different you bring to the table. Make sure you are constantly getting into the newest technologies. Learn the history of what you do, and always respect the ones who came before you.