I'm tough, I'm ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay.

I'm ambitious. But if I weren't as talented as I am ambitious, I would be a gross monstrosity.

All my life I just wanted to be a beatnik. Meet all the heavies, get stoned, get laid, have a good time. That's all I ever wanted. Except I knew I had a good voice and I could always get a couple of beers off of it. All of a sudden someone threw me in this rock 'n' roll band. They threw these musicians at me, man, and the sound was coming from behind. The bass was charging me. And I decided then and there that that was it. I never wanted to do anything else. It was better than it had been with any man, you know. Maybe that's the trouble.

Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. ... that of being truly esteemed of my fellow‑men.

I have an irrepressible desire to live till I can be assured that the world is a little better for my having lived in it.

I don't want to sound presumptuous, but I've made it my goal to revolutionize pop music. The last revolution was launched by Madonna 25 years ago.