Madonna Ciccone famous quotes

I want the good life, but I don't want an easy ride. What I want is to work for it, feel the blood and sweat on my fingertips.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Good Life #Blood #Sweat

As much good as it does, social media can also encourage stupidity and degradation.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Media #Stupidity #Doe

I stand for freedom of expression, doing what you believe in, and going after your dreams.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Inspirational #Graduation #Dream

I like coming up with these spectacular extravaganzas that will, hopefully, totally blow people away. But I also like the intimacy of stopping it all and sitting at the edge of the stage and connecting with individual people in the audience.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Blow #People #Stopping

I always acted like a star long before I was one
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Stars #Long

I might be responsible for as many gay marriages as I am for heterosexual divorces.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Divorce #Gay #Might

I want to be like Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, and John Lennon... but I want to stay alive.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Music #Kings #Alive

One is that we are all responsible for our actions, our behavior, and our words, and we must take responsibility for everything we say and do. I am the architect of my destiny. You can`t blame other people for things that happened to you.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Responsibility #Destiny #People

I am my own experiment. I am my own work of art.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Art #Self Love #Experiments

My home base - pop music and the Catholic Church.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Home #Catholic #Church

Rejection is the greatest aphrodisiac.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Rejection #Aphrodisiac

I've always been interested in electronica, techno, trip-hop, that kind of music. The thing that bothered me about a lot of that music, though, was it seemed devoid of emotion. There wasn't a lot that felt personal.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Emotion #Kind #Hops

I ran to the forest, I ran to the trees. I ran and I ran, I was looking for me.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Philosophy #Tree #Forests

I could never work in a recording studio where you have this lovely view and a beach and the waves are crashing. For me, it's all about being in a tiny room with little windows. It's almost like you have to be in a prison. And you can create beauty when you're in that sort of deprived environment, which is a re-creation of your formative years.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Beach #Views #Years

Yoga is a metaphor for life. You have to take it really slowly. You can't rush. You can't skip to the next position. You find yourself in very humiliating situations, but you can't judge yourself. You just have to breathe, and let go. It is a workout for your mind, your body and your soul.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Letting Go #Workout #Yoga

I'm constantly exploring spirituality, sexuality, different aspects of love, whether it's romantic love or the love you have for your children. And love can be as devastating and destructive as it can be rejuvenating and life-giving. I guess I try to capture all of that.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Children #Love You #Romantic Love

Everyone probably thinks that I'm a raving nymphomaniac, that I have an insatiable sexual appetite, when the truth is I'd rather read a book.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Book #Thinking #Truth Is

I'm not a reluctant pop star. I'm very grateful and happy for everything that I have and for things when they go well. On the other hand, I've had enough of the other side to know that if it doesn't, I will survive that and life goes on.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Stars #Grateful #Hands

Fame is a form of misunderstanding.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Fame #Form #Misunderstanding

The media is something that affects a lot of people, so you're constantly trying to strike a balance between respecting something and not caring about it.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Caring #Media #People

Who needs a smile when a tear's so full of love?
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Tears #Needs

Before doing any interviews I like to know who I'm meeting with and get a bit of an idea of their sensibilities.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Ideas #Interviews #Meetings

I'll rest when I'm dead. I'm hungry and life is short!
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Life Is Short #Life Is #Hungry

Having money is just the best thing in the world.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Money #World #Wealth

Power is being told you're not loved and not being destroyed by it.
-- Madonna Ciccone

A lot of places I go are dangerous, like Tel Aviv or Rio, but that never stops me from going there and putting on a show. I have good security. I don't worry about that.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Worry #Dangerous #Shows

Honestly, I don't read newspapers, magazines, whatever. They're just not part of my lexicon. I don't want to be manipulated, or manipulated about other people's work.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#People #Lexicon #Magazines

I always felt like I was a freak when I was growing up and that there was something wrong with me because I couldn't fit in anywhere.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Growing Up #Growing #Freak

I'm so used to people slagging me off. Since the beginning of my career I've been told I have no talent, I can't sing and I'm a one-hit wonder.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Careers #People #Talent

Poor is the man whose pleasures depend on the permission of another.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Inspirational #Inspiring #Men

Having children made me go down a road of serious introspection and self-examination. I think it's informed and hopefully enhanced my creativity.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Children #Creativity #Thinking

People hear the soul, black influence in my voice. I grew up listening to CKLW and all the black stations like WLBS.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Voice #People #Soul

My point of view and philosophy continues to change and grow. As the years go by you go through this evolution.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Philosophy #Views #Years

Better to live one year as a tiger, then a hundred as sheep.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Sheep #Years #Hundred

You realise that having a number one record and being loved and adored isn't the most important thing in the world. But at the same time, I don't have a problem with it.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Numbers #Important #Records

When I'm hungry, I eat. When I'm thirsty, I drink. When I feel like saying something, I say it.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Inspirational #Inspiring #Drink

My daughter is a fan of mine but she doesn't want to be too obvious about it because I'm her mum and it's not cool.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Daughter #Fans #Want

That consciousness is everything and that all things begin with a thought. That we are responsible for our own fate, we reap what we sow, we get what we give, we pull in what we put out.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Fate #Giving #Consciousness

Everyone who knows me thinks I'm a bit of a work Nazi.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Thinking #Nazi #Know Me

Be strong, believe in freedom and in God, love yourself, understand your sexuality, have a sense of humor, masturbate, don't judge people by their religion, color or sexual habits, love life and your family.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Strong #Love Yourself #Believe

When I first moved to New York I wanted to be a dancer, I danced professionally for years, living a hand-to-mouth existence.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#New York #Hands #Years

I’m a role model for those who dare to be different. For those who dare to take a stand in their life and have an opinion
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Role Models #Different #Roles

I was used to dancing, but only when someone told you what to do. So in the nightclub I was all over the place, I combined everything. Street dance, modern dance, a bit of jazz and ballet, I was Twyla Tharp, I was Alvin Ailey, I was Michael Jackson. I didn't care, I was free.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Dancing #Ballet #Care

I like film soundtracks. I like the soundtracks better than the movies.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Film #Soundtracks

Nos are just as valuable as yeses in the game of life. In fact, they're essential.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Games #Essentials #Facts

After years and years of everybody commenting on the way I look and dress and being photographed, one starts to become self-conscious and starts to plan things more. You end up judging yourself more, what looks good and what doesn't.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Self #Years #Judging

I do some of my best stand-up comedy during sound checks.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Sound #Comedy #Checks

I've always been under scrutiny. But I used to just not really pay attention to what people said.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#People #Attention #Pay

I became very obsessed with death, and the idea that you never know when death will arrive, so one has to do as much as possible all the time to get the most out of life. That would be a motivating force.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Ideas #Would Be #Obsessed

My idea of the perfect man would be someone intelligent and clever enough, but also kind and compassionate enough to stand up to me - to stand up to me with compassion.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Clever #Intelligent #Men

Sexism - you can't be sexy and intelligent. It's not allowed.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Sexy #Intelligent #Sexism

I like to be a team player. All the projects I do are collaborations. And I want to solicit the opinions and help of other people. I'm not interested in being the one in charge.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Team #Player #People

When I think about popular culture, I can't help but think that we're living in the age of loneliness. There's this illusion that we all have instant access to each other, but we actually have no real connection.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Real #Loneliness #Thinking

Being able to step outside of yourself in order to help someone else is why we're all here, it's what we should all be doing if we can.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Order #Able #Steps

Every actor wants to get their two cents in about a scene at the end of the day.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Two #The End Of The Day #Actors

My work gives me a sense of purpose that I never really had before - it gives me a lot of joy, and it would be wonderful to invite other people to get involved.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#People #Giving #Joy

I learned a lot about humility and patience, keeping my mouth shut.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Humility #Mouths

My goal from the very beginning was just to write good songs that don't require any production to be felt or understood. I wanted to be able to sit in a room with a guitar and play the song from beginning to end and have it be as impactful as if you heard the studio version with all the bells and whistles.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Song #Writing #Guitar

In England especially, I've found that if you bring up King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson at a dinner party or a social gathering, it's like throwing a Molotov cocktail into the room.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Kings #Party #Gathering

When you make a movie, it seems like there's nothing but resistance. It's kind of a miracle that any movie ever gets made.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Miracle #Resistance #Kind

Filmmaking is such a collaboration. At a certain point, I suppose you do have to let go and trust the people you're working with.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Letting Go #People #Collaboration

The ultimate moment where I most felt like a rebel was in St. Petersburg, Russia [in 2012 during the MDNA Tour] when I was told they were going to arrest anyone who was openly or obviously gay and they came to my shows and I spoke out against the government.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Gay #Russia #Government

I can't stand when I walk into a room and everyone's not talking to each other and just on their phones.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Phones #Talking #Rooms

The thing I love most about being famous is people listening to me when I have something important to say.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#People #Listening #Important

The thing I like least about being famous is being overly scrutinized for everything I say and do.
-- Madonna Ciccone

My favorite scene that I ever filmed was singing "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" from the balcony of the Casa Rosada in Argentina [where the real Eva Peron once stood] during Evita. That was amazing. SO real and surreal. Bizarre.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Real #Singing #Argentina

I'm attracted to men who are going to stand up to me.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Men

When I discovered that I could write music, it felt like the most natural way for me to connect with people and tell my stories. I've always thought of that as what I do: I tell stories.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Writing #People #Stories

I like the idea of going to one of those retreats where you don't speak - like, silence for five days.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Ideas #Silence #Retreat

The one thing I don't understand is when people make comments who are clearly not fans of mine. I think, why are you here? Why are you wasting your time? It's fascinating.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Thinking #People #Fans

When the day is done the most important thing is loving people and sharing love.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#People #Important #Done

Death was a big part of my life growing up. I went to lots of funerals.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Growing Up #Funeral #Growing

We're in the world of creating illusions and giving people the ability to dream and to be inspired or moved.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Dream #Creating #People

Sleeping is the most difficult part of what I do, relaxing afterwards. Letting things go.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Sleep #Difficult #Letting Things Go

Children always think they did something wrong when their parents disappear.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Children #Thinking #Parent

I've been inspired by films since I started dancing, and I'm married to a filmmaker, and I think it was one of my secret desires, but I was afraid to just say, 'I want to be a director'. But then one day I said, O.K., stop dreaming and do it. But I didn't want to do it the Hollywood way, and talk through agents. I decided it all had to be generated by me, so I wrote it.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Dream #Thinking #Dancing

I like that you have four minutes to zero in on something and evoke a specific feeling and take people on some sort of journey.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Zero #Journey #People

Suffering is a big informer, a big catalyst for creation. You take your sadness, your despair, your sense of injustice, and you put it in your work.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Sadness #Suffering #Despair

Thinking isn't something you think about. It comes naturally. Thinking involves many things. It involves being an observer. It involves analyzing things, taking in what's around you in the world and finding how to make it inspire your work or turn it into a lesson to teach your children; it's paying attention to details. That's what thinking is: processing.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Children #Thinking #Inspire

My daughter's birth was like a rebirth for me.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Daughter #My Daughter #Birth

You don't want to be the smartest person in the room; you want to be the dumbest in the room. You want to be surrounded by other thinking people who are going to say something that makes you think, "Oh, my God, that's an amazing idea. Why didn't I think of that."
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Thinking #Ideas #People

I think the silence would be good with me, and not interacting with people would be okay. But not being able to move outside of the space would be hard. Not being able to walk around - the stillness of my body, physically - that would be the challenge.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Moving #Thinking #Space

I actually always try to have a moment in my show where I can just lay down on stage and talk to people for a little while.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#People #Trying #Littles

I think love resides in all of the songs, even when they are overtly sexual.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Song #Thinking

When you make a movie, it's just a huge bureaucracy because movies cost so much money. Millions of people get involved, and pretty soon the creative idea gets tramped on and watered down or filtered through a huge system.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Ideas #People #Creative

I've been practicing yoga very seriously for a little over a year and I believe that helped my voice and affected my singing.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Believe #Yoga #Years

I'm sure other people have a very strange view of my lifestyle.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Views #People #Strange

Nowadays New-York is not the exciting place it used to be. It still has great energy; I still put my finger in the socket. But it doesn't feel alive, cracking with that synergy between the art world and music world and fashion world that was happening in the 80s. A lot of people died.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Fashion #Art #New York

There's one thing you can't download and that's a live performance. And I know how to put on a show, and enjoy performing, and I'll always have that.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Enjoy #Performing #Shows

I love the art form, but working in film can be a disheartening experience.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Art #Film #Form

There is order in the universe, even though it looks like chaos. We separate the world into categories: this is good and this is bad. But life is set up to trick us. It's a series of illusions we invest in. And ultimately those investments don't serve our understanding, because physicality is always going to let you down, because physicality doesn't last.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Order #Understanding #Looks

Marriage? I don't know what I really think about marriage. I'm a bit confused on that issue.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Confused #Thinking #Issues

People love pitting strong females against each other.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Strong #People #Female

Who is my role model and how long can I keep this going? I just move around and do different things and come back to music, try making films and come back to music, write children's books and come back to music.
-- Madonna Ciccone

#Children #Moving #Book