Beyoncé Knowles

Beyoncé: I always said I would never do (drugs). I've never seen a person who was high and thought, 'Wow, I want to do that!' I"m like, 'That''s cool for them, but no thank you.'

Beyoncé: I don't drink often. But when I'm drunk, I'm very quiet and I observe and I go to sleep. I don't think I'm much fun.

Beyoncé: I don't really go out much. If I wasn't a celebrity then I don't know how I would feel, but it's not that much fun for me - it feels like I'm in a cage and everyone is watching.

Beyoncé: I like that I'm curvy but sometimes I get too curvy in the wrong places. I have days where I'm like, "Oh God, please let me go back to sleep," but I just have to accept I'm never going to be skinny because I love food.

Beyoncé: (on waiting to get married) Before the age of 25, I would never get married. I feel like you have to get to know yourself, know what you want, spend some time by yourself, and be proud of who you are before you can share that with someone else.

Beyoncé: (on gaining 20 pounds for "Cadillac Records") I ate a lot of butter pecan ice-cream it when I was preparing for Cadillac Records. I was able to eat as much as I wanted because they wanted me to gain the weight. It was heaven.

Beyoncé: Even now I sometimes fly economy if I need to. We had a storm in Miami (Florida) and there was a hurricane coming so we just got out. You know the airlines where if you're fifth in line, you sit in seat five? And then they throw a peanut at you with your drink? I don't care about those kind of things. It's just that people don't give me peace, that's the hardest thing.

Beyoncé: (on her marriage to Jay-Z) We were together for a really long time before we got married; we were in no rush. We don't have a normal relationship because of our careers. But celebrity or not, you go through the exact same things. We're not perfect. This is like my first relationship. I'm very private and, of course, I don't talk about it, but I'm very, very happy. That's all I'll say.

Beyoncé: (on Barack Obama's presidential bid) I'm really proud. I think we're making a lot of progress. It's an exciting time for my generation, regardless of whether you're African-American or not. The level of excitement, I've never seen anything like it. We all feel part of our country now.

Beyoncé: I can't really go to church anymore, which is a shame. People have come up to me in church during the sermon and, of course, people watch everything I do. They come up and take pictures on their mobile phones too. They are very nice, but I think God understands if I miss Sunday service!

Beyonce: (on marriage) I don't know when I'll want to get married, I never pictured myself as a bride, but after my sister's wedding, I did start thinking about what kind of wedding I'd want. I don't think I want a big one.

Beyoncé: At one point, I was a tomboy and wouldn't wear dresses. And when I first became a teenager, I hated purses. My mom used to say, 'You're a young lady, you should have a purse.' I refused. She had to beg me.

Beyoncé: (on her fall in July 2007) I recently fell down the stairs because my heel got caught in the hem of my coat. But really, I've fallen down the stairs a lot of times, so I can't only blame it on the coat.

Beyoncé: (on a special feature on her B'Phone) When I was 10, I recorded a song called 632-5792 - a phone number. It's a little embarrassing but it's cute. There's a recording of that song on the phone exclusively for my fans. It's only through this phone that you can get this close to my life.

Beyoncé: I'm just jealous that I wasn't born Latina. I wish I had been, because the culture is so beautiful. I noticed a big difference between speaking to all of the Latino stations and speaking to the pop stations or the other stations. With the Latino stations, there was so much love and everyone is so genuine.

Beyoncé: (on performing on stage) The easiest part is dancing in the heels. I don't even think about it anymore; it's just second nature. But it is difficult to dance, to sing at the same time. I have to make sure I'm in shape and I'm hydrated... I don't want to wear myself out and get exhausted.

Beyoncé: There's definitely a dangerous feeling when you're in love - it's giving your heart to someone else and knowing that they have control over your feelings. I know for me, who always tries to be so tough, that's the dangerous thing.

Beyoncé: (on the "Dreamgirls'" set) It is so tempting on film sets. They have these tables with every kind of food. I'd eat pork skins because that's the closest thing to chips.

Beyoncé: Everybody messes with celebrities. At a point, you just have to decide if you really want it. If you do, you have to have a tough skin. And after you get a certain amount of success, you have no choice. Either you're gonna turn to other things to take away the pain you feel, or you have to deal with it and move on. If it's something about my sister or my nephew or it's something evil, then yes, I'm upset. I wanna kill somebody. If it's a rumor that's vindictive, or something harmful, or something everybody's believing that is completely not true, then it's frustrating because there's nothing you can do about it. If someone misquotes you, or says some complete lie, and then they go back and retract that, people still don't believe you didn't say it. So sometimes it hurts. Sometimes I wanna cry. Sometimes I wanna scream. Sometimes I wanna curse people out.

Beyoncé: (on when her and her father used to argue over things) Me and my dad go at it. People would be very surprised. We don't do it too much, because I'm an adult and he's respectful of that. But during the time when I was becoming an adult and I was trying to, you know, claim my independence... we went at it all the time. We had our moments. But it's way more powerful to not curse.

Beyoncé: First of all, I don't listen to the radio. If I do, it would be in the car on my way to a venue - but not consciously. I don't go on the Internet. Unless I'm approving videos or approving song mixes, I don't go. I don't buy anything online. I'm scared. I don't want to just give 'em my credit card. I don't wanna be hacked.

Beyoncé: (on Shakira and the "Beautiful Liar" video) For the video, they put us in a room together for about two hours and we just came up with the choreography and played off the fact we look similar. It was really cool because I don't even know who is who sometimes - even I get confused!

Beyoncé: (on being taught to belly dance by Shakira) I used to watch her videos and I thought she was so cool. When she was teaching me the moves I thought, 'This is crazy, Shakira is showing me how to belly dance!' I got the best teacher. We didn't have a lot of time to come up with the choreography - most of it was done on the spot. I was just watching her and learning from her. It was so much fun, the best energy.

Beyoncé: (on the videos included on her DVD, B'Day Anthology Video Album) I didn't want them to look the same. Some are in black and white. Some are Super8. Some are very bright, vivid colors. Some are, you know, they look a little retro. I wore my hair black in some. I wore '80s makeup in one of the videos. Sixties Mod makeup. It was so exciting 'cause I love fashion, I love dressing up, so definitely it was like playing different characters. I can't believe I did it. But I had a lot of help and a lot of support.

Beyoncé: (on recording Spanish tracks for the deluxe edition of B'Day) I did grow up in Houston, Texas, so I was around Spanish; I took it at school but I completely forgot it. I had the best coach; I did it phonetically, every sentence I recorded maybe four times.

Beyoncé: (on working with fellow Destiny's Child members Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams for her "Get Me Body" video) It was exciting because we learned choreography... It was like old times. I'm so serious when I'm working and they were with me and we laughed and we're so goofy. I miss them so much.

Beyoncé: (on when she lost weight for her role in "Dreamgirls") I'm not naturally skinny. I fasted for two whole weeks, than got by on vegetables. I was starving. I didn't recognize myself. I was like a cotton bud. I look better with a few pounds on my bones.

Beyoncé: (On posing with a baby alligator for a photo shoot for "B'Day") There was a shot where I held an alligator. It had its mouth taped – that was my bright idea. He was really cute, but since his mouth was taped, he didn't have any way to defend himself. He was upset, so he peed on me. That was an experience.

Beyoncé: (on keeping her SI cover a secret) It was hard because I was so excited! You grow up seeing those issues and they're so amazing, it's crazy that I was able to be on the cover. It's amazing for me. They called and they said they were doing a music issue and they said they didn't know if I would be willing to wear the swimsuits. I said I would for Sports Illustrated because it's so classy.

Beyoncé: I love fried fish, fried shrimp and all different types of pasta. If it's fattening, I love it! The trouble is it goes to my sides, my hips and my butt real quick.

Beyoncé: (on losing weight for "Dreamgirls) I didn't recognize myself during filming because I looked like a cotton bud, and that wasn't a nice feeling. I look better with a few pounds on my bones.

Beyoncé: (on playing board games) My favorite game is Guess Who. It's like charades, and I love Connect Four. I'm really good at it. I swear, I could kick anyone's a** at Connect Four.

Beyoncé: (on Shakira and their song "Beautiful Liar) I've always loved her and I've always wanted to work with her, and the song fits perfectly. It basically talks about two women - the same guy is trying to get at both of them but instead of them fighting, they're saying, 'He's a beautiful liar, let's not fight, let's stick together. Forget him!' I think it's a great concept.

Beyoncé: (on meeting Diana Ross) I've met Diana Ross and she is one of the nicest women in the world. She came up to me and said if I ever needed anything, just to let her know.

Beyoncé: (on shopping at Wal-Mart) My sister and I have so much fun there. I get everything there - CDs, all kinds of make-up like mascara, lipstick. And then I never end up using any of it.

Beyoncé: (on Whitney Houston and her troubles) I once queued for Whitney's autograph when I was a kid. I had her photograph pinned up inside my wall and thought she was the very best around. I don't want to talk about what's happened to her since. I think it's very easy to get yourself into trouble. We live an unrealistic life in a crazy world. The demands are huge and the fallout can be equally big. You can get swept along by events. It is very hard for a woman in the music business to maintain a long term career. There are demands you cannot even begin to imagine.

Beyoncé: (complaining that as she's so good-looking, people ignore her artistic merits) It's frustrating because sometimes, when you are attractive, people don't acknowledge that you are talented as well.

Beyoncé: (on her song "Irreplaceable) It's a celebration of a breakup and makes women feel like they're worth more. I'd never had so many women say that they'd put on the record (to help them) not pick up the phone and take him back. I'm walking down hallways and see fans yelling 'To the left, to the left.

Beyoncé: (on 2006's "B'Day") I made probably my most emotional aggressive record ever.

Beyoncé: (about what she does for Christmas) I do the same thing every year. I start out in New York passing toys out at children's homes. Then I fly to Houston to my mother's house, and she cooks. She cooks yams, and macaroni and cheese, and spicy turkey and greens. We pass out gifts and we listen to Motown Christmas and sing and tell stories, and then we go to sleep. It's great!

Beyoncé: (about rumors that the song "Ring The Alarm is about Jay-Z and Rihanna having a relationship) The rumors that Ring the Alarm is about Jay - those things don't bother me as much because they're so silly. It's kind of obvious, like certain things are just obviously not true. When things are not true, you just don't really think about it. It's amazing. When you're a new artist (like Rihanna), people are curious. That just comes with being a beautiful girl and a celebrity. People try to link you up with everybody!

Beyoncé: I'd done a couple of sitcoms earlier on, but I wasn't very good in them, so I thought that meant I couldn't act.

Beyoncé: I get nervous when I don't get nervous. If I'm nervous I know I'm going to have a good show.

Beyoncé: I don't use backing tapes when I am singing and dancing on stage. I can do cartwheels and sing.

Beyoncé: The more successful I become, the more I need a man.

Beyoncé: You know what, I'm very attracted to someone who makes me laugh and is that charming. Really, I could be charmed by anyone. I'm just a sucker for somebody that is charming.

Beyoncé: The great thing about McDonald's is that they have a lot of different things on the menu. I love their salads.

Beyoncé: I think I am past needing celebrity. I don't want to feel the void I see in a lot of celebrities - the unhappiness underneath the smile. Don't you think it's scary that you rarely meet celebrities who are normal? I do normal things, walk in the park. I don't want to be off on my own diva planet. I want to be on Earth. I want to be normal.

Beyoncé: I decided when I was really young I wouldn't talk about my private life. I think Star Search did it for me. I told everyone that I was on there and we lost. It was the most embarrassing thing in my life. So from that point on, I didn't even tell anyone at school that I had a record deal. Just all of a sudden, one day I was out of school and on their television. And I know they were like, 'Oh my gosh, she sat behind me in algebra.'

Beyoncé: At the Billboard Awards my skirt was so tight they had to lift me on stage.

Beyoncé: Yeah, I hated my name. I just wanted to blend in. I kept asking, 'Mama, why is my name Beyoncé?' I used to think it was made up, but it was actually her maiden name.

Beyoncé: People look at us head to toe, judge us and think we're not human. We are. Nobody's a celebrity but God.

Beyoncé: (on being compared to Jennifer Lopez) It doesn't annoy me, no, because I respect J-Lo. I like her, I think she's great. And I know that I'm over a decade younger than her, it's so flattering that I'm so young and people are comparing me to someone who has accomplished so much. But I don't think I'm like anyone else and really, I'd rather not be compared to anyone else.

Beyoncé: I'm a fan of a few Bollywood films. I have seen Devdas (2002/I) and Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001), both great films. I loved Devdas (2002/I) - the actress was amazing! I cried towards the end of the film. Indian films are very colorful. It can be fun to do a film like that at least once. Given a chance, I'd love to do an Indian film.

Beyoncé: 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. But I understand the mentality of people. I know that people judge others based on certain things. I know how celebrities really are. I've done it too. You meet people - rock stars, rappers, whoever - who you have seen on television and you go into their homes and they are regular people, just like everyone else.

Beyoncé: Who I am on stage is very, very different to who I am in real life. But I don't see that having a sexy image when you are on stage means that you don't love God. No one knows what I'm really like from that. I like to walk around with bare feet and I don't like to comb my hair. I'm always so glammed up and so diva on stage and that's what they see. People don't understand that... No one knows my personal relationship with God and it's not up to me to prove that to anyone.

Beyoncé: (on the song "Bootylicious") I wrote that because, at the time, I'd gained some weight and the pressure that people put you under, the pressure to be thin, is unbelievable. I was just 18 and you shouldn't be thinking about that. You should be thinking about building up your character and having fun and the song was just telling everyone just forget what people are saying, you're bootylicious. That's all. It's a celebration of curves and a celebration of women's bodies.

Beyoncé: (on her role in "Dreamgirls) I know that it's no coincidence that not only was I born 25 years ago, but so was Dreamgirls. And so was Jennifer Hudson. I think we were both born for these roles. I don't think it's just a coincidence that we were brought on this earth in the same year. I've been preparing for this character my whole life. Even without me knowing

Beyoncé: I don't see myself as a brand, a brand sounds fake, I am real.

Beyoncé: Sometimes you have to remind your lover, why he fell in love with you. When you wear that one special dress then, the passion is back.

Beyoncé: There is always a lot of stress when you're making a new album, that's why there were only very few people who knew that i was working on B-Day. Not even my father knew anything about it!

Beyoncé: One of the things that kept me out of trouble was doing something creative - creativity can't be judged.

Beyoncé: (on collecting art) I figured I needed to invest in something and I really love art. I don't buy cars. The first check I got when I was 16, I bought a car and I haven't bought a car since. I don't buy jewelry. I bought a really big diamond ring when I was 16, wore it and everyone said I was engaged, so I was like, 'I can't even wear it.' I haven't bought anything else since. I really am kinda cheap.

Beyoncé: I am very conscious of how I look and my image and how I am with people. I have a team and we've been working together since I was 15, so every show, every earring, every shade of eye shadow is all something that comes from me and my team. I'm very much a perfectionist, and even before I was a pop star, or celebrity or whatever you want to call whatever I am, I was always that way. Always!

Beyoncé: I'm not one of those girls who has always dreamed of getting married. I'd like to get married one day, but I'm only 24. I'm in no rush. If it happens, it happens.

Beyoncé: (on Oprah Winfrey) When I'm around her, I want to stand up straight, pronounce my words right and articulate.

Beyoncé: I feel a lot older than 25, to be honest. I feel like an old woman, like I've been around a long time, not in a physical way, but spiritually.

Beyoncé: Love is always dangerous because that person has a control over you. That's why you have to choose someone who you know is going to be good to you and bring out the best in you.

Beyoncé: (on comments that there's a lot of anger on the album "B-Day") I actually scream on the album and I don't scream very often. People will be surprised, but they'll also relate because everyone feels like screaming every now and again.

Beyoncé: We all have our imperfections. But I'm human and you know, it's important to concentrate on other qualities besides outer beauty

Beyoncé: It's frustrating, because sometimes, when you are attractive, people don't acknowledge that you are talented as well. I mean, I'm a songwriter, I'm a producer, I have a strong voice, I'm a dynamic performer.

Beyoncé: (Telling TV Week about losing weight for the movie "Dreamgirls") Losing the weight for the film (Dreamgirls) was my idea. I wanted to go all the way. I was inspired by what Tom Hanks did for Cast Away. The weight loss worked because on screen you can see my character transform from this baby-fat-faced girl to a thin, sophisticated, chic woman. It wasn't healthy though. Immediately, the next day, I ate fried chicken, fried fish, French fries - anything fried - and the weight started to come on really fast and easy. I've put on 10 of the pounds back on again. I was too skinny.

Beyoncé: (Telling TV Week about starving herself to lose weight) It was so difficult. I was starving for six months, but I made it through. I literally fasted. A drink gave me the vitamins I needed and I didn't eat for 14 days and then I just drank protein shakes. It was hard and I felt weak, but I did it. It's not healthy but it was necessary.

Beyoncé: There's plenty of days when I'm like 'Oh God, why?' But that's just life. It's every job, not just mine. Every moment is not perfect. But it's definitely more good times than bad....And when I'm on stage it feels incredible. There are certain nights that you know you hit that crazy note and you know that spin spinned extra fast. And you look out and people are just into it and you've worked so hard and now it's paying off and you can see why you dedicated your life to this.