Tina Turner Quotes

I never said, "Well, I don't have this and I don't have that." I said, "I don't have this yet, but I'm going to get it." The way I was thinking, I was choreographing my own life, figuring out which steps to take and, more importantly, picking the right time to take them.

Someone once asked me about the relationship between singing and chanting. I explained that chanting is not necessarily like singing a song, rather it's that moment when you find yourself making sounds from within – from your heart, from your spirit. Each person has a song inside. That is something I learned over time. You can find the hum inside of you that can give you peace when you are really down.

There's always been an emotion in my voice because it reached back to the life I was living. Where there were tears on stage, it wasn't Hollywood, it was real.

I was never glamorous. I was always a little rock 'n' roll and a little funky and all of that. I didn't care about being glamorous and all of that. I just loved the freedom that I had and I enjoyed the work and the band and all of that. That was the love. That truly was the love at the time.

People think my life has been tough but I think it's been a wonderful journey. The older you get, the more you realise it's not what happens, it's how you deal with it.

My greatest beauty secret is being happy with myself. I don't use special creams or treatments – I'll use a little bit of everything. It's a mistake to think you are what you put on yourself. I believe that a lot of how you look is to do with how you feel about yourself and your life.

I am strong, I lived through a divorce, separation from my family, all kinds of hell. I never let it break me down. I'm not an alcoholic, I've never smoked, I've never done drugs. I've floated through the disaster of my past clean.

I like me very much. When I look in the mirror and my skin glows back at me, I think, "Wow, that sure is pretty." I have a simple, childlike view of life, and I want to keep it. That's why I never got into that Beverly Hills world. So many pretentious people. They just aren't real.

My work is noisy, but my life is quiet. I need nature and solitude — they nurture me. My idea of a vacation is reading a book on the terrace while my boyfriend cooks us dinner.

Well, it was a church person in the early days, Mahalia Jackson. And Rosetta Tharpe. These spiritual, very strong voices. I only knew that they were figures in the black race, recognizable and respected. But I must admit, I've always covered the songs of males. I haven't followed up on women or listened to that much women's music.

I will never give in to old age until I become old. And I am not old yet!

If you are unhappy with anything — your mother, your father, your husband, your wife, your job, your boss, your car — whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you'll find that when you're free, your true creativity, your true self comes out.

I didn't have anybody, really, no foundation in life, so I had to make my own way. Always. From the start. I had to go out in the world and become strong, to discover my mission in life.

As the first Black woman to fill a football stadium. That is a wish of mine. It hasn't been done. Janis Joplin did it for the White girls. I want to do it for the Blacks.