As an artist myself, I know what it's like to put your heart and soul into something. You can feel the presence of another person. Madonna Ciccone More Quotes by Madonna Ciccone More Quotes From Madonna Ciccone 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 I felt very awkward and out of place in school. Not popular, not attractive, not special in any way and I was longing for love and approval from someone. Madonna Ciccone awkward self-esteem school 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 fans people thinking Everyone went out and bought Sex, it was sold out in two seconds. And then everybody slagged me off. That, to me is a statement of the hypocrisy of the world that we live in. The fact that everybody is so interested in sex but won't admit it. Madonna Ciccone hypocrisy two sex I don't even remember why I called myself an idiot. I can be very harshly critical of myself. It depends on my mood, and obviously it depends on where I am in my life. Yes, embracing myself - I'm working on that. Madonna Ciccone idiot mood remember 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 loneliness real thinking I didn't really give a sh** what's going on in the rest of the world. I just didn't. I just wanted to focus on me, me, me, my career, my life, just me - blinders. Madonna Ciccone focus careers giving I grew up in a high school where it was very conservative, and I felt like people disapproved of me, and I felt like an outsider. Madonna Ciccone outsiders people school We all fall to the floor at some point. It's how you pick yourself up that's the real challenge. Isn't it? Madonna Ciccone real challenges fall I became an overachiever to get approval from the world. Madonna Ciccone overachiever approval world The definition of S & M is letting someone hurt you that you know would never hurt you. Madonna Ciccone definitions hurt knows Publicly humiliating someone for your own gain will only come and haunt you. God's going to have his revenge. Madonna Ciccone humiliating gains revenge I've had so many challenges throughout my career, however successful people perceive me to be. Madonna Ciccone careers successful people I learned a lot about humility and patience, keeping my mouth shut. Madonna Ciccone humility-and-patience humility mouths There is a very modest side to me too. How far away from me is the image? It's about 20 steps away. Madonna Ciccone far-away sides steps The fact of the matter is that you can use your beauty and use your charm and be flirtatious, and you can get people interested in your beauty. But you cannot maintain that. In the end, talent is the only thing. My work is the only thing that's going to change any minds. Madonna Ciccone use mind people Trying to be a professional dancer, paying my rent by posing nude for art classes, staring at people staring at me naked. Daring them to think of me as anything but a form they were trying to capture with their pencils and charcoal. I was defiant. Hell-bent on surviving. On making it. But it was hard and it was lonely, and I had to dare myself every day to keep going. Madonna Ciccone lonely art thinking All the criticism is ultimately a blessing in disguise. Because now people know about Malawi [due to the child adoption]. And now people know about the orphans there. And hopefully it's gonna turn around. And a positive is gonna come out of the negative. Madonna Ciccone blessing children people I have had many challenges in my life, including some very big ones when I was young and I've learned a lot of valuable lessons along the way. I have seen life from just about every angle you can see it from. Madonna Ciccone lessons challenges way 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 guitar writing song