My favorite period is when we lived in the land of the three-minute song. The Motown thing - I thought they were genius in knowing that's as much as a listener can take. Meshell Ndegeocello More Quotes by Meshell Ndegeocello More Quotes From Meshell Ndegeocello Her beauty cannot be measured with standards of a colonized mind Meshell Ndegeocello her-beauty healing mind Music is like a lover that I can't commit to, but I seem to always find myself in bed with. Meshell Ndegeocello music bed lovers Looking at the media today, I'm quite ashamed of myself, of things I've participated in. Everything is marketed to sex and gossip and it's just a shame that those are the things at the forefront, on people's minds, those are the things that make you popular, what you have on or how little you have on and it has nothing to do with music, nothing to do with sports it has nothing to do with the things so many communities put their faith in. It's just a sad place to be. Meshell Ndegeocello media sports sex I am here no longer just a vision birthed into this body I accept my praise, my blame, my joy, my sorrow I realize we are, in truth, the truth we seek God, perfect this very moment. Meshell Ndegeocello truth perfect joy It's hard being bisexual, omnisexual, multisexual, whatever you want to call it, when people have their agenda and expect you to just represent their agenda. Meshell Ndegeocello bisexual agendas people Any ideas of “other” are complicated, and otherness is relative to personal ideas of “normal.” Meshell Ndegeocello normal complicated ideas I think leaders are incapable of the strength that passive resistance entails. Meshell Ndegeocello passive-resistance leader thinking Children are born with their own optimism. They have a clarity and a simplicity that we can only wish for. Meshell Ndegeocello optimism simplicity children My legacy is in my family, not in my work. For me. I don't know about for other people. I try to forget a lot. Meshell Ndegeocello legacy trying people My father was a jazz tenor sax player. He played in a lot of big bands. So I had that sound around me all the time. The first record that really caught my ear was Clifford Brown's 'Brownie Eyes.' I grew up listening to John Coltrane and Illinois Jacquet. This is where I come from... I love improvisational music. Meshell Ndegeocello eye player father I'm becoming more and more apolitical - I think the most revolutionary thing you can do is just live your life and have a good time. Before they scoop you up on the street or you die. Meshell Ndegeocello live-your-life becoming thinking God looks out for fools and babies. Meshell Ndegeocello fool baby looks Once you encounter people who are really testing the limits of kindness, that's when you start to build up a shield and close yourself down. Meshell Ndegeocello encounters kindness people We're all just bags of bones and muscle and hormones; I'll never understand what makes our minds do the things we do. It's like that statue of the monkey holding a skull. We're trying to use a thing we don't understand to understand ourselves. Meshell Ndegeocello skulls mind trying I love children. I'd prefer to be around children much more than adults, actually. And I like animals, too. I'm just really into beings who are at ease with themselves. Meshell Ndegeocello adults animal children Your yes means nothing if you can't say no. Meshell Ndegeocello ifs mean I stopped beating up on myself. I stopped asking myself why I didn't sell this number of records, why I don't have corporate sponsorship. I just don't buy into any of that anymore. Meshell Ndegeocello records asking numbers I watch documentaries for information. I watch films to be entertained. Meshell Ndegeocello documentaries information watches Music is my only guide. I don't care if people pigeonhole me. Miles Davis is my hero. He covered Cindy Lauper and Michael Jackson, and he didn't give a hoot about what the purists said. Meshell Ndegeocello hero giving people There's no hierarchy in suffering. I think songs that are transcendent are the ones where everyone can feel something from it, you know? Meshell Ndegeocello suffering song thinking