Anita Baker

Applause felt like approval and it became a drug that soothed the pain, but only temporarily.

Up until I was 12 my sisters used to dress me up as a girl and introduce me as ‘Claudia’! Twelve was a turning point as I moved to a mixed school and then I became cool and discovered hair gel.

I want my sons to grow up in a world where they’d never think boys are better than girls or that black is better than white.

Our brothers and sisters are there with us from the dawn of our personal stories to the inevitable dusk.

My parents were neither very poor nor conspicuously honest.

Every day, people serve their neighbors and our nation in many different ways, from helping a child learn and easing the loneliness of those without a family to defending our freedom overseas. It is in this spirit of dedication to others and to our country that I believe service should be broadly and deeply encouraged.

All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

I met with my lawyers. They gave me all the wrong advice. For a long time I refused to accept the child was mine. I should have met her, arranged a DNA test and accepted my responsibility.

My mother’s a psychologist, my stepfather’s a psychologist, my stepmother is a therapist and my dad’s a lawyer. So it was all prominent in my life. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t know someone on some form of prescription medicine.

When your children arrive, your heart becomes a room with wide open windows.

There was a lot of charm in just living in a big family compound of a house. My two uncles, who were into jazz, lived in the basement, and one of them, Uncle Peter, taught me my first songs on the ukulele.

Be nice to your siblings, they’re your best link to your past and the most likely to stay with you in the future.

I always sort of felt like the eight years that Barack was president, it was sort of like having the good parent at home. You know, the responsible parent, the one who told you to eat your carrots and go to bed on time.

The quality of a father can be seen in the goals, dreams and aspirations he sets not only for himself, but for his family.

My son has a big Christmas problem – what do you buy for a father who has everything and you’re using it?

Growing up, I was taught that a man has to defend his family. When the wolf is trying to get in, you gotta stand in the doorway.