Patti LaBelle Quotes & Sayings

A diva is someone who is a perfectionist, who does her best in her craft. — Patti LaBelle

I'm very spontaneous. — Patti LaBelle

When you take your troubles to God, you may have them but they don't have you. — Patti LaBelle

Here's the thing about faith: It gives us the strength to go on when we want to give in. It gives us the courage to get up when we want to lie down. It gives us the power to make a way out of no way when there ain't no way. Just as love can't make you strong until love has made you weak, well, faith can't lift you up until life has knocked you down. With faith or without it, we can't stop the waves. But with it, we don't need to. Because with it we can ride the surf. — Patti LaBelle

I just sing the stuff that makes me smile, makes me feel like I didn't sell myself out. — Patti LaBelle

So if diva means giving your best, then yes, I guess I am a diva. — Patti LaBelle

I never wanted to go on stage alone because if you mess up, who can you blame? — Patti LaBelle

Whenever I go out, so many people who respect me ask me what to do in a certain situation. A lot of times, I didn't know the answers because sometimes I was going through the same sort of thing. But then later on, I would think of things that people told me. — Patti LaBelle

People with no humor, they're outta my life. — Patti LaBelle

I don't tweet, Twitter, email, Facebook, look book, no kind of book. I have a land line phone at my home - that's the only phone I have. If my phone rang every day like everyone else around me, I would lose my mind. — Patti LaBelle

There is nothing more personal than your values. What you will and won't do to get ahead, the lines you will and won't cross to win, whom you will and won't step on for personal gain, are at the very core of your code of honor. And your code of honor determines your character. And your character is who you are. Behind closed doors. When nobody is watching. — Patti LaBelle

I'm 60, and I did 60-year-old women songs. I'm not trying to be the Hip-Hop Queen, although I am the original Hip Hop Queen. — Patti LaBelle

Every exit is an entrance to someplace else. — Patti LaBelle

Always respect yourself and don't go out there disrespecting yourself. — Patti LaBelle

I can't do some of the songs that younger girls like Mary J. Blige and Beyonce are doing. They have their own place and I have my own place. — Patti LaBelle

Once I stopped dwelling on what I didn't have, on what I thought I was going to lose, and began to give freely, everything opened up for me. Everything began to flow into my life. — Patti LaBelle

I have to go 150 percent or nothing at all. — Patti LaBelle

You've got to know business before you go to show business. — Patti LaBelle

Being honored at Berklee College of Music; I got a doctorate. I am Doctor Patti. — Patti LaBelle

I love Canadians because I don't see very much racism in Canada. — Patti LaBelle

I always have to go that extra mile, and I do it and I don't mind doing it, but it isn't fair. — Patti LaBelle

I never thought I would be singing for the world. — Patti LaBelle

I was very shy. I'm still shy. — Patti LaBelle

I was a shy kid with a broom handle that I pretended was a microphone. — Patti LaBelle

I'm no different than you. — Patti LaBelle

It's a sweet thing, faith. With it, you can handle any circumstance, any crisis, because you know God always has your back. And when God is for you, who can be against you? Nobody. As my Aunt Hattie says, "One and God are a majority." — Patti LaBelle

I decided to always sing in the back with the chorus and never went up front because I had trouble performing. — Patti LaBelle

I truly respect the people who are working. If they want an autograph from Patti LaBelle, they are going to get it. I have never separated myself from them. I never think you are better than the next one. — Patti LaBelle

I'm still standing up there tall and strong every night that I perform. — Patti LaBelle

I'll perform all the way to the grave. — Patti LaBelle

You don't have to be an angel, just be someone who can give. — Patti LaBelle

All I do is stay in the kitchen and cook. I don't go there to party. — Patti LaBelle

When I look into the crowd, I see young and old, black and white - it's amazing that I'm able to connect with so many different kinds of people. — Patti LaBelle

Many a false step is made standing still. — Patti LaBelle

I like hip-hop music, but some of the lyrics make me want to cry. — Patti LaBelle

When I was married, I wasn't loving myself. Now I'm in love with myself. I will get married again. — Patti LaBelle

I'm so grounded, it's sad. — Patti LaBelle

As Aunt Naomi was listing all the things she was going to do to help this person, her friend stopped her in mid-sentence. "Naomi, girl," she said, "you need to resign as general manager of the universe. You need to learn that sometimes the best way to help a person is to let them help themselves. Otherwise, they never learn how. And they are always going to make their problems your problems." — Patti LaBelle

So if anybody wants to get me something, get me 60 crabs - one for each year. I don't want no diamonds, I don't want no shoes, I don't want no party. I want some crabs. — Patti LaBelle

Anger is like the blade of a butcher knife - very difficult to hold on to for long without harming yourself. — Patti LaBelle

I've been shut down, run down, talked about, dogged out, but that never stopped me from the being the true me that's here and will be here. — Patti LaBelle

In matters of the heart it is always better to want something you don't have than to have something you don't want. — Patti LaBelle

That's another lesson I've learned the hard way. All relationships will die if they aren't nurtured. Just as a flower will die if it's not watered. Because love is demonstration, not declaration. — Patti LaBelle

I know how to put it on when it comes to interviews and performing because I have to. But I'm pretty laid back. — Patti LaBelle

I haven't stopped looking for the good in people. I've just accepted the fact that I'm not always going to find it. — Patti LaBelle

God doesn't do the work for you; he does the work through you. It's not enough to look up; you must also look within. — Patti LaBelle

I don't feel as though I have to prove anything to anybody. — Patti LaBelle

All I can tell you really is if you get to the point where someone is telling you that you are not great or not good enough, just follow your heart and don't let anybody crush your dream. — Patti LaBelle

Real divas give 150 percent. If they don't have the right dress, they'll go out in whatever they have. If there are no microphones, they'll still put on a show. They are people who put their heart and soul in what they do. — Patti LaBelle

I've had 60 years of ups and downs, and all of the downs that I've had, I'm happy that I've had them because it's taught me to appreciate all the ups. — Patti LaBelle

I want to be remembered as a woman who was fair and always gave 150 percent, no matter what I did. — Patti LaBelle

Tell Aretha I'll be praying for herBecause she needs Jesus!I love her. — Patti LaBelle

Women are dominating the charts, and women are doing it for themselves. We're kicking butt and taking no prisoners. — Patti LaBelle

I'm very shy in a crowd. — Patti LaBelle

I keep showing decade after decade that I am a real performer. — Patti LaBelle

I clean my house, although I have help. I'm on the floor getting spots. I can't stand a dirty house. I'm a cleaning fanatic. — Patti LaBelle

I think the race situation is getting better as far as people respecting each other goes. I think the race situation with entertainment is not that much better. — Patti LaBelle