We didn't have music videos. You weren't an overnight sensation. You had to work at it and learn your craft: how to take care of your voice, how to pace your concerts, all that trial and error.
Aretha FranklinRead
Being a singer is a natural gift. It means I'm using to the highest degree possible the gift that god gave me to use. I'm happy with that.
Interpretation
This quote expresses gratitude for the natural talent of singing and the joy it brings to the individual.
Aretha Franklin emphasizes the importance of recognizing and utilizing one's innate talents as a gift from a higher power. By embracing her ability to sing, she finds fulfillment and happiness, suggesting that true contentment comes from leveraging our unique skills to their fullest potential.
In practice
In a motivational speech about pursuing one's passions.
We didn't have music videos. You weren't an overnight sensation. You had to work at it and learn your craft: how to take care of your voice, how to pace your concerts, all that trial and error.
Trying to grow up is hurting. You make mistakes. You try to learn from them, and when you don't, it hurts even more.
My mentor was Clara Ward of the famous Ward gospel singers of Philadelphia. And my dad was my coach. He coached me. And just my natural love for music is what drove me.
It really is an honor if I can be inspirational to a younger singer or person. It means I've done my job.
In terms of helping people understand and know each other a little better, music is universal - universal and transporting.
Everybody wants respect. In their own way, three-year-olds would like respect, and acknowledgment, in their terms.
Novels aren’t just happy escapes; they are slivers of people’s souls, nailed to the pages, dripping ink from veins of wood pulp. Reading the right one at the right time can make all the difference.
'The Satanic Verses' was denied the ordinary life of a novel. It became something smaller and uglier: an insult.
The public for which masterpieces are intended is not of this earth.
As a writer, a blank page will humble the hell out of you. It always does, and it always will.
An art whose medium is language will always show a high degree of critical creativeness, for speech is itself a critique of life: it names, it characterizes, it passes judgment, in that it creates.
The music we play has to be tomorrow's, the things we say have to be today, and the reason for bothering is yesterday.
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