Fame for fame's sake is toxic - some people want that, with no boundaries. It's unhealthy.
- Annie Lennox
Want, Toxic, Some, No Boundaries
HIV/AIDS has no boundaries.
- Annie Lennox
Boundaries, No Boundaries
Feminism is a word that I identify with. The term has become synonymous with vitriolic man-hating but it needs to come back to a place where both men and women can embrace it. It is particularly important for women in developing countries.
- Annie Lennox
Back, Developing Countries, Both Men And Women
I can't understand why the front pages of newspapers can cover bird flu and swine flu and everybody is up in arms about that and we still haven't really woken up to the fact that so many women in sub-Saharan Africa - 60 percent of people in - infected with HIV are women.
- Annie Lennox
Fact, Everybody, Sub-Saharan, HIV
The general population still thinks HIV is something that came in the 80s and went away, or that it only affects the gay population or intravenous drug users.
- Annie Lennox
Away, Still, Affects, HIV
I didn't want to be perceived as a girly girl on stage.
- Annie Lennox
Want, Stage, Perceived, Girly
I have always felt a little homeless. It's a strange thing.
- Annie Lennox
Always, Strange Thing, Felt, Homeless
Pop stars are so busy having a career that they don't really have a lot of time for activism.
- Annie Lennox
Stars, Career, Having, Pop Stars
We all fight over what the label 'feminism' means but for me it's about empowerment. It's not about being more powerful than men - it's about having equal rights with protection, support, justice. It's about very basic things. It's not a badge like a fashion item.
- Annie Lennox
Protection, Very, About, Label
I think Scotland could take a stand in a wonderful way, ecologically and morally and ethically.
- Annie Lennox
Think, I Think, Could, Morally
If we value what we've inherited for free - from other women - surely it's right morally and ethically for us to wake up and say, 'I'm a feminist. '
- Annie Lennox
Wake Up, Other, Surely, Morally
My issue with the state of women became incredibly stimulated when I was visiting developing countries and it became obvious that women bore the brunt of so many things in society.
- Annie Lennox
Became, Visiting, Issue, Brunt
If someone says something unpleasant, I can't say it doesn't smart a bit. It always does. Someone can take a really nasty swipe if they want because it kind of feels powerful for a person to write in a paper and get that thing out there.
- Annie Lennox
Feels, Unpleasant, Bit, Nasty
You wouldn't find a Joni Mitchell on 'X Factor;' that's not the place. 'X Factor' is a specific thing for people that want to go through that process - it's a factory, you know, and it's owned and stitched-up by puppet masters.
- Annie Lennox
Process, Through, Factory, None
Churches, depending on their policy, can do fantastic work with people in the community.
- Annie Lennox
Work, Depending, Fantastic, Churches
There's a lot of women's organisations, but they're all working separately. If you get people together, as a collaborative voice, it's strong.
- Annie Lennox
Strong, Voice, Separately, Organisations
There are two kinds of artists left: those who endorse Pepsi and those who simply won't.
- Annie Lennox
Left, Artists, Kinds, Pepsi
Music is an extraordinary vehicle for expressing emotion - very powerful emotions. That's what draws millions of people towards it. And, um, I found myself always going for these darker places and - people identify with that.
- Annie Lennox
Emotions, Always, Very, Um
Making a Christmas album is looked upon by some people as the thing you do when you are heading towards retirement.
- Annie Lennox
Some, Making, Looked, Christmas Album
When you go to Africa, and you see children, they're usually barefoot, dirty and in rags, and they'd love to go to school.
- Annie Lennox
Love, Dirty, Africa, Rags
Over the years, I was never really driven to become a solo artist, but I was curious to find out who I was as an individual creative person. It's taken some time, but now I feel I've truly paid my dues. I guess I'm at a point now where I'm more comfortable in my own skin.
- Annie Lennox
Artist, Own, Some, Dues
I'm appalled the word feminism has been denigrated to a place of almost ridicule and I very passionately believe the word needs to be revalued and reintroduced with power and understanding that this is a global picture.
- Annie Lennox
Needs, Been, Very, Ridicule
The inner world is very potent for me - I don't ascribe to any God or Jesus or Buddha - I just have a sense of it and revere it along with the natural world and human consciousness.
- Annie Lennox
Natural, Consciousness, Very, Natural World
I think my daughters have a pretty healthy self-awareness but I can't speak on their behalf.
- Annie Lennox
Think, Pretty, Daughters, Self-Awareness
Having children, they're not your property. They need to figure out their own views. I think my daughters have a pretty healthy self-awareness, but I can't speak on their behalf.
- Annie Lennox
Think, Pretty, Figure, Self-Awareness
I sang a lot as a little girl and entered competitions. I loved singing in choirs, but it was as I got older that I really found my voice.
- Annie Lennox
Voice, Singing, Entered, Competitions
When I look at the majority of my own songs they really came from my own sense of personal confusion or need to express some pain or beauty - they were coming from a universal and personal place.
- Annie Lennox
Beauty, Pain, Some, Confusion
I have a reputation for being cold and aloof, but I'm so not that woman. I'm passionate. I love my girls, being with my girlfriends, getting involved with issues that affect other women and children who are suffering.
- Annie Lennox
Love, Woman, Other, Aloof
I think music is the most phenomenal platform for intellectual thought.
- Annie Lennox
Think, I Think, Most, Phenomenal
If you want to open a supermarket chain and put your face all around the globe, selling your baby and your dog, if it makes you happy, who am I to disagree, as the song goes. But it's not for me. I've always tried to keep my integrity and keep my autonomy.
- Annie Lennox
Happy, Around, Your, Who Am I
Nelson Mandela is awe inspiring - a person who really sacrificed for what he believed in. I feel truly humbled by him.
- Annie Lennox
Feel, Nelson Mandela, Nelson, Mandela
As a mother, you have that impulse to wish that no child should ever be hurt, or abused, or go hungry, or not have opportunities in life.
- Annie Lennox
Life, Opportunities, Go, Impulse
I've never experienced chronic poverty, but I know what it's like to live on £3 a week.
- Annie Lennox
Week, Never, Like, Chronic
I would say that although my music may be or may have been part of the cultural background fabric of the gay community, I consider myself an outsider who belongs everywhere and nowhere... Being a human being is what truly counts. That's where you'll find me.
- Annie Lennox
Been, Part, Counts, Gay Community
I see myself as a traveller.
- Annie Lennox
Myself, See, I See, Traveller
I'm not really keen on comebacks. Eurythmics was an incredible thing. When I look back on that work, I feel very satisfied with it.
- Annie Lennox
Work, Satisfied, Very, Comeback
Most women are dissatisfied with their appearance - it's the stuff that fuels the beauty and fashion industries.
- Annie Lennox
Beauty, Most, Fuels, Dissatisfied
Motherhood was the great equaliser for me; I started to identify with everybody... as a mother, you have that impulse to wish that no child should ever be hurt, or abused, or go hungry, or not have opportunities in life.
- Annie Lennox
Go, Everybody, Identify, Impulse
It's not fair to compare one artist to another because they all come with their own sort of elements to the picnic, you know.
- Annie Lennox
Artist, Not Fair, Compare, Picnic
I would like to see the gay population get on board with feminism. It's a beautiful organisation and they've done so much. It seems to me a no-brainer.
- Annie Lennox
Done, Like, Organisation, Board
I was brought up in a tenement house in a working district. We didn't even have a bathroom! We had a gaslight in the hallway and a black-and-white TV.
- Annie Lennox
Hallway, TV, Brought, Black-And-White
I've thought about what is an alternative word to feminism. There isn't one. It's a perfectly good word. And it can't be changed.
- Annie Lennox
Thought, About, Perfectly, Changed
I enjoy multi-tasking, so I want to do a lot of different things. I want to keep all the plates spinning.
- Annie Lennox
Enjoy, Want, Plates, Different Things
I will go out of my way to avoid the shopping crowds and the extreme consumerism - I hate all that.
- Annie Lennox
Will, Go, Crowds, Shopping
It's hard to tell how far women's individuality has come in the past twenty years.
- Annie Lennox
Past, In The Past, How Far, Twenty
I've never been a social person. When I grew up, the other girls would all be combing their hair and exchanging lipstick, and I just couldn't do that group thing.
- Annie Lennox
Other, Been, Social, Group
In a sense, the music business and I haven't always been the best of bedfellows. Artists often have to fight their corner. Your music goes through these filters of record labels and media, and you're hoping you'll find someone who'll help you get your work into the world.
- Annie Lennox
Through, Been, Bedfellows
I think people in Great Britain are a bit jaded sometimes.
- Annie Lennox
Think, I Think, Britain, Jaded
I was never much of a one to win prizes... and certainly never placed too much value on their acquisition.
- Annie Lennox
Too Much, Certainly, Placed, Prizes
I'd rather support the issues I truly believe in than give my vote to parties that court votes at the time of the election. I like to think that my vote strengthens the green foundation stone.
- Annie Lennox
Election, Think, Give, Stone
I mean, I'm 48 years old and I've been through a lot in my life - you know, loss, whether it be death, illness, separation. I mean, the failed expectations... We all have dreams.
- Annie Lennox
My Life, Through, Been, Illness
I used to be obsessed about how I presented myself. I didn't want other people dressing me because I didn't want to be treated like a clothes horse.
- Annie Lennox
Other, Obsessed, Treated, Presented
Anita Roddick was amazing. Her presence in a room was full of light, and everything she worked to achieve still resonates now.
- Annie Lennox
Achieve, Still, Resonates, Presence
If I hadn't been a singer, I might have been a photographer or an artist. But it's singing I love. I sing all the time, and I feel really good that I've expressed myself.
- Annie Lennox
Love, Singer, Been, Expressed
I'm not intensely private - I talk a great deal about my life and my work - I just don't play the game to excess.
- Annie Lennox
My Life, Play, Private, Great Deal
I was perceiving myself as good as a man or equal to a man and as powerful and I wanted to look ambiguous because I thought that was a very interesting statement to make through the media. And it certainly did cause quite a few ripples and interest and shock waves.
- Annie Lennox
Thought, Through, Very, Ambiguous
Humankind seems to have an enormous capacity for savagery, for brutality, for lack of empathy, for lack of compassion.
- Annie Lennox
Empathy, Humankind, Savagery, Brutality
When you get to be nearly 60, you do take stock. You don't know what's around the corner.
- Annie Lennox
Get, Corner, Take, Stock
I'm from a working-class background, and I've experienced that worry of not having a job next week because the unions are going on strike.
- Annie Lennox
Worry, Next, Working-Class, Experienced
I'm from a working-class background, and I've experienced that worry of not having a job next week because the unions are going on strike. I know that because I don't come from a wealthy background.
- Annie Lennox
Worry, Next, Working-Class, Experienced
For me, pointing and clicking my phone is absolutely fine. People say that isn't the art of photography but I don't agree.
- Annie Lennox
Art, Say, Agree, Pointing
Life expectancy in many parts of Africa can be something around the age of thirty five to thirty eight. I mean you're very fortunate if you live to that age. In fact when I went to Uganda for the first time one of the things that occurred to me was that I saw very few elderly people.
- Annie Lennox
Fact, Elderly, Very, Life Expectancy
Charity is a fine thing if it's meeting a gap where needs must be met and there are no other resources. But in the long term we need to support people into helping themselves.
- Annie Lennox
Need, Other, Needs, Long Term
I understand what it is for a woman to want to protect their children and give them the best they can.
- Annie Lennox
Children, Woman, Give, Protect
Our ancestors are totally essential to our every waking moment, although most of us don't even have the faintest idea about their lives, their trials, their hardships or challenges.
- Annie Lennox
Challenges, Hardships, Lives, Essential
I don't have clear-cut positions. I get baffled by things. I have viewpoints. Sometimes they change.
- Annie Lennox
Change, Sometimes, Get, Viewpoints
I have different hats; I'm a mother, I'm a woman, I'm a human being, I'm an artist and hopefully I'm an advocate. All of those plates are things I spin all the time.
- Annie Lennox
Woman, Human Being, Plates, Hopefully
As a creative person, you just put something out into the consciousness of the society you live in.
- Annie Lennox
Society, Consciousness, Creative Person
The dynamic between two individuals starts off with everything warm and nice and fabulous and good. Working and living together can serve you quite well, but when it starts to go wrong - oh, boy!
- Annie Lennox
Living, Go, Serve, Fabulous
Money is a good thing and it's obviously useful, but to work only for money or fame would never interest me.
- Annie Lennox
Work, Good, A Good Thing, Useful
Music is a great vehicle for communications, and I have a certain platform. I have an opportunity and I have to take it.
- Annie Lennox
Music, Opportunity, Take, Communications
Please don't ask me for the actual answer to anything, because I don't have it. Because all I do is look at stuff and ask questions. What can I say? I just think the world's barking mad. Look, I'm not an expert. I'm just an ordinary person.
- Annie Lennox
Think, Expert, Actual, Ordinary Person
I'm just an ordinary person.
- Annie Lennox
Person, Ordinary, Just, Ordinary Person
I want people to understand me as a person with views, not just performing songs.
- Annie Lennox
Want, Person, Songs, Views
I think life on the road really suits very egotistical men. It's set up for kings.
- Annie Lennox
Think, I Think, Very, Egotistical
Fear paralyses you - fear of flying, fear of the future, fear of leaving a rubbish marriage, fear of public speaking, or whatever it is.
- Annie Lennox
Future, Speaking, Public, Rubbish
I'm a female but I have a masculine side and I'm not going to negate that part of myself.
- Annie Lennox
Going, Side, Masculine, Female
The person who inspired me the most was a friend of mine, Anita Roddick. I know that Anita wasn't known to be an ardent feminist, but she truly was.
- Annie Lennox
Inspired, Mine, Ardent, Feminist
There is a big difference between what I do onstage and what I do in my private life. I don't put my living room on magazine pages.
- Annie Lennox
Living, Big, Private, Magazine
A lot of music you might listen to is pretty vapid, it doesn't always deal with our deeper issues. These are the things I'm interested in now, particularly at my age.
- Annie Lennox
Pretty, Deal, Always, Deeper
If people like your music, you can't guarantee they're going to love you.
- Annie Lennox
Love, Like, Going, To Love
When you're that successful, things have a momentum, and at a certain point you can't really tell whether you have created the momentum or it's creating you.
- Annie Lennox
Tell, Certain Point, Created, Successful
I have a calling in my soul, if you like, to try to make my life in some way worthwhile. What is the value of my existence?
- Annie Lennox
My Life, Some, Like, Calling
I don't take myself as seriously as some people think, and I'd hate anyone to think I was preaching. That's the last thing I want.
- Annie Lennox
Think, Some, Last, Some People
One wouldn't want to have the same dilemmas at 50 as one had at 15. And indeed I don't. I have a very different take on life.
- Annie Lennox
Want, Very, Had, Dilemmas
I am fascinated by history and particularly the Victorian era.
- Annie Lennox
I Am, Particularly, Era
I wouldn't say that I've mellowed. I'm less mellow, perhaps.
- Annie Lennox
Say, Less, Perhaps, Mellow
It's a very telling thing when you have children. You have to be there for them, you've got to set an example, when you're not sure what your example is, and anyway the world is changing so fast you don't know what is appropriate anymore.
- Annie Lennox
Very, Telling, Appropriate, Anyway
I don't think feminism is about the exclusion of men but their inclusion... we must face and address those issues, especially to include younger men and boys.
- Annie Lennox
Think, Include, Address, Feminism
The word feminism needs to be taken back. It needs to be reclaimed in a way that is inclusive of men.
- Annie Lennox
Inclusive, Needs, Taken, Feminism
Men need to understand, and women too, what feminism is really about.
- Annie Lennox
Men, Need, Too, Feminism
Women's issues have always been a part of my life. My goal is to bring the word 'feminism' back into the zeitgeist and reframe it.
- Annie Lennox
My Life, Always, Been, Feminism
Why are we not valuing the word 'feminism' when there is so much work to be done in terms of empowerment and emancipation of women everywhere?
- Annie Lennox
Work, Valuing, Emancipation, Feminism
The future hasn't happened yet and the past is gone. So I think the only moment we have is right here and now, and I try to make the best of those moments, the moments that I'm in.
- Annie Lennox
Think, Here, I Think, Happened
I have always been a very visual person and a keen observer.
- Annie Lennox
Always, Observer, Very, Keen
Every artist has to make their own statements and they have to live with them.
- Annie Lennox
Artist, Own, Them, Statements
Dying is easy, it's living that scares me to death.
- Annie Lennox
Death, Living, Scares, Easy
Actually, I'm quite a domesticated person. I love the little things of home.
- Annie Lennox
Love, Actually, I Love, Domesticated
Life is not quantifiable in terms of age, but I suppose in my fifties I am more grounded and more at ease in my own skin than when I was younger. I have a confidence that I didn't have before from the experiences I've had.
- Annie Lennox
Own, Ease, Before, Suppose
I haven't lived my life through my daughters. Some parents devote everything to their children, which must be so hard, and it's very beautiful. But I'm a working parent, so I've always kept my own life.
- Annie Lennox
My Life, Through, Devote, Daughters
Those in the developing world have so few rights - we take a lot for granted in the developed world.
- Annie Lennox
World, Lot, Take, Granted
I love to be individual, to step beyond gender.
- Annie Lennox
Love, Individual, I Love, Step
I've always tried to keep my integrity and keep my autonomy.
- Annie Lennox
Integrity, Always, Tried, Autonomy
Motherhood was the great equaliser for me; I started to identify with everybody.
- Annie Lennox
Me, Everybody, Identify, Motherhood
I'm not a saint. I'm not an angel. I'm a human being.
- Annie Lennox
Human Being, Saint, Being, Angel
I don't want to be owned by a corporation and obliged to make a certain type of album. I want to be free.
- Annie Lennox
Corporation, Want, Album, Owned
You just decide what your values are in life and what you are going to do, and then you feel like you count, and that makes life worth living. It makes my life meaningful.
- Annie Lennox
My Life, Living, Going, Meaningful
I want to branch out. I want to write. I write poetry. I want to see my children grow up well.
- Annie Lennox
Grow, Want, I Write, Grow Up
I've had my share of dark days of the soul. I try not to focus on it too much so it doesn't get to me.
- Annie Lennox
Focus, Soul, Had, Days
The world is a heartbreaking place, without any question.
- Annie Lennox
World, Question, Place, Heartbreaking
I'm not a Christian, but I think the Christian message is a good one.
- Annie Lennox
Christian, Think, I Think, Message
I watch 'Mad Men,' I knit scarves, I cook and am very, very normal. Honestly.
- Annie Lennox
Mad, Normal, Very, Knit
I also started writing songs because I had this burning activity in my heart and had to express myself.
- Annie Lennox
Myself, Activity, Also, Songs
I don't feel there are enough women artists out there who are saying anything of tremendous relevance.
- Annie Lennox
Enough, Feel, Tremendous, Relevance
I would love to meet a dodo.
- Annie Lennox
Love, Would, Meet
Ask yourself: Have you been kind today? Make kindness your daily modus operandi and change your world.
- Annie Lennox
Change, Kind, Been, Ask
I want people to start thinking about what it means to be HIV-positive and to ask questions about that.
- Annie Lennox
Start, Want, Means, Ask
You know, I would say that songwriting is something about the expression of the heart, the intellect and the soul.
- Annie Lennox
Expression, Intellect, Would, Heart
I have a lot to be grateful for.
- Annie Lennox
Grateful, Lot, Be Grateful
You have to face things, have faith in what you do and go for it. Think, 'What's the worst that could happen?'
- Annie Lennox
Face, Think, Happen, Worst
Although I have lived in London, I have never really considered London my home because it was always going to be a stopping-off point for me, and it has been too.
- Annie Lennox
London, Always, Been, Lived
Women's issues have always been a part of my life.
- Annie Lennox
My Life, Always, Been, Issues
I was born in 1954. My parents were brought up in the war years, and life was hard.
- Annie Lennox
War, Born, Brought, I Was Born
Whatever you do, you do out of a passion.
- Annie Lennox
Passion, You, Out, Whatever
I don't have any interest to go to Israel. I don't think I'd ever have a cause to go.
- Annie Lennox
Think, Interest, Ever, Israel
I love to make music and stay grounded.
- Annie Lennox
Love, Music, I Love, Grounded
I like where I live here, in London.
- Annie Lennox
Here, Like, Where, London
People ask me so many questions.
- Annie Lennox
Me, Ask, Many, Questions
I only want to make music because I have a passion for it.
- Annie Lennox
Music, Want, Only, Passion
I am a communicator; that seems to be my natural place. And I'll always be passionate about the world, because it's so bonkers.
- Annie Lennox
Natural, Always, About, Passionate
I'm not particularly attention-seeking.
- Annie Lennox
Particularly
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