Madonna is one of the most successful icons of all time. Madonna’s record company credited her as having sold over 350 million albums and 160 million singles worldwide.

Some people think success is something that just falls into most successful people’s laps. We think not…

Let’s take a look at some of our favorite Madonna Quotes to get an insight into how successful people think.

“I’ve never really lived a conventional life, so I think it’s quite foolish for me or anyone else to start thinking that I am going to start making conventional choices”

“A lot of people are just really confused by me; they don’t know what to think of me, so they try to compartmentalize me or diminish me. Maybe they just feel unsafe. But any time you have an overtly emotional or irrational, negative reaction to something, you’re fearing something that it’s bringing up in you.”

“Better to live one year as a tiger, than a hundred as sheep.”

“I just like the idea of pills. I like to collect them but not actually take them. When I fell off my horse, I got tons of stuff: Demerol and Vicodin and Xanax and Valium and Oxycontin, which is supposed to be like heroin. And I’m quite scared to take them. I’m a control freak.”

“I’m tough, ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay.”

“I liked my body growing up and I wasn’t ashamed of it. I liked boys and didn’t feel inhibited by them. Maybe it comes from having brothers and sharing a bathroom. The boys got the wrong impression of me at high school. They mistook forwardness for promiscuity. When they don’t get what they want, they turn on you. I went through this period when all the girls thought I was loose and the boys said I was a nymphomaniac. The first boy I ever slept with was my boyfriend and we’d been going out a long time.”

“I’m not interested in being Wonder Woman in the delivery room. Give me drugs”

“She never had public favor; it was a bit like the Hillary Clinton thing. She did all the right things for her country, but she wasn’t ultimately revered. So she had a conversation with her confidant-adviser. She asked him, when have they ever looked up to or idolized a woman? Only one, he told her, the Virgin Mary. So she said, Then I will become like the Virgin Mary, and she did. She created a facade for herself; she stopped having lovers; she became like a virgin. She became sexless, and painted her face in a white alabaster way, and turned herself into an icon that was untouchable and sexless, and then she had everybody’s respect.”

“Fame is a by-product. Fame is something that should happen because you do work that speaks to people and people want to know about your work. Unfortunately the personality of people has taken over from the work and the artistry and it’s this thing now that stands on its own. I don’t think one should ever aspire to being famous.”

“I must have been Japanese in a previous life. I’m pretty sure I was a warrioress. I can’t explain it, I just know. I’m good at fighting – fighting with a big sword.”

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“One is that we are all responsible for our actions, our behavior, and our words, and we must take responsibility for everything we say and do. When you get your head wrapped around that, you can no longer think of life as a series of random events – you participate in life in a way you didn’t previously. I am the architect of my destiny. I am in charge. I bring that to me, or I push that away. You can no longer blame other people for things that happened to you.”

“When I experienced what was going on first hand, I just got sucked into the whole thing. Thank God I did. I met some amazing people and, hopefully, I’ve changed the lives of a lot of children. Just as important, I think it’s been an incredible growing and learning experience for me.” (About her work in Malawi).

“Publicly humiliating someone for your own gain will only come and haunt you. God’s going to have his revenge”

“I hate polite conversation. I hate it when people stand around and go, ‘Hi, how are you?’ I hate words that don’t have any reason or meaning. Also I hate it when people smoke in elevators and closed in places. It’s just so rude.”

“I don’t take drugs. I never did. All the feelings that drugs are supposed to produce in you – confidence or energy – I can produce naturally. The only problem is going to sleep. But I never take pills… I drink herbal teas”

“”That consciousness is everything and that all things begin with a thought. That we are responsible for our own fate, we reap what we sow, we get what we give, we pull in what we put out. I know these things for sure”

“I am because we are. We all bleed the same color. We all want to love and be loved”

“Be strong, believe in freedom and in God, love yourself, understand your sexuality, have a sense of humor, masturbate, don’t judge people by their religion, color or sexual habits, love life and your family.”

“Every time I do a show, I die a little bit, but no shit is worth doing unless you’re willing to die for it.”

“”I pay attention to what’s going on around me. I’m always looking for new energy, new talent, new voices. When you do that I think it’s easier to come up with fresh ideas. It’s not that my career has been based on surprising people, but it’s been about challenging myself — to constantly do new things that are going to broaden my own mind and in the process, hopefully, connect with other people”

“Family is everything. Family comes first. It’s not what I expected it to be, but nothing ever is.”

“I’m not going to compromise my artistic integrity”

“I went to New York. I had a dream. I wanted to be a big star. I didn’t know anybody. I wanted to dance. I wanted to sing. I wanted to do all those things. I wanted to make people happy. I wanted to be famous. I wanted everybody to love me. I wanted to be a star. I worked really hard and my dream came true”

“I have a cage
It’s called the stage
When I’m let out
I run about
And sing and dance and sweat and yell
I have so many tales to tell
I like to push things to the edge
And inch my way along the ledge
I feel like God, I feel like shit
The paradox, an even split
It’s just a job, I always say
I should be grateful everyday
Sometimes I think I just can’t do it
But I persist and I get through it
And I console myself each night
At least my cage is filled with light”

“I haven’t got much time to waste
It’s time to make my way
I’m not afraid of what I’ll face
But I’m afraid to stay.”

“Poor is the man whose pleasures depend on the permission of another.”

“The cross is a very powerful symbol and it symbolizes suffering, but it also is connected to a person who was loving and sharing and his message was about unconditional love. I tried to take a powerful image and use it to draw attention to a situation that needs attention. For me, we all need to be Jesus in our time. Jesus’ message was to love your neighbor as yourself and these are people in need”

“I fear the future I wish for my children is at risk, so I’m taking action. Please join me. Our greatest risk is not terrorism, and it’s not Iraq or the “Axis of Evil”. Our greatest risk is a lack of leadership, a lack of honesty and a complete lack of consciousness. Unfortunately our current government cannot see the big picture. They think too small. They suffer from the “what’s in it for me?” syndrome. The simple truth is that the current administration has squandered incredible opportunities to bring the world together, to promote peace in regions that have only known war, to encourage health in places that are ravaged with disease, to make us more secure by living up to our principles at home and abroad. The simple truth is that the policies of our current administration do not reflect what is great about America.”

“I don’t care if you have a small dick, as long as you know how to use that stick”

“No man can have sex with anyone but me and since I don’t have that kind of time on my hands, you might as well all be gay”

“Hey you! Don’t be silly! Put a rubber on your willie!”

“I’ll flirt with anyone from garbagemen to grandmothers”

“If you don’t like my attitude, then you can fuck off, just go to Texas and suck George Bush’s dick!”

“When I came to New York it was the first time I’d ever taken a plane, the first time I’d ever gotten a taxi-cab, the first time for everything. And I came here with 35 dollars in my pocket. It was the bravest thing I’d ever done.”

“I am attracted to a thug. I like that quality, but I like the other side of it, too. Because all guys who go around behaving in macho ways are really scared little girls. So you have to look beneath the surface. There’s a difference between my ideal man and a man that I’m sexually attracted to, believe me. Therein lies the rub.”

“Hollywood is about playing the game, and I can’t think of any successful actresses who didn’t play the game. there’s a lot more renegades in the music business, from Patti Smith to Janis Joplin.”

“What else is there for me to conquer? Hopefully my ego. How will I know when I’ve succeeded? When I stop caring what anyone thinks.”

“When in doubt act like god”

“One must dare to show what he wants. You have to go and ask for things rather than wait for them to happen”

“I’d like to think I am taking people on a journey; I am not just entertaining people, but giving them something to think about when they leave.”

“One set of circumstances does not complete you. Maybe nothing ever does. So you work on your life and you work on your ‘work’ and you try to live every single day like it’s your last. And you try to be better, to yourself and to others. I don’t always succeed. But I try and it’s my goal.”

“I stand for freedom of expression, doing what you believe in, and going after your dreams”

“I’m everything!”

“I think I have a dick in my brain. I don’t need to have one between my legs.”

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