Top 50 Diana Ross Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “You can’t just sit there and wait for people to give you that golden dream. You’ve got to get out there and make it happen for yourself.”

— Diana Ross

2. “I can be a better me than anyone can.”

— Diana Ross

3. “Take a little time out of your busy day to give encouragement to someone who’s lost their way.”

— Diana Ross

4. “Instead of looking at the past, I put myself ahead twenty years and try to look at what I need to do now in order to get there then.”

— Diana Ross

5. “Do you know where you going to? Do you like the things that life is showing you? Where are you going to? Do you know?”

— Diana Ross

6. “I really, deeply believe that dreams do come true. Often, they might not come when you want them. They come in their own time.”

— Diana Ross

7. “My travels led me to where I am today. Sometimes these steps have felt painful, difficult, but led me to greater happiness and opportunities.”

— Diana Ross

8. “You know, you do need mentors, but in the end, you really just need to believe in yourself.”

— Diana Ross

9. “If I have someone who believes in me, I can move mountains.”

— Diana Ross

10. “One thing you cannot control is nature.”

— Diana Ross

11. “My life has often been described as ‘from rags to riches’ but in fact, the Ross’s were never raggedy.”

— Diana Ross

12. “Criticism, even when you try to ignore it, can hurt. I have cried over many articles written about me, but I move on and I don’t hold on to that.”

— Diana Ross

13. “Discipline is a necessary tool to help you get what you want in life. It forces you to stay on center and to move away from the things that are not necessary.”

— Diana Ross

14. “So I’m not worried about the emotions I carry with me, because I’m happy that I have them; I think it’s good for the work I do. The emotions that are not healthy are the ones you hold inside, like anger.”

— Diana Ross

15. “Either black people end up being the best in sports, or else it’s show business. You know, we all got rhythm.”

— Diana Ross

16. “I want an autobiography without revealing any personal information.”

— Diana Ross

17. “I don’t judge people by their sexual orientation or the color of their skin, so I find it really hard to identify someone by saying that they’re a gay person or a black person or a Jewish person.”

— Diana Ross

18. “Most people are so hard to please that if they met God, they’d probably say yes, she’s great, but...”

— Diana Ross

19. “My children come first and the career comes in around that.”

— Diana Ross

20. “I don’t know what I feel about wearing my furs anymore. I worked so hard to have a fur coat, and I don’t want to wear it anymore because I’m so wrapped up in the animals. I have real deep thoughts about it because I care about the world and nature.”

— Diana Ross

21. “With the Supremes I made so much money so fast all I wanted to do was buy clothes and pretty things. Now I’m comfortable with money and it’s comfortable with me.”

— Diana Ross

22. “Hair has always been important.”

— Diana Ross

23. “I majored in fashion design in school, and I have always wanted to design my own line of clothing, jewelry, and stuff like that; so this was just a step for me in that direction.”

— Diana Ross

24. “It takes a long time to get to be a diva. I mean, you gotta work at it.”

— Diana Ross

25. “My father worked hard, but we were still very poor; and I didn’t want anybody arguing about money, so I became the entertainer, the one who wanted everyone to be happy. I didn’t want there to be any problems.”

— Diana Ross

26. “I was brought up in this part of Detroit that they used to call the ghetto.”

— Diana Ross

27. “I’m a parent, and I try to take care of my health and keep my life in order. In the last few years I’ve really had to decide what’s important to me, and it seems to me that my family and my health are top on the list. And those have nothing to do with show business.”

— Diana Ross

28. “They tell me that it will be hard to find a man strong enough to love my own strength and independence, and not worry about being Mr. Diana Ross, but I disagree. I know absolutely that that man is somewhere out there.”

— Diana Ross

29. “Don’t call the doctor, don’t call ya mamma, don’t call the preacher; no, I don’t need it.”

— Diana Ross

30. “I think that if my voice for some reason changes – because your voice does change – then it’s time for me not to sing.”

— Diana Ross

31. “I even thought of adopting a child as a single mother.”

— Diana Ross

32. “I have three girls, and I say the same thing to them. I’m not involved in their careers because I’ve learned that it’s important for them to stand on their own two feet. They’ll feel better and prouder of themselves if they do.”

— Diana Ross

33. “I am in prayer for his kids and the family.”

— Diana Ross

34. “The first time I heard a Billie Holiday record, I thought, ‘What’s so great about Billie Holiday?’”

— Diana Ross

35. “It has always been, and still is, my intention to build a playground in Central Park.”

— Diana Ross

36. “I learned something from that. If someone asks me something that I really don’t want to do, I say no. I have to trust that. And I’m not afraid to talk money.”

— Diana Ross

37. “I think a responsibility comes with notoriety, but I never think of it as power. It’s more like something you hold, like grains of sand. If you keep your hand closed, you can have it and possess it, but if you open your fingers in any way, you can lose it just as quickly.”

— Diana Ross

38. “I try to choose the songs that really are basically coming from my heart. I think that through the songs that I select, people know what’s going on in my life.”

— Diana Ross

39. “A reporter once asked me if I ever cried. I wonder if people think I’m just as hard as a rock and have no emotions at all.”

— Diana Ross

40. “I’m not really a songwriter – I’m an interpreter. So in a sense I am an actress first and foremost. I act out the songs, and I lead with my heart.”

— Diana Ross

41. “You can always tell where Diana Ross has been by the hair that’s left behind!”

— Diana Ross

42. “I don’t think getting in and out of a limousine has anything to do with being an icon.”

— Diana Ross

43. “Being a parent is very important to me.”

— Diana Ross

44. “I have never gotten into the label thing.”

— Diana Ross

45. “I don’t like to have too many makeup artists around, so I always like to do my own.”

— Diana Ross

46. “I just appreciate still having the longevity that I’ve had in my career.”

— Diana Ross

47. “My family called me a wiggle tail because I was a little skinny, wiry kid full of energy.”

— Diana Ross

48. “I’d traveled a lot, was going temporarily insane and became very successful, but there was no one to take that all home to.”

— Diana Ross

49. “I don’t have to sit around and wait for the next movie to come along, I can go out and sing.”

— Diana Ross

50. “If I’m with a man I’m soft and buttery.”

— Diana Ross