“At my second record label, they told me and other female artists that some of us were going on the chopping block. I was 19... and it was devastating.”

“Even if you actually have the good intent to do something creative or special with your life, it's hard. I mean, look at the number of people who actually get the opportunity.”

“Ever since I was younger I wanted to be on stage, singing my songs in a glittering costume. And that happened and is still happening. I have to remember that this is what I wished for and be grateful because there are 500 other girls right behind me that are ready to snatch it up.”

“Everyone related to me in my circle was from church: church friends, church school, church activities. All my friends weren't allowed to watch MTV or go to PG-13 movies or listen to the radio, so I didn't really know anything different. That's how I was raised.”

“Fame is, I think, just a disgusting by-product of what I do.”

“Find out what your gift is and nurture it.”

“For a modern woman it is important to be supported and that there is equality in every aspect, and that it's not two halves that make a whole - it's two wholes that make a whole.”

“Hollywood is so fake and people need to realize that people are just people, and you, too, don't need to be born into something or have money or have whatever product someone is hawking on you.”

“Honesty has always worked for me.”

“Honey, I am the chief of my train. If critics want to hop on board, fantastic. There's plenty of room. The KP train is fun.”

“I always knew I wanted a great man of God, someone who was going to be an inspiration for people and also be a lovely husband and father.”

“I am so grateful for all the love and support I've had from people around the world.”

“I believe in a lot of astrology. I believe in aliens... I look up into the stars and I imagine: 'How self-important are we to think that we are the only life-form?'”

“I came from a different mind-set growing up, and my mind has changed.”

“I came from a lot of intolerance and prejudice, which aren't necessarily healthy to evolve as a human.”

“I can't be the candy queen forever.”

“I can't just be the girl who sang 'I Kissed a Girl.' I have to leave a legacy.”

“I come from a very non-accepting family, but I'm very accepting.”

“I didn't have a childhood.”

“I don't believe in a heaven or a hell or an old man sitting on a throne. I believe in a higher power bigger than me because that keeps me accountable.”

“I don't care what people say about my relationship; I don't care what they say about my boobs. People are buying my songs; I have a sold-out tour. I'm getting incredible feedback from my music.”

“I don't feel like I'm very pop-star lame, but I'm definitely not hipster-cool.”

“I don't follow trends. I'm just not into what everyone else is wearing. I have my own look, which I call 'Lolita Meets Old Hollywood Glam.'”

“I don't have a Kate Moss body, but I'm very proud and happy with mine.”

“I don't need the Prince Charming to have my own happy ending.”

“I don't want to be above my audience; I want to be one with my audience.”

“I don't want to completely self-sabotage everything that I've got and alienate everyone. But I definitely want to take some chances as I always have.”

“I fall in love every time. And I don't really fall in love a lot, but when I do, I fall hard.”

“I feel like my secret magic trick that separates me from a lot of my peers is the bravery to be vulnerable and truthful and honest.”

“I feel really blessed because of where I come from.”

“I gave myself until I turned 25 to make it. And if it didn't happen, I thought I'd just try to find a nice husband.”

“I get a lot of the ideas when I'm resting - either when I'm meditating or getting some kind of work done on my back, like physical therapy or acupuncture. That's where I get my best ideas, maybe because I'm balancing my body.”

“I got a fantastic person to work me out and get me into really good shape.”

“I got this Jesus tattoo on my wrist when I was 18 because I know that it's always going to be a part of me. When I'm playing, it's staring right back at me, saying, 'Remember where you came from.'”

“I grew up not really having anything, so the idea that I can take care of my family and my friends now is a really cool bonus.”

“I have a lot of ambition.”

“I have a second chance on life.”

“I have always been the kid who's asked 'Why?' In my faith, you're just supposed to have faith. But I was always like 'why?'”

“I have multipersonality disorder - in a very good way, of course - when it comes to my fashion choices.”

“I just feel like I have this gift that I've been given. It's like, 'Someone unwrap it! Here it is!' That drive can't be held down.”

“I just have so much love for my record label.”

“I just like having fun.”

“I just like having fun. And, you know, sometimes I just like to present myself in that fun energy.”

“I just want to make it very clear that I come from very humble beginnings, and I worked for everything!”

“I like a good boy, but sometimes you get bored.”

“I like to go out there looking like a strong woman, because I am strong. But I am also a woman who goes through all kinds of problems and highs and lows.”

“I love those documentaries where everyone is fabulous and always perfect.”

“I love what I do, and when I don't love what I do, I'll make a change.”

“I never live in the present. I'd do interviews and people will say, 'Isn't this great?' or 'Can you believe?' And I would react, like, 'No, I can't believe it because I'm not living in this moment.'”

“I never want to be just one thing - I want to be multidimensional.”

“I pray for humility, honestly, because it's very easy to be caught up in this world.”

“I really like to look like a history book. I can look 1940s, I can look 1970s hippie-chic, or sometimes I'll pull that '80s Brooklyn hip-hop kid with the door-knocker earrings.”

“I sacrifice in my love life and my social life, but those things will be there in three or four years. This is a really important time in my life. I can't just be the girl who sang 'I Kissed a Girl.' I have to leave a legacy.”

“I still believe in love, most definitely. I'm just going to let that take the lead.”

“I still have a spiritual base and a spiritual foundation.”

“I still want to be as approachable and relatable as possible - when I meet fans and they're crying, I'll say, 'Calm down, there's nothing to cry about.'”

“I still want to make a pop record. I want to make a more sonically current pop record. I maybe want to make people move a little bit more.”

“I think it's great to dress up and play on all the girly features.”

“I think people appreciate a songwriter who shows different sides. The whole angst thing is cool, but if that's all you've got, it's just boring. Everything I write, whether it's happy or sad, has a sense of humor to it.”

“I think sometimes when children grow up, their parents grow up. Mine grew up with me. We coexist. I don't try to change them anymore, and I don't think they try to change me.”

“I think sometimes when children grow up, their parents grow up. Mine grew up with me. We coexist. I don't try to change them anymore, and I don't think they try to change me. We agree to disagree.”

“I think that you should definitely listen to what people say, because everyone says it: High school is not the real world.”

“I think we're all blessed with gifts and I was lucky I just found out what mine was early on and have planted that seed and tried to water it every day.”

“I unfortunately still crave chicken McNuggets and bacon, which is the meat candy of the world.”

“I want to sell out arenas and sell millions of records.”

“I wanted it to be like Amy Grant, but it didn't pan out that way. My label actually went bankrupt, and I was left without a home.”

“I wanted to be that quirky girl who writes funny songs that still have meaning.”

“I was a hop-around. I hung out with the rockabilly crew, the guys who were trying to be rappers, the funny kids.”

“I was never really attached to a clique, and I wanted to be in all the different groups; I was never a one-group kind of person. I think that's still part of my personality today.”

“I was raised in a super-sheltered atmosphere where we didn't watch anything besides Trinity Broadcasting Network - which was called TBN - or the Fox News channel.”

“I write my songs because I've lived them.”

“I'd never devote a whole record to heartbreak.”

“If people want a role model, they can have Miley Cyrus.”

“If you are not happy with something, you should change it. So I went to a lot of therapy, and finally, I am able to speak up for myself: You are going to hear me roar!”

“If you like my music, great, and if you don't, whatever. I'm going to keep making it either way.”

“If you're presenting yourself with confidence, you can pull off pretty much anything.”

“I'll continue to try and balance like a circus act. And I will just fight to always tell the truth. Even if it's difficult.”

“I'm a good girl because I really believe in love, integrity, and respect.”

“I'm a good girl because I really believe in love, integrity, and respect. I'm a bad girl because I like to tease.”

“I'm a woman who likes to be courted - strongly.”

“I'm competitive with myself, and that goes hand in hand with how I present myself. I'm not only trying to put one foot in front of the other, I'm trying to put my best foot forward.”

“I'm either going to go completely mental, completely bankrupt, or have the best success of my life.”

“I'm every woman. It takes a village to make me who I am.”

“I'm going to let love lead the way, always. And I was born with this blind - blind ambition, and it's kind of gotten me here to this point. And I think that I'll stick to it.”

“I'm happy, I'm in a good place, I'm looking forward to my future.”

“I'm kind of a good girl - and I'm not. I'm a good girl because I really believe in love, integrity, and respect. I'm a bad girl because I like to tease. I know that I have sex appeal in my deck of cards. But I like to get people thinking. That's what the stories in my music do.”

“I'm kind of a more sunshiny person myself.”

“I'm not defined by where I came from. I never took part in the rules and hatred that sometimes go along with religion. But if my parents are happy with what they believe, then I'm happy to stay out of their way. We agree to disagree.”

“I'm not going to be everything to everyone.”

“I'm okay if everything is honest and truthful and relatable. If it's fabricated and ill-motived, it's not good.”

“I'm okay with having bad dance moves.”

“I'm okay with having bad dance moves. I'm okay with having horrible lower teeth. That's what makes me me, and for some reason it's worked out all right.”

“I'm okay with having horrible lower teeth.”

“I'm on this extraordinary adventure, and if I have no one to talk to at the end of the night, I feel lonely.”

“I'm really critical of my posture, it makes a big difference. And I try to suck my belly in. Everyone should do that whether you're on a red carpet or not. Even if you're just going out to dinner with your boyfriend you should try and suck it in.”

“I'm still driving along on the pop freeway of life. Thinking even further into the future, I definitely want to make an acoustic record. I want to try lots of different things.”

“It was so draining. Going to parties to rub elbows with so-and-so and act like it's no big deal, when really all I was doing was hoping I'd have the success they had.”

“I've actually always wanted to make something like an acoustic record.”

“I've always been ambitious since I was nine years old and that was never going to change.”

“I've done a lot of bad things. Use your imagination.”

“I've lived such a great, fantastic life already, but there's still so much more.”

“My career is like an artichoke. People might think that the leaves are tasty and buttered up and delicious, and they don't even know that there's something magical hidden at the base of it. There's a whole other side of me that people didn't know existed.”

“My dad would give me USD10, which is a lot of money when you're 9, to sing at church, on tables at restaurants, at family functions, just about anywhere.”

“My parents are very quirky, eccentric. They have their own world.”

“My parents were strict, but it was the world I lived in. I had no idea there was a world outside.”

“My personality is up and down, sassy and cheeky.”

“My singing is really important to me, but when children come along they'll be my main focus. I'd never put my career in front of my babies - it'd be a case of fitting jobs around them.”

“My whole thing is to agree to disagree and to have respect because nothing can really be changed and you wouldn't want to ruin their happiness - even if that happiness is ignorance.”

“Not to sound overly cheesy but I really appreciate the freedom we have in America - especially as a female.”

“Oh, I will always be honest with my music. The records are black boxes for me. Like if you want to know who I am, my views, my perspective, things I love, things I hate, my convictions, my anthems. I've never let people's opinions affect the way I write.”

“One thing I can't do, and I hope that there are other people out there that feel the same way, is climb a rope. Oh my gosh, it's so hard to climb rope! It's all about grip and arms.”

“People always ask me, 'What is it that you regret?' And I say, 'nothing, because I could not buy what I've learned.' And I apply those things to my life I learn. And hopefully, hopefully it helps me to be a better human in the future and make better choices.”

“People don't want just vanilla. They want 31 flavors. I couldn't do what Rihanna does. I couldn't do what Gaga does. They can't do what I do.”

“People love the idea of a good girl gone bad, thinking that my parents were so strict and disowned me, but that actually wasn't the case. Even though they don't necessarily agree with some of the things I do, they love me as their daughter. That's always been their perspective.”

“People talk about bullying, but you can be your own bully in some ways. You can be the person who is standing in the way of your success, and that was the case for me.”

“Santa Barbara is my hood. I mean, it's not much of a hood, but it is definitely like my hood. I claim Santa Barbara like I claim my family. I'm going to be married and buried there.”

“Sometimes if you want to achieve something great, there will be curveballs. You just have to dodge them every once in a while.”

“The media tried to destroy my parents and has taken things completely out of context, but there's not a whole lot you can do in terms of fighting back. You have to hope that it passes, which it always does. But they have to be careful. They didn't necessarily sign up for this.”

“The press is just not your friend when it comes to a marriage. That's why we didn't sell the pictures of our wedding, and we got offered millions of dollars for them, millions.”

“There are a lot of things that are personally uncomfortable to show, especially me without makeup and completely bloated or crying. But I've realized that it's time for me to show my audience that you don't have to be perfect to achieve your dreams. Because nobody relates to being perfect.”

“There are times I go out and meet people and flirt, but it's not really appropriate to have anything serious.”

“Touring is always important to me. It's like a big IOU to my fans, because I know they are the reason I exist.”

“Unfortunately, I think a lot of people are affected more by the idea of fame than the actual work ethic involved. A lot of them just want to be reality TV-type people who don't do anything.”

“When I decide to become a mother I will just be that. That will be really important to me.”

“When I first started out, I was really attracted to having my own sense of style because I started swing dancing, lindy hop, and jitterbug.”

“When I was 13, I asked for a guitar. And that's how I really started explaining my point of view.”

“With songs, I've always pledged to be honest. I write my songs because I've lived them.”

“You have to spend a lot to make a lot. It's not like I'm sitting on top of a pile of money.”

“You know you're living right when you wake up, brush your hair - and confetti falls out!”

“You look at someone like Beyonce singing 'Single Ladies,' when we all know she's married. Some of it is just for entertainment.”