Quotes

Now, I've changed my life to make sure I work only on what I love.

The waltz is a very important part of my life. It's a very important way for me to express my positiveness, bringing humor to the world.

The waltz can be sad and at the same time uplifting. You have to see life from both sides, and the waltz encapsulates that. If you're in my audience you give yourself to me and the waltz will grab you.

When my twin grandchildren, Linda and Lyeke, were born two years ago, it changed me. I felt it was the essence of what life is about, and I cried all day. When my son Pierre, their father, was born I didn't cry like that.

I was a fat child and loved cake, perhaps because it was the only sweet thing in my life.

I don't think you would find any player in the Bundesliga who would say that they would not at all be interested. Chelsea would have been very interesting for me. You don't get a chance like that very often in your life.

To compete in the Dakar Rally is a lifetime ambition for me and is something I know I have to do.

In my formative moments, working with Jose was the best time of my life. I was able to learn many things and working with him takes you to another level. You fall in love with him and he becomes your idol. I wanted to be like him, know everything that he knew and absorb all the information he was giving. Then you fall on the wrong side of Jose.

My passion for football makes me live it very intensively over 11 months and dedicate myself to that, but I think life allows you to enjoy other things.

Returning to England is definitely not in my plans. I had talks with Liverpool, a club I admire a lot, but like I said it's not in my plans, although life takes many turns.

My mom had struggles. My dad had struggles. He raised me as a single parent. I rebelled and almost quit amateur boxing, but my faith in God had a lot to do with me slowly getting my life together.

Whenever I get fed up with life I love to go wandering in nature.

People ask, 'Are your things autobiographical?,' and I think, no, they're not autobiographical directly, but of course my life has informed my work.

I don't feel very revengeful in life at all.

I've never been to a black-tie thing in my life. I didn't even go to my prom.

All my life, books have felt alive; some more so than people, or rather, some people. Alive - this has to do with me, I know, and not the books - in a way that some people aren't. Alive as teachers, alive as minds, alive as imaginative triggers.

The fact that I am blind is not what defines my life. It should be of no more interest than my blood type. People wonder if there is a relationship between my lack of sight and the way I sing. But there's no connection.

When I get on stage, my first goal is not to show my expertise, but on the contrary, to give a bit of happiness, of joy, of cheerfulness. I am firmly convinced that in order to sing well, you must love your neighbor and be passionate about life.

All that counts in life is intention.

Faith has a role to play in life. It is not related to success. It is the other way round. Success is related to faith. Faith comes first.

I have to face life with a newly found passion. I must rediscover the irresistible will to learn, to live and to love.

When I began singing, it was the first time I was happy in my life. As a baby, I would stop crying when I heard a great singer.

Fatherhood is a very natural thing; it's not something that shakes up my life but rather it enriches it.

My life experience has taught me nothing happens by chance. Even the idea of the ball in a roulette game: it's not chance it ends up in a certain place. It's forces that are at play.

I want to have time for myself, my family and my friends. It's important because in order to sing well, you must have inspiration, and inspiration comes from life, from living.