“I collect lucky pennies that I find on the ground. I keep them in a Ziploc bag.”

“Most of the guys I dated were captivated by my heart, but they had different ways of trying to get to me. Tony understands me. He appreciates my talent. He’s the first person I’ve spiritually connected with.”

“I’m a girl that loves to be in love, I love love!”

“I wear my grandmother’s wedding ring on my thumb. She passed away, and I feel like she is my guardian angel, so I always keep the wedding ring on. Her wedding ring, not mine!”

“I’ve become a pretty tough cookie, though, after having a divorce. I think that I’ve persevered through a lot of talk.”

“I’ve been contemplating taking a college course in religion. I love religion. I remember whenever the book The Da Vinci Code came out, the Discovery Channel did this three-night piece on it that I Tivoed and then watched eight times.”

“I enjoy holding on to certain moments in my life. For instance, I found this $9 red iron rocking chair, and every time I look at it, I think of the first time I saw a rainbow: I was sitting on my grandfather’s lap in a rocking chair that looked just like it. Or the first time I was onstage with Willie Nelson, he gave me his guitar pick. So I put it behind a black-and-white photo I framed of he and I. People don’t know that the pick’s there, but I do.”

“I am the first person to go to Barnes & Noble and buy the new self-help book. I like to fill out the surveys, then I get my friends’ opinions on how I answered to see if I was being honest with myself or not.”

I’d go to concerts and think, ‘That’s exactly what I want to do.’

“I wanted to give up, but my family kept me going.” – about losing a spot on “MMC” (1989) to Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.

I want people to fall in love with my voice before my image.

“I’m right there ready to explode… or I could go pfffffft. No one could ever hear from me again.” – about how successful her future album may be.

“I have this fear of talking to people. I’m worried they won’t like me. I’ve always had that insecurity. I tried to go up to Céline Dion at the Billboard Awards last year. She was right there, but I couldn’t do it”. – CosmoGIRL, February 2001

After 9-11, I knew that I never ever wanted to be away from Nick ever for the rest of my life.

Dumb is just not knowing. Ditzy is having the courage to ask! Ditzy is not editing yourself.

Faith has helped me to be a strong person and stay level headed. It brings me peace. In this business you definitely need peace.

I want to be a diva… like people-totally-respect-my-music diva, not diva like carry-my-diet-Coke-around.

Natural beauty is really happiness with who you are. It you like who you are on the inside, that’ll come through on the outside.

Everybody from my record label to my father as my manager was like, ‘Don’t get married.’ But when I got married my career began.

“Nick and I have gotten a lot of attention for doing a ‘reality’ show on television, but the ability to give a child his or her smile back is the kind of reality that really deserves the attention. We are both so happy to play a small part in the wonderful work Operation Smile does for children.” – on Operation Smile.

I think that freshness and that innocence is something that is missing from a lot of female singers. I’m certainly not denying that I’m young, but I’m not fluff.

I’m such a sucker for sappy songs. I’m a big romantic, and I love love. I love singing about it and listening to songs about it

On her dog Daisy: “She goes with me everywhere. It’s preparing me to be a mother, I think.”

My mom was really worried I’d grow up looking strange, so every night before I went to bed, she’d pull my legs and stretch them so they’d be in proportion with the rest of my body.

I don’t really care what I’m famous for. As long as I get to do the movie roles I want to do and still make records.

I don’t want people walking out of a movie thinking I was trying to act or be some movie star. I want them to think, ‘That might make me like Jessica a little bit more.’

“You’ve done a nice job decorating the White House”. Introducing herself to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton in December 2004.

Nobody deserves to be treated like a princess 100 percent of the time – not even me!

My first kiss was when I was 14. I could tell it was coming because Jason picked up a handful of mints. We had been going out for over a year, so it was really special.

On plastic surgery: “I’m not against plastic surgery. I do believe that it becomes an addiction to people. But if you’re doing it for yourself, then you’re doing it for yourself. If you’re doing it to make heads turn when you walk down the street and get noticed, then I think that’s a bunch of BS.”

Why go through your life with regrets? Every decision you make determines who you are. If you make a bad one, you fix it. It makes you stronger.

“I had doors slammed in my face as a 14-year-old because my boobs were too big.” on the perils of being a curvaceous Christian pop star