Perry: "I never want to be just one thing – I want to be multidimensional."

Perry: “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? At this point, I’m just kind of a drifter. I’m open to possibility…. My sponge is so big and wide and I’m soaking everything up and my mind has been radically expanded. Just being around different cultures and people and their opinions and perspectives. Just looking into the sky.”

Perry: "I’m either going to go completely mental, completely bankrupt, or have the best success of my life."

Perry: "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."

Perry: "I just like having fun. And, you know, sometimes I just like to present myself in that fun energy."

Perry: "It was so important for me to be broken so that I could find my wholeness in a whole different way, and be more dimensional than just living my life like a thirsty pop star all the time."

Perry: "I have multipersonality disorder—in a very good way, of course—when it comes to my fashion choices."

Perry: "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?’"

Perry: "I'm a bit of a dreamer when it comes to having a vision, and there's a lot of logistics and physics behind something like that."

Perry: "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."

Perry: "I’ve lived such a great, fantastic life already, but there’s still so much more."

Perry: "Kids are so smart these days. They sense when there's a phony bologna out there. Especially in music, when they see something that's being marketed to them, they'll call it out. They'll be like, 'This chick is bullsh*t.'"

Perry: "Sometimes I can be distracted by the glamour and the fabulousness."

Perry: “People tried to do a lot of stuff with me early in my career where they tried to shape me into one thing or another. They couldn’t just take the chance and go with my vision – which was just my intuition, really.”

Perry: "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?’"

Perry: "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.’"

Perry: "I want to sell out arenas and sell millions of records."

Perry: "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."

Perry: "I've always been ambitious since I was nine years old and that was never going to change."

Perry: "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."

Perry: "Life life to the fullest, I always do that, like, I just try everything."

Perry: "I’ve been thinking about my future and what the next move is in terms of what I need to do. I think it would be pretty stupid to try and redo this last record that had all of this success . . . Maybe it’s time to do something that’s different that can’t be compared."

Perry: "If you're presenting yourself with confidence, you can pull off pretty much anything."

Perry: "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."

Perry: "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.'"

Perry: "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."

Perry: "I love what I do, and when I don't love what I do, I'll make a change."

Perry: "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."

Perry: "I have a lot of ambition."

[On her motivation behind writing the song Smile Talk]

Perry: "I believe in duality in life; the yin, the yang, the option, the free will to see something in two ways, and it's up to us to have that perspective."

Perry: "I came from a different mind-set growing up, and my mind has changed."

Perry: "I love catchphrases, I love idioms and double entendres, puns. I just love colorful ways with words. And I like trying to express and explain a feeling that you can't describe with words. That's what small-talk is about for me. That awkwardness - it's the weirdest thing we go through as humans. It's such a strange thing. Like, being intimate with someone one day, and then never again."

Perry: "I’m on this extraordinary adventure, and if I have no one to talk to at the end of the night, I feel lonely."

Perry: "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."

Perry: “Don’t care what people gonna think of you, do what you wanna do and seek just your happiness.”

Perry: “The past is like a handful of dust. It filters through your fingers, disappearing little by little. I wish, for one day, I could go back. In another life I would do things differently.”

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

Perry: "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.'"

Perry: "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."

Perry: "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."

Perry: "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."

[On her obsession with the show Ancient Aliens]

Perry: "I also think I’m kind of fascinated by that kind of stuff because of how I grew up, where everything was so black-and-white. Now I’m seeing a lot more color in the world—and asking more questions—so I’m very into things that are above and beyond me and were before me and will be after me. I do hope, though, that when the aliens do come, they’ll recognize me. I’ll be like, 'Please don’t kill me. I wrote a song called ‘E.T.’'"

Perry: "Maybe a reason why all the doors are closed, so you could open one that leads you to the perfect."

[On the idea she had when writing her hit single, E.T.]

Perry: "For me, [it] was a fun subject matter because I'm always thinking about, like, 'ooh what's out there in outer space, I wonder if anything else exists,' or you know, 'what if there was like another life-form that had like - what if there was a planet full of hot guys that we just don't know exists...'"

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

Perry: "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."

Perry: "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."

Perry: "My job is for the people. It’s for the public. It’s for their consumption. So I’ve done a lot in that way, and I see that the hard work has finally paid off. It has taken a long time—and I feel like I’ve earned a lot of it—but the stars have aligned for me in some ways. I’ve just always been very aware and careful of everything, so that I can be ready for the perfect opportunities as they come."

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

Perry: "Like my freedom. If I feel like I'm being controlled, I get crazy. Because I know I made it this far by following my intuition. I think people like who I am, and I like who I am, and I want to be a better version of myself every single day. So stop controlling me!"

Perry: "I'm every woman. It takes a village to make me who I am."

Perry: "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."

Perry: "I need a man who tells me the party's over, that it's time to go home, because we have to work in the morning."

Perry: "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."

Perry: "I like a good boy, but sometimes you get bored."

Perry: "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."

Perry: "My personality is up and down, sassy and cheeky."

Perry: "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."

Perry: "I'm a woman who likes to be courted - strongly."

Perry: "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."

Perry: "I didn't have a childhood."

Perry: "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!"

Perry: "When I decide to become a mother I will just be that. That will be really important to me."

Perry: "I'm kind of a more sunshiny person myself."

Perry: "I live a rock-star kind of life where I don't go to bed until 4 A.M. I'm very nocturnal."

Perry: "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."

Perry: "I can't be the candy queen forever."

Perry: "We're all unique. That's why we all win and we all can exist. 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."

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

Perry: "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."

Perry: "I’m okay with having bad dance moves."

Perry: “A lot of people do things out of fear. A lot of people make choices, based on thinking, they won’t have a career in five years. I know where I am, I know what I do is worth something and does not have an expiration date on it. I’m not making choices — in any capacity of my life, with any kind of endorsement, with any kind of product — out of fear.”

Perry: "I've done a lot of bad things. Use your imagination."

Perry: "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."

Perry: "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."

Perry: "I had two cars repossessed, tons of debt. I had a horrible job that was damaging to my soul. After being on three different labels and knowing everyone and hearing yeses and nos and 'You're it!' or 'You're sh*t!' I was depressed. But I never took no for an answer and really believed in myself."

Perry: “If you have a dream you gotta go on a journey to fulfill that dream.”

Perry: "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."

Perry: "I just feel like I'm going to be criticized regardless of what I do next, so I might as well do something that I feel really passionate about."

Perry: "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. And if they actually want to pursue a skill, whether it’s creating or writing or acting . . . Well, that’s hard. 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."

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