I am whatever you say I am; if I wasn’t, then why would you say I am.

I can be a cruel person.

Life comes with many challenges. The ones that should not scare us are the ones we can take on and take control of.

You don’t have to be a renowned artist like Q-Tip to try your hand at poetry. You don’t need any special equipment – that’s the beauty of it.

I tend not to really think about what other people say. I’d rather just try and focus on what I’m doing, try and win basically.

I’ve always been really, really aware of my insecurities – really, really aware. I never developed that thick skin that keeps you from letting things get to you.

Calm mind brings inner strength and self-confidence, so that’s very important for good health.

I’m not the most attractive fella. I’m not a Billy Dee Williams. Personality is everything.

Passions are vices or virtues to their highest powers.

If you consider the definition of authenticity, it’s saying something and actually doing it. I write my own songs. I made my own videos. I pick my producers. Nothing goes out without my permission. It’s all authentic.

Be the hunter, not the hunted.

I have practically no private life. I’m already used to this and ready for it. Yes, sometimes it is hard, but it is the choice I made.

Life cannot be without relationship, but we have made it so agonizing and hideous by basing it on personal and possessive love. Can one love and yet not possess? You will find the true answer not in escape, ideals, beliefs but through the understanding of the causes of dependence and possessiveness.

Meditation is a state of mind which looks at everything with complete attention, totally, not just parts of it. And no one can teach you how to be attentive. If any system teaches you how to be attentive, then you are attentive to the system, and that is not attention.

I had a period in my life where I decided that I would never be bored again and that, if I had any free time at all, I would make plans, and I would always be doing things. It actually was great for a year or so, but then I lost all of my friends.

To meditate means to go home to yourself. Then you know how to take care of the things that are happening inside you, and you know how to take care of the things that happen around you.

I’m not sure what you need first – the players believing or others believing in them – but in the end, both have to think it.

We can’t afford not to educate girls and give women the power and the access that they need.

I’m super self-critical, which I think is good, because then I get exactly what I want. I’m critical of other people, too – I try not to be, though.

You can be happy where you are.

I have nothing to declare except my genius.

There was a while when I was feeling like, ‚Damn, if I’d just been born black, I would not have to go through all this‘.

I always try to be myself. Ever since I was an introverted kid, I’d get on stage and be able to break out of my shell.

We run carelessly to the precipice, after we have put something before us to prevent us seeing it.

Woman begins by resisting a man’s advances and ends by blocking his retreat.

I’ve seen firsthand that being president doesn’t change who you are. It reveals who you are.

When people are around us, they should leave better off than they were previously. Rather than feeling discouraged or defeated, people should feel challenged and inspired after spending any time with you and me.

Those of us who submitted or surrendered our ideas and dreams and identities to the ‚leaders‘ must take back our rights, our identities, our responsibilities.

Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.

I’ve always felt like there was a lot of hype around me even when there wasn’t. I felt like everyone was talking about me even when no one was talking about me.

A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim.

Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues.

I do suffer from depression, I suppose. Which isn’t that unusual. You know, a lot of people do.

The most happy man is he who knows how to bring into relation the end and beginning of his life.

My protest about the post exchange seating bore some results. More seats were allocated for blacks, but there were still separate sections for blacks and for whites. At least I had made my men realize that something could be accomplished by speaking out, and I hoped they would be less resigned to unjust conditions.

If I’m inspired to make a certain kind of song, I’m going to make that kind of song, no matter if it’s what they know me as or think I am.

No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries or the way she combs her hair.

It is the superfluous things for which men sweat, – superfluous things that wear our togas theadbare, that force us to grow old in camp, that dash us upon foreign shores.

Talk to a man about himself and he will listen for hours.

The question of sexual dominance can exist only in the nightmare of that soul which has armed itself, totally, against the possibility of the changing motion of conquest and surrender, which is love.

No such thing as a man willing to be honest – that would be like a blind man willing to see.

I’m addicted to placebos.

What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means, watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it. We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it.

The art of being a slave is to rule one’s master.

I’m not very ambitious at all.

Relish everything that’s inside of you, the imperfections, the darkness, the richness and light and everything. And that makes for a full life.

There isn’t anybody that looks like me without clothes on.

The human race is a race of cowards; and I am not only marching in that procession but carrying a banner.

Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.

Secretly we’re all a little more absurd than we make ourselves out to be.

There are women who can make you feel more with their bodies and their souls, but these are the exact women who will turn the knife into you right in front of the crowd. Of course, I expect this, but the knife still cuts.

Always be sincere, even if you don’t mean it.

By the time you’ve reached your sixties, you do know that one day you will die, and knowing that is at least the beginning of wisdom.

I’d like to be known for more than being the guy in the big suit.

In order to heal others, we first need to heal ourselves. And to heal ourselves, we need to know how to deal with ourselves.

I have lost my mental faculties but am perfectly well.

Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself.

If being an egomaniac means I believe in what I do and in my art or music, then in that respect you can call me that… I believe in what I do, and I’ll say it.

I am sure there’s going to be times when I do things wrong that no one’s going to like and everyone’s going to think I’m terrible and rubbish but I know I’m going to go through those times, and it’s just about understanding that that’s going to happen.

I walk tall; I got a tall attitude.