I don’t take pictures when I’m with my kids, for the sake of my kids. It’s important when you’re as busy as I am that you give your kids your time when you’re with them, and nothing compromises that. I’ve been lucky enough to have fans that understand that.

After 2014, we will support a unified Afghanistan as it takes responsibility for its own future.

When Nirvana became popular, you could very easily slip and get lost during that storm. I fortunately had really heavy anchors – old friends, family.

My mother was determined to make us independent. When I was four years old, she stopped the car a few miles from our house and made me find my own way home across the fields. I got hopelessly lost.

Standing in support of children is something we should all be able to get behind, regardless of party affiliation.

I hope my own children never have to fight a war.

Every single one of the guys that I’ve written songs about has been tracked down on MySpace by my fans.

It is a wise father that knows his own child.

I met India Arie, who is one of my favorite artists of all time. It was really sweet; I was broken up with a month before, and she stayed up texting me all night and was helping me through it. Her text message looks like a song of hers. She’s sort of become my fairy godmother.

That our government should have been maintained in its original form from its establishment until now is not much to be wondered at. It had many props to support it through that period, which now are decayed and crumbled away. Through that period, it was felt by all to be an undecided experiment; now, it is understood to be a successful one.

I feel impressed to counsel those engaged in personal challenges to do right. In particular, my heart reaches out to those who feel discouraged by the magnitude of their struggle.

Unlike grown ups, children have little need to deceive themselves.

Friendship is a plant of slow growth and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.

I’ve always put everybody else’s child first before my own health, before my own outfit, before my own time frame.

In general my children refuse to eat anything that hasn’t danced in television.

Isn’t it funny how babies laugh a lot? I read a toddler, a young child laughs 300 times a day. The average adult laughs, like, four times a day. God put it in them. He put the laugh in us, but I think sometimes we let life get us down, you know, have bad breaks, and we lose our breaks.

Whoever does not have a good father should procure one.

Of all nature’s gifts to the human race, what is sweeter to a man than his children?

My biggest hobby is hanging out with my family and kids.

I can encourage my daughter to love her body, but what really matters are the observations she makes about my relationship with my own body.

I like working. That’s when I’m feeling my best. And the people around me know that. My wife knows that.

It is the advertiser who provides the paper for the subscriber. It is not to be disputed, that the publisher of a newspaper in this country, without a very exhaustive advertising support, would receive less reward for his labor than the humblest mechanic.

The reason that I’m here at all is because of my relationship with my family and their encouragement of me to be a musician and to work hard. As long as I stay there in that space, I can do anything. That’s my truth.

Ultimately this issue is on us. We’re the ones who make the decisions about what our kids eat.

Ironically, parenting is a shame and judgment minefield precisely because most of us are wading through uncertainty and self-doubt when it comes to raising our children.

When I was growing up, I wanted to adopt, because I was aware there were kids that didn’t have parents.

I wish I had been home more when the children were growing up. I missed a lot.

The uncertainty of parenting can bring up feelings in us that range from frustration to terror.

I hate letting my teammates down. I know I’m not going to make every shot. Sometimes I try to make the right play, and if it results in a loss, I feel awful. I don’t feel awful because I have to answer questions about it. I feel awful in that locker room because I could have done something more to help my teammates win.

When people need love and understanding and support the most is when they deserve it the least.

My fans love me for me, my beats, my rhymes.

I’m a mentor to anybody who’s interested.

I love to dance, but my children tell me I shouldn’t. Can’t see why.

Familiarity breeds contempt – and children.

I rely on other people every day of my life.

I would have a workshop attached to every school, and one hour a day given up to the teaching of simple decorative arts. It would be a golden hour to the children.

I’m asking myself, ‚What do my girls, what do all our children deserve in their president? What kind of a president do we want for them?‘ Well, to start with, I think we want someone who is a unifying force in this country: someone who sees our differences not as a threat, but as a blessing.

People who work for me know that family comes first. And I’m fortunate to have a family that is very supportive of the work I do, so I don’t have to live two separate lives.

My mother did not like children.

It’s been wonderful for me, and I feel so privileged to have fans that are that loyal.

You’re never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child.

The side of fairytales I don’t like is that they always have happy endings, that there’s just good and evil, and things are perfect. But life is a little more complicated, and that’s what I try to teach my kids.

My momma didn’t clean up floors so I could be a thug… so I could wear my pants down.

According to Ethiopian custom, parents wait to name a baby because children often die in the first weeks of life.

You know, nothing is more important than education, because nowhere are our stakes higher; our future depends on the quality of education of our children today.

My mother taught children to love to dance.

I knew through the surgeries that he was on my side and that this wasn’t something where I was gonna feel less of a woman, because my husband wasn’t gonna let that happen.

I have no problem yelling at anybody’s kid – free of charge!

While I believed deeply in my husband’s vision for this country… and I was certain he would make an extraordinary President… like any mother, I was worried about what it would mean for our girls if he got that chance. How would we keep them grounded under the glare of the national spotlight?

Any teammate of mine that had a kid and a boy that was capable of playing baseball, I think I set a terrific example of ‚Don’t do this‘ and ‚Don’t do that.‘ And that’s one of the things that I’m most proud of.

I love being a dad. I just love it.

If I ever had twins, I’d use one for parts.

He that struggles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.

Do you know what you call those who use towels and never wash them, eat meals and never do the dishes, sit in rooms they never clean, and are entertained till they drop? If you have just answered, ‚A house guest,‘ you’re wrong because I have just described my kids.

Who will take responsibility for raising the next generation?

I remember thinking quite logically that I didn’t want to spoil my children with wealth and so that I would create a foundation, but not knowing exactly what it would focus on.

To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.

Africa is a continent in flames. And deep down, if we really accepted that Africans were equal to us, we would all do more to put the fire out. We’re standing around with watering cans, when what we really need is the fire brigade.

I hate to see anybody sink. I hate to see anybody lose their dream, lose their home, something like that.

God puts people in our lives on purpose so we can help them succeed and help them become all He created them to be. Most people will not reach their full potential without somebody else believing in them.

It’s not just a matter of whether you support Obama or Romney. It’s who they have coming with them. I always keep my powder dry, as they say in the military.