All I can do is be me, whoever that is.

I’ve always wanted to live above my means because it inspired me to work harder.

When I came into this industry, I was never afraid to be myself.

It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.

If you look at my life, generally, I’ve been put in situations which were difficult and which I conquered.

I love being busy.

I just wanted to write something about running, but I realized that to write about my running is to write about my writing. It’s a parallel thing in me.

Only the shallow know themselves.

I want the world to see my body.

If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree.

My future is righteousness.

As we grow old, the beauty steals inward.

In a universe that’s an intelligent system with a divine creative force supporting it, there simply can be no accidents. As tough as it is to acknowledge, you had to go through what you went through in order to get to where you are today, and the evidence is that you did.

All of my music is honest.

I don’t think I’m such an amazing person who needs to be written about.

My parents were the same in the pulpit as they were at home. I think that’s where a lot of preachers‘ kids get off base sometimes. Because they don’t see the same things at both places.

It is impossible to underrate human intelligence – beginning with one’s own.

Whatever one of us blames in another, each one will find in his own heart.

I can handle pain.

Back in the day, what motivated me was overcoming myself. Now I believe in being a leader. I’ve done it all – I’m good. Now, it’s about setting an example for others to follow. I can’t just talk it – I have to live it.

I don’t do things for the response or for the controversy. I just live my life.

I always believed that when you follow your heart or your gut, when you really follow the things that feel great to you, you can never lose, because settling is the worst feeling in the world.

I never thought of losing, but now that it‘ s happened, the only thing is to do it right. That’s my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life.

They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.

I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also, much more than that. So are we all.

I’m the kind of person who needs to feel like everything happens for a reason. When you date a guy and it goes badly, that’s horrible. But if you can write a song about it, then it was worth it.

Nothing I can say or devise, and nothing anybody else can say or devise, is going to be perfect.

There are people in the world who have skills and strength and talent that I will never have. Never. These notions that you can ‚be whatever you want to be as long as you want it bad enough‘ are not true. They are fairy tales.

You should never view your challenges as a disadvantage. Instead, it’s important for you to understand that your experience facing and overcoming adversity is actually one of your biggest advantages.

I don’t really have a gimmick or a ‚thing.‘ I’m one of the few artists who gets to be himself every day.

You’ll never get ahead of anyone as long as you try to get even with him.

No untroubled day has ever dawned for me.

Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, be fortified by it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.

I hate to be smart.

I have great respect for the past. If you don’t know where you’ve come from, you don’t know where you’re going. I have respect for the past, but I’m a person of the moment. I’m here, and I do my best to be completely centered at the place I’m at, then I go forward to the next place.

I’m like a recovering perfectionist. For me it’s one day at a time.

I’m an introvert somewhat. There could be a room full of people, I’ll go stand in the corner.

Whether I’m wearing lots of makeup or no makeup, I’m always the same person inside.

Needing to have things perfect is the surest way to immobilize yourself with frustration.

I’m only as good as my last word, my last hook, my last bridge.

Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.

I still consider myself a little, fat kid from Hawaii.

Everything is an open book. I don’t speak on other people’s hardship, but if it happened in my life or something that has been an experience on my particular journey, I’m going to talk about it. That’s what my fan base appreciates the most. I’m universal. You can relate to the things I say or that I go through.

It is in self-limitation that a master first shows himself.

If you try to protect yourself from pain, it becomes a stone in your heart. But the more you learn to face things, the more likely that stone can become a pearl.

The reason I talk to myself is that I’m the only one whose answers I accept.

If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.

All of our problems start in our minds.

I think everybody’s trying to get to a place in themselves where they conquer what they was afraid of; they achieve some of their life goals, kept their word about what they were trying to do.

A great part of courage is the courage of having done the thing before.

I don’t like to give advice. I like to give people information because everyone’s life is different, and everyone’s journey is different.

I pay attention to lyrics and I know what rap fans care about. I try to write for the average listener and I’m conscious of the mainstream without selling out.

It’s very important for Christians to be honest with God, which often, you know, God is much more interested in who you are than who you want to be.

I don’t believe in doing things to manufacture my body to appeal to what I think people might like.

I mean we all need a second chance sometimes.

My father wasn’t around when I was a kid, and I used to always say, ‚Why me? Why don’t I have a father? Why isn’t he around? Why did he leave my mother?‘ But as I got older I looked deeper and thought, ‚I don’t know what my father was going through, but if he was around all the time, would I be who I am today?‘

I’ve done a lot of things I’m not proud of, such as getting my girlfriend pregnant when I was 23 and the way I handled that.

There’s a rebel lying deep in my soul.

I can express myself.

My life has been very full.

Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure there is one less rascal in the world.