I decided to pursue music, so I dropped out of school and I told my parents I didn’t want any money from them. I got three jobs and I just hit the ground running.

My father moved to Hawaii from Brooklyn and my mother came there as a child from the Philippines. They met at a show where my dad was playing percussion. My mom was a hula dancer.

Let my skin and sinews and bones dry up, together with all the flesh and blood of my body! I welcome it! But I will not move from this spot until I have attained the supreme and final wisdom.

Someone said to me, ‚If fifty percent of the experts in Hollywood said you had no talent and should give up, what would you do?‘ My answer was then and still is, ‚If a hundred percent told me that, all one hundred percent would be wrong.‘

I’ve been blessed to be somebody that’s been climbing that success mountain top for years of hard work, you know, but now it’s all connecting. And now, the whole world is watching, you know what I’m saying, and it feels good ‚cause it’s good energy. This is all positive vibes, and good vibes and good energy, so it feels incredible.

Not to go back is somewhat to advance, and men must walk, at least, before they dance.

If four things are followed – having a great aim, acquiring knowledge, hard work, and perseverance – then anything can be achieved.

Doing the box set is one of those things where you get to rewrite your own history to some extent. We could take out some of the songs that we felt weren’t as strong as some of the others, so you look better.

I respect Drake not only as a creative person but as a business mind as well. I think Drake’s important.

A song is anything that can walk by itself.

Eighty percent of success is showing up.

It is the set of the sails, not the direction of the wind that determines which way we will go.

The world turns aside to let any man pass who knows where he is going.

I liberate minds with my music. That’s more important than liberating a few people from apartheid or whatever.

I can understand how some people might resent me for having the audacity to continue playing music, but it’d take a lot more than that to stop me from doing it. I started Foo Fighters because I didn’t want to retreat.

I hope to stand firm enough to not go backward, and yet not go forward fast enough to wreck the country’s cause.

Above anything else, I hate to lose.

Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

Some people focus more on sonics. Some people focus more on story. I focus on both sonics and story, but music sometimes, just music itself, can turn into more of a maths problem. I guess everything in life is a math problem, but it can be more about an empirical route to getting the symmetry that you want, and this vibe, sonically.

As far as a glass ceiling, I feel that all you can do is give it your absolute best with whatever gifts the universe has given you. And if you make it in some way that other people can recognize, that’s fine. But even if you don’t quote-unquote make it, you’re fine if you’ve given it your whole heart and soul.

Being a kid’s not easy. You’re transforming and becoming a human being. At some point, you have everyone taking care of you, and then, all of a sudden, you’re out in the world.

You know, there are artists who are 35 and up that still make rap and that still works for them. I don’t know if I want to be that guy.

I don’t pity any man who does hard work worth doing. I admire him. I pity the creature who does not work, at whichever end of the social scale he may regard himself as being.

The sound and music are 50% of the entertainment in a movie.

Those who attain any excellence, commonly spend life in one pursuit; for excellence is not often gained upon easier terms.

In order to fly, all one must do is simply miss the ground.

My fans don’t feel like I hold anything back from them. They know whatever I’m going through now, they’ll hear about it on a record someday. They’ll hear the real story. There’s a little bit of lag time. It’s not as instant as going on a gossip blog. But it’s much more accurate.

I think Mozart’s operas ‚The Marriage of Figaro‘ and ‚Don Giovanni‘ are the two most perfect ever written. The music is magical.

When you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.

I’ve always been a singer. I never really decided I was gonna be a singer. It just kind of – I just sung a lot.

Five or six songs leaked from the original version of ‚Encore.‘ So I had to go in and make new songs to replace them.

What kind of people do they think we are? Is it possible they do not realize that we shall never cease to persevere against them until they have been taught a lesson which they and the world will never forget?

I think we’re about ready for a new feeling to enter music. I think that will come from the Arabic world.

Writing for other artists helped me figure out that magic you have to capture to make everyone connect with a song.

I never could get over the fact that The Pixies formed, worked and separated without America taking them to its heart or even recognizing their existence for the most part.

All of my music is honest.

People – especially white people – they want me to be a role model just because of the life I lead. The things I say in my songs, they expect it of me.

I own my own company, so I’ve never had businessmen telling me what to do or getting worried if something doesn’t sell. I’ve always had my own access to the public, because I started off making my clothes for a little shop and so I’ve always had people buying them.

There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.

I think I don’t take myself too seriously. You know as far as, it’s a fun life. I take my music serious, but I like to have fun.

When ‚Paul’s Boutique‘ came out, I was one of the fans that didn’t get it.

I’m not into albums that are meant to sound perfect.

We come bulletproof in Ireland. We’re reared tough, and we fight.

Thirty-three-years-old, still creating art. It’s rage, it’s creativity, it’s pain, it’s hurt, but it’s the opportunity to still have my voice get out there through music.

I had real plans for my next decade and felt I’d worked hard enough to earn it. Will I really not live to see my children married? To watch the World Trade Center rise again? To read – if not indeed write – the obituaries of elderly villains like Henry Kissinger and Joseph Ratzinger?

He only earns his freedom and his life Who takes them every day by storm.

Mick Fleetwood was one of my first interviews. And if you’ve ever talked to that dude, he’s the sweetest guy in the world – he’s just a trip.

‚Bellyache‘ is totally fictional. I like writing about things that aren’t real. The song is about not trusting anyone and then putting trust in yourself and realizing that you don’t know what you are doing, either. Or realizing that things you do with a group of people that you think are cool in the moment are ultimately all on you.

Music with dinner is an insult both to the cook and the violinist.

Finite to fail, but infinite to venture.

I love making music. That’s what I love to do. So I don’t feel like there’s any need to take a break unless I want to.

I went through all the musicians in my life who I admire as bright, intelligent, virtuosic players.

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.

My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent.

Only he can take great resolves who has indomitable faith in God and has fear of God.

It is no use saying, ‚We are doing our best.‘ You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.

I tell my fellow reggaetoneros, keep giving it your all and bring more creativity.

I’m personally more struck by visual things more than musical.

I’m not looking for sympathy at all.

My mother had bought a sewing machine for me. When I went away to college, she gave me a sewing machine, a typewriter and a suitcase, and my mother made $17 a week working as a maid 12 hours a day, and she did that for me.

Today, I’d like to talk to Bob Marley. I’d just like to ask him what was his method. Bob is one of the greatest songwriters ever. I don’t know if people understand how powerful his songs are and the simplicity and genius behind them, from ‚Redemption Song‘ to ‚Is This Love?‘ and ‚I Shot the Sheriff.‘