I wanna thank MTV and the VMAs for choosing me to be a part of the show because, on this show, if you not an icon or upcomin‘ icon, you’re not on the show, you know?

I know I’m more on television, and I’m more recognisable than maybe even the players because they run and train, but I just stand there, and my face does all these funny things that everyone can see all the time.

I’m the only person of distinction who has ever had a depression named for him.

I know that a large part of my fan base is gay. They’ve shown me love from the start. I mean in this industry, everyone from my glam people to my dancers are gay. You can’t be homophobic in this line of work – I’m a pop star!

You just wait. I’m going to be the biggest Chinese Star in the world.

If you modestly enjoy your fame you are not unworthy to rank with the holy.

In California, they don’t throw their garbage away – they make it into TV shows.

As a sportsperson, the best thing is people recognising you and loving you for what you do. For me, glamour is 100 people in the hotel feeling happy to see you.

How I love David Bowie.

I love making movies, but there’s nothing like performing live.

I’m over being a pop star. I don’t wanna be a hot girl. I wanna be iconic. And I feel like I’ve accomplished a lot. I feel like I’m highly respected, which is more important than any award or any amount of records. And I feel like there comes a point when being a pop star is not enough.

Truly it is an evil to be full of faults; but it is a still greater evil to be full of them and to be unwilling to recognize them, since that is to add the further fault of a voluntary illusion.

All I can do is try to create my own brand and have people appreciate me for that.

Winning ‚Motor Trend‘ Car of the year is probably the closest thing to winning the Oscar or Emmy of the car industry.

I’m already the face of the UFC, plus the face of boxing, WWE, and Hollywood.

We will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others.

One thing I just want to say to the military families – while you might not wear a uniform, I know – we all know, the nation knows – that you serve and sacrifice right alongside of your loved ones. And we are so grateful and proud of all of you for your service to this nation.

There are no record companies in Waikiki.

There was my name up in lights. I said, ‚God, somebody’s made a mistake.‘ But there it was, in lights. And I sat there and said, ‚Remember, you’re not a star.‘ Yet there it was up in lights.

Everybody loves you when you’re six foot in the ground.

Because you know when you first become famous, you start walking a little different because people are staring at you.

Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered – either by themselves or by others.

I can’t deny that label-support gave me a leg up – though not every successful artist needs it.

Fame itself… doesn’t really afford you anything more than a good seat in a restaurant.

It’s flattering to people who stop you and say that you’ve helped them and all. But, again, you know, you’ve got to stay humble because as quick as you came up, you can come down.

In Hollywood, a lot of times when something is in development, it just takes a lot of time.

My main focus is always to do well on the field for the Indian cricket team. When people say good things about me off the field, I am more than happy to accept them.

It confuses me and disappoints me when somebody says, ‚What does he do? What does he do?‘ My records are some of the biggest anthems ever. What do you think, they magically just appear? Obama walked out to my record.

Sometimes you recognize that there is a category of human experience that has not been identified but everyone knows about it. That is when I find a term to describe it.

Being acknowledged for your work is always a great accomplishment, whether it’s people in my city, kids in the street, all the way up to the Grammys.

Every man, and for stronger reasons, every artist, wants to be recognized. So do I.

There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.

Kitty Wells was the first and only Queen of Country Music, no matter what they call the rest of us. She was a great inspiration to me as well as every other female singer in the country music business. In addition to being a wonderful asset to country music, she was a wonderful woman.

Hollywood is not suited for me, and I am not suited for it.

Only the public can make a star. It’s the studios who try to make a system out of it.

Having other comedians complimenting my work is the biggest accolade that I can get.

People see me on the street, and they point to me, and they’re like, ‚Hey! All right, all right, all right!‘

I’m just changing the game because I know what the fans want and the people want ‚cause I’m a fan of hip-hop.

I’ve taken so many kids out of Pittsburgh and onto the great white way in New York City right into a Broadway show.

I’ve always been a fan of the VMAs, and I’ve always worked hard just to get a ticket to go to the VMAs.

You know, fame is a funny thing, man, especially, you know, actors, musicians, rappers, rock singers, it’s kind of a lifestyle and it’s easy to get caught up in it – you go to bars, you go to clubs, everyone’s doing a certain thing… It’s tough.

I think, first of all, I don’t think people understand Ice Cube’s body of work. Ice Cube is a, and I hate to use the word ‚urban‘ but – when you think of Judd Apatow, and a person who’s launched so many careers, Ice Cube has done that for so many comedians, you know?

Maybe I’ll give Broadway a try. But you know what would be great? Hosting the Oscars. I promise you, that would be a show no one forgot.

It is not our purpose to become each other; it is to recognize each other, to learn to see the other and honor him for what he is.

I do get recognized, but I must say Edinburgh is a fantastic city to live if you’re well-known. There is an innate respect for privacy in Edinburgh people, and I also think they’re used to seeing me walking around, so I don’t think I’m a very big deal.

The career of a sage is of two kinds: He is either honored by all in the world, Like a flower waving its head, Or else he disappears into the silent forest.

It was because the chimps are so eye-catching, so like us and teach us so much that my work was recognised worldwide.

If you are a leader, you should never forget that everyone needs encouragement. And everyone who receives it – young or old, successful or less-than-successful, unknown or famous – is changed by it.

A lot of dumb pictures have made a lot of money, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to be anything cinema students will revel over in the future.

Don’t work for recognition, but do work worthy of recognition.

Man gives you the award but God gives you the reward.

When I won the first Grammy, there was no other feeling like that feeling. It just made me feel like I came so far, like that was just a dream a few years before that, and then it was happening right then.

Martyrdom is the only way a man can become famous without ability.

I stopped watching TV because of ‚The Wire.‘ Like, ‚The Wire‘ ruined everything for me because I don’t even want to watch anything else now.

Getting recognized is insane. It just blows my mind. Like, someone who you don’t know at all can just be like, ‚Oh my God – are you Billie?‘

If I’m a star, then the people made me a star.

The dominant theory coming out of Hollywood is that peoples‘ attention spans are getting shorter and shorter and they need more stimulation.

A lot was accomplished in my mixtape career. But I still needed a few things: I needed to be recognized. I need to have radio. I need to have a real retail machine that can get us where we need to get that.

There is something that is much more scarce, something finer far, something rarer than ability. It is the ability to recognize ability.

Once upon a time my political opponents honored me as possessing the fabulous intellectual and economic power by which I created a worldwide depression all by myself.

People in Ethiopia, the Sudan, etc., don’t know Audrey Hepburn, but they recognize the name UNICEF. When they see UNICEF, their faces light up, because they know that something is happening. In the Sudan, for example, they call a water pump ‚UNICEF.‘