In my research, I’ve interviewed a lot of people who never fit in, who are what you might call ‚different‘: scientists, artists, thinkers. And if you drop down deep into their work and who they are, there is a tremendous amount of self-acceptance.

It was very lucky for me as a writer that I studied the physical sciences rather than English. I wrote for my own amusement. There was no kindly English professor to tell me for my own good how awful my writing really was. And there was no professor with the power to order me what to read, either.

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

A man, as a general rule, owes very little to what he is born with – a man is what he makes of himself.

An artist needn’t be a clergyman or a churchwarden, but he certainly must have a warm heart for his fellow men.

The time is long overdue to stop looking for progress through racial or ethnic leaders. Such leaders have too many incentives to promote polarizing attitudes and actions that are counterproductive for minorities and disastrous for the country.

A song has to take on character, shape, body and influence people to an extent that they use it for their own devices. It must affect them not just as a song, but as a lifestyle.

I like being a writer.

As a body everyone is single, as a soul never.

Errors are not in the art but in the artificers.

As much as I’m a black person from America, I’m a black person from Africa, too.

If a poet is anybody, he is somebody to whom things made matter very little – somebody who is obsessed by Making.

I have to write 100 songs before you write the first good one.

The only really committed artist is he who, without refusing to take part in the combat, at least refuses to join the regular armies and remains a freelance.

If you are born an artist, you have no choice but to fight to stay an artist.

Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.

A person who is truly authentic doesn’t need to play a role in life, we think, but can simply be him – or herself.

There is always another way to say the same thing that doesn’t look at all like the way you said it before. I don’t know what the reason for this is. I think it is somehow a representation of the simplicity of nature.

Once you’ve changed who you are or who you’ve portrayed in your music, the fans, they’ll catch it… Once I feel like the world knows me for anything else but my music, then I feel like I failed.

I try never to wear my own clothes, I pretend I’m someone else.

You cannot talk about race without talking about privilege. And when people start talking about privilege, they get paralyzed by shame.

Genius… means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.

Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.

We have created characters and animated them in the dimension of depth, revealing through them to our perturbed world that the things we have in common far outnumber and outweigh those that divide us.

I’m Mickey Mouse. They don’t know who’s inside the suit.

Platitudes? Yes, there are platitudes. Platitudes are there because they are true.

The media need superheroes in science just as in every sphere of life, but there is really a continuous range of abilities with no clear dividing line.

I do sometimes look back at things I’ve written in the past, and think, ‚I just don’t remember being the person who wrote that.‘

Certainly a woman should never disguise the fact that she is a woman. A woman’s body is very beautiful.

How wonderful it is to be an American. We have known the best of times and the worst of times.

Writing saved me from the sin and inconvenience of violence.

One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals. And so when I hear about negative and false attacks, I really don’t invest any energy in them, because I know who I am.

I always liked different things, rare things.

Just because something didn’t work out your way, or somebody disappointed you, that does not change who you are.

I don’t see myself as a pop artist. Like, when you hear ‚pop,‘ you’re like, ‚Oh, bubblegum, jumpy little girly stuff,‘ and I feel like, ‚Uh-uh. That’s not me.‘

My style has always been my own, just like my flow and style.

I’m sticking to the script, I’m putting that organic feeling back in the game.

I’m fascinated by musicians who don’t completely understand their territory; that’s when you do your best work.

Everyone got kind of crazy with me mentioning I was in love with a woman.

Rioting is a childish way of trying to be a man, but it takes time to rise out of the hell of hatred and frustration and accept that to be a man you don’t have to riot.

I’m not who people expect me to be. I’m not Henry Kissinger.

It is a joy to be an artist, but it doesn’t mean very much unless that work is somehow useful in some way and contributes to others.

I once wanted to prove myself by being a great actress. Now I want to prove that I’m a person. Then maybe I’ll be a great actress.

Imagination decides everything.

A musician should only sound like what they do, and no two musicians sound the same. It’s an individual-feel thing, you know?

Wherever you write is supposed to be a little bit of a refuge, a place where you can get away from the world. The more closed in you are, the more you’re forced back on your own imagination.

Fine art is that in which the hand, the head, and the heart of man go together.

I can make something magical and wonderful out of nothing.

I am a beneficiary of the American people’s generosity, and I hope we can have comprehensive immigration legislation that allows this country to continue to be enriched by those who were not born here.

I hate the idea of genres.

An unimaginative person can neither be reverent or kind.

Writing is my love. If you love something, you find a lot of time. I write for two hours a day, usually starting at midnight; at times, I start at 11.

The lunatic, the lover, and the poet, are of imagination all compact.

If you want to make beautiful music, you must play the black and the white notes together.

‚Recreative‘ is a word that I invented because in urban culture, with colloquialism, we invent so many slangs. I don’t like the way that ‚recreational‘ sounds – I don’t like to say I do a lot of ‚recreational‘ reading. I like to say that I read ‚recreatively.‘ I do a lot of ‚recreative‘ reading.

Why should poetry have to make sense?

I specifically did not read other First Ladies‘ books, because I didn’t want to be influenced by how they defined the role. I knew that I would have to find this role – very uniquely and specifically to me and who I was.

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.

Everyone has their style and your style explains a lot about who you are – you feel me? I’ve had style since childhood, so I like to dress how I feel. But maybe I get carried away by some trends.

I remember being in Japan when Destiny’s Child put out ‚Independent Women,‘ and women there were saying how proud they were to have their own jobs, their own independent thinking, their own goals. It made me feel so good, and I realized that one of my responsibilities was to inspire women in a deeper way.

I love it when Muslims go to war with each other, as I do when the Christians do, because it shows there’s no such thing as the Christian world and the Islamic world. That’s all crap.