It’s a blessing that South Africa has a man like Nelson Mandela.

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

Passions are the gales of life.

I learned from the guys before me – Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Richard Pryor, just to name a few. These are guys that let it all hang out. What they lived is what they took to the stage.

I used to always fight for human rights. I still fight for Leonard Peltier, who’s spent 35 years in jail for a crime he didn’t commit.

We based the look on rock ‚n roll right from the beginning.

Everybody born comes from the Creator trailing wisps of glory. We come from the Creator with creativity. I think that each one of us is born with creativity.

If you care about other people, you might try to organize to undermine power and authority. That’s not going to happen if you care only about yourself.

The fame isn’t important to me. It’s a blessing to have. Having so many people that support me, that love me and listen to my music, is beautiful.

When I start to write, I don’t have any plan at all. I just wait for the story to come.

Poetry is the art of substantiating shadows, and of lending existence to nothing.

I think the self-burning itself on practice of non-violence. These people, you see, they easily use bomb explosive, more casualty people. But they didn’t do that. Only sacrifice their own life. So this also is part of practice of non-violence.

Once we start to act, hope is everywhere. So instead of looking for hope, look for action. Then, and only then, hope will come.

Happiness is a ball after which we run wherever it rolls, and we push it with our feet when it stops.

Don’t only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets; art deserves that, for it and knowledge can raise man to the Divine.

Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.

I believe that when you think of the negative, and you get up discouraged – ‚There’s nothing good in my future‘ – I really believe it almost ties the hands of God. God works where there’s an attitude of faith. I believe faith is all about hope.

If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.

If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.

Art is not a treasure in the past or an importation from another land, but part of the present life of all living and creating peoples.

I am such a political person.

Stand a little less between me and the sun.

Deep down, I know I have this intuition or instinct that a lot of creative people have, that their demons are also what make them create.

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.

Particularly conservative Christians, I was very angry that they were not involved more in the AIDS emergency.

Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment.

I’ve never had writer’s block.

Work aside, we come to New York for the possibility of interaction and inspiration.

I always dreamt of holding the bat and winning games for India. That was my inspiration to take up cricket.

With me poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion.

We represent a hustler. I think we represent inspiration. I think we represent, you know, staying down. I think we represent building yourself up from the bootstraps.

Without this playing with fantasy no creative work has ever yet come to birth. The debt we owe to the play of the imagination is incalculable.

Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes,‘ he said, his voice rising as applause and cheers mounted. ‚Shake it off. Stop complainin‘. Stop grumblin‘. Stop cryin‘. We are going to press on. We have work to do.

I’m just a kid that defied the odds. I’m just a kid that ignored the doubt. I’m just a kid from a little place in Dublin, Ireland, that went all the way, and I’m going to continue to go all the way.

When I inspire myself, I want to spread the word because its important to be healthy. I don’t think they’re teaching us enough about that. I think we should eat better and exercise. Look who’s saying that – a guy who was 300 pounds – but I’m doing a lot better than I used to. I’m letting people know its important because it makes you feel better.

When I’m 40 and nobody wants to see me in a sparkly dress anymore, I’ll be like: ‚Cool, I’ll just go in the studio and write songs for kids.‘

The great fun in my life has been getting up every morning and rushing to the typewriter because some new idea has hit me.

I think if we go back and check our record, the Negro has proven beyond a doubt that we have been more than patient in seeking our rights as American citizens.

I learned never to empty the well of my writing, but always to stop when there was still something there in the deep part of the well, and let it refill at night from the springs that fed it.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

If I’m the people’s poet, then I ought to be in people’s hands – and, I hope, in their heart.

There are two kinds of teachers: the kind that fill you with so much quail shot that you can’t move, and the kind that just gives you a little prod behind and you jump to the skies.

Faith Hill is a big role model.

No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness.

In order to have your voice be heard in Washington, you have to make some little contribution.

It usually helps me write by reading – somehow the reading gear in your head turns the writing gear.

The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.

I always use Michael as, first and foremost, a vocal inspiration, and ‚Off the Wall‘ was definitely the one that made me feel like I could sing.

Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The key word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for.

The men I idolized built their bodies and became somebody – like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger – and I thought, ‚That can be me.‘ So I started working out. The funny thing is I didn’t realize back then that I was having a defining moment.

Whenever I’m around some who is modest, I think, ‚Run like hell and all of fire.‘ You don’t want modesty, you want humility.

I always had faith in my creative capacity.

Whatever that means, however you got on that mountain, why not try to climb it? And do it in your own way.

I have the Midas touch, in the way that when I hook up with a project, I feel, not speaking cocky or conceited, but there’s a confidence I have. I learned that from Muhammad Ali; I used to bodyguard him. He taught me about confidence. So when it comes to any job I work, I’m gonna do it good; I’m going to bring it over the top.

I think the foundation of everything in my life is wonder.

Every production of genius must be the production of enthusiasm.

Most people dream a dream when they are asleep. But to be a writer, you have to dream while you are awake, intentionally. So I get up early in the morning, 4 o’clock, and I sit at my desk and what I do is just dream. After three or four hours, that’s enough. In the afternoon, I run. The next day, the dream will continue.

My message to all the activists is to just keep going, and I know it really may seem impossible and hopeless sometimes – it always does – so you just have to keep going because if you try hard enough and long enough you will make a difference.

Man’s only true happiness is to live in hope of something to be won by him. Reverence something to be worshipped by him, and love something to be cherished by him, forever.

There are times when a leader must move out ahead of the flock, go off in a new direction, confident that he is leading his people the right way.

I write for no other purpose than to add to the beauty that now belongs to me. I write a book for no other reason than to add three or four hundred acres to my magnificent estate.