Our deeds still travel with us from afar, and what we have been makes us what we are.

Things that I felt absolutely sure of but a few years ago, I do not believe now. This thought makes me see more clearly how foolish it would be to expect all men to agree with me.

Life is made of ever so many partings welded together.

Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.

You’re looking at a middle-class guy. I am who I am.

My experiences at Princeton have made me far more aware of my ‚blackness‘ than ever before. I have found that at Princeton, no matter how liberal and open-minded some of my white professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus; as if I really don’t belong.

If you’re teaching today what you were teaching five years ago, either the field is dead or you are.

You know, when you don’t go on TV and talk about how many women you sleep with, some people in Hollywood, that are supposedly ‚in the know,‘ start whispering that you’re gay. If I were gay, I wouldn’t be ashamed to admit it, but I’m not.

The poetry you read has been written for you, each of you – black, white, Hispanic, man, woman, gay, straight.

To kids, I’ve always been more than just some big tough black guy. I train to be tough – I box and do karate – but underneath all that toughness is a tender man.

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

There are a lot of people who don’t know me and what I am all about.

There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination, and wonder.

We are often raised as dependents then given over to teachers. It’s experience and exploration that can transform us and lead to mastery.

If I wasn’t Bob Dylan, I’d probably think that Bob Dylan has a lot of answers myself.

Woman’s at best a contradiction still.

Many a man’s strength is in opposition, and when he faileth, he grows out of use.

I don’t blame the average seventeen-year-old punk-rock kid for calling me a sellout. I understand that. And maybe when they grow up a little bit, they’ll realize there’s more things to life than living out your rock & roll identity so righteously.

When you’re older you want to learn from other people.

It would be a terrific innovation if you could get your mind to stretch a little further than the next wisecrack.

Capital is money, capital is commodities. By virtue of it being value, it has acquired the occult ability to add value to itself. It brings forth living offspring, or, at the least, lays golden eggs.

One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present.

We Jews have a secret weapon in our struggle with the Arabs; we have no place to go.

That’s something that is almost accidental at the beginning of a career, but the more you write, the more trained you are to recognize the little signals.

I wrote my first song at 12 and remember someone asking, ‚What were you going through at 12 that you could write about?‘ I get what you’re saying, but 11, 12, 13 were the hardest years of my life. You learn everything. You learn how horrible things feel.

With ideas it is like with dizzy heights you climb: At first they cause you discomfort and you are anxious to get down, distrustful of your own powers; but soon the remoteness of the turmoil of life and the inspiring influence of the altitude calm your blood; your step gets firm and sure and you begin to look – for dizzier heights.

I’m actually starting to like more and more people who have convictions that are unpopular.

I live halfway between reality and theater at all times. And I was born this way.

If we keep doing what we’re doing, we’re going to keep getting what we’re getting.

Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit.

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.

Another belief of mine; that everyone else my age is an adult, whereas I am merely in disguise.

One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody.

I think who you are in school really sticks with you. I don’t ever feel like the cool kid at the party, ever. It’s like, ‚Smile and be nice to everybody, because you were not invited to be here.‘

The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks.

Being a Christian is more than just an instantaneous conversion – it is a daily process whereby you grow to be more and more like Christ.

When you’re young, you keep reading new writers and you keep changing your mind about how you ought to sound.

When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.

Much of your pain is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.

Without deviation progress is not possible.

If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?

To understand a name you must be acquainted with the particular of which it is a name.

What’s dangerous is not to evolve.

Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French.

The investor of today does not profit from yesterday’s growth.

The more you practice, the better you get, the more freedom you have to create.

I think it’s important as an artist to never forget where you’re from.

I think women want freedom. They want to be empowered. They want hope. They want love; they want all the things that I want, and I’m not afraid to say those things and act on them, and I think that’s why they identify with me.

The day when I am no more than a writer I shall cease to be a writer.

In the West, as well as some other parts of the world, the personal sense of ego tends to predominate, whereas in other areas, there is a more collective sense of ego. This collective ego emphasizes the ‚we‘ rather than the ‚I.‘

Because I’m small, I’ve been called things from ‚Happy Feet‘ to ‚Little Face.‘

I always was a Christian… whatsoever a man thinks in his heart is who he is.

Let the path be open to talent.

Let us not forget who we are. Drug abuse is a repudiation of everything America is.

Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error.

Although the life of a person is in a land full of thorns and weeds, there is always a space in which the good seed can grow. You have to trust God.

I would never say I was an icon, but so many people have said I am, so I suppose I am. I mean, I can’t not be what everyone says I am. But I don’t feel like an icon.

I grew up where, when a door closed, a window didn’t open. The only thing I had was cracks. I’d do everything to get through those cracks – scratch, claw, bite, push, bleed. Now the opportunity is here. The door is wide open, and it’s as big as a garage.

What good is it being Marilyn Monroe? Why can’t I just be an ordinary woman?

No driver is perfect.

Once you begin to fall off the track and believe you breathe different air to everyone else, you’re doomed; you’re finished.