What inspires me about rap is that it’s written in an almost poetic way. I just think it’s so cool.

I never called my work an ‚art‘. It’s part of show business, the business of building entertainment.

Corruption is a cancer: a cancer that eats away at a citizen’s faith in democracy, diminishes the instinct for innovation and creativity; already-tight national budgets, crowding out important national investments. It wastes the talent of entire generations. It scares away investments and jobs.

I try to sprinkle a little gems and jewels in the music that people could use in their own life.

Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another.

There is spontaneity to my work.

We all sort of do want incentives for creative people to still exist at a certain level. You know, maybe rock stars shouldn’t make as much; who knows? But you want as much creativity to take place in the future as took place in the past.

The minute you got the Nobel Peace Prize, things that I said yesterday, with nobody paying too much attention, I say the same things after I got it – oh! It was quite crucial for people, and it helped our morale because apartheid did look invincible.

I wanted to prove the sustaining power of music.

My goal in music is to create nostalgic moments.

Never regret what you don’t write.

The prospect of music being detachable from time and place meant that one could start to think of music as a part of one’s furniture.

O! for a muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention.

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

For me to talk with Obama and the conversation I had with him, I was letting him know that me and my fans have a special connection, and it’s love, and I believe that love is the answer.

The art which we may call generally art of the wayside, as opposed to that which is the business of men’s lives, is, in the best sense of the word, Grotesque.

That is what we are supposed to do when we are at our best – make it all up – but make it up so truly that later it will happen that way.

Environment is very important to me. Sometimes I have to perform during the day for festivals, and my music does not work in the daytime. It is nighttime music.

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.

I get a thrill meeting kids who are into alternative music.

O‘ What may man within him hide, though angel on the outward side!

Everyone here has the sense that right now is one of those moments when we are influencing the future.

We allow no geniuses around our Studio.

I don’t set out to write about spirituality; I am free to do something different every time.

The value of beauty and inspiration is very much underrated, no question. But I want to be clear: I’m not trying to be anyone’s savior. I’m just trying to think about the future and not be sad.

Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.

Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model.

As the births of living creatures are at first ill-shapen, so are all innovations, which are the births of time.

Everybody thinks making films back to back is a big deal but they did it all the time in the old days.

Without music, life would be a mistake.

I was 14, and I fell in love with Pink Floyd.

I decided to sell my drawings. However, I didn’t want people to buy my drawings because the professor of physics isn’t supposed to be able to draw – isn’t that wonderful – so I made up a false name.

There are only 3 colors, 10 digits, and 7 notes; its what we do with them that’s important.

My purpose is to make exciting music, and I feel like I’ll be doing that for the rest of my life, so there’s no pressure.

On Sundays when I speak, I hopefully give somebody something that they can use the next day at work or at home.

Everything is my demon muse. I have a muse which whispers in my ear and says, ‚Do this, do that,‘ but it’s my demon who provokes me.

To take a few nouns, and a few pronouns, and adverbs and adjectives, and put them together, ball them up, and throw them against the wall to make them bounce. That’s what Norman Mailer did. That’s what James Baldwin did, and Joan Didion did, and that’s what I do – that’s what I mean to do.

‚Nothin‘ on You‘ by B.o.B was the first song where I heard myself on the radio. I’d been trying my whole career to write a song like that, which incorporates live instruments with hip-hop and singing.

I think my first album opened a lot of doors for me to push the freedom of speech to the limit.

A loving heart is the truest wisdom.

I wish I could play bass like Larry Graham or Bootsy Collins. My God, I’d give up just about everything else for that.

I used to consider the listener. But now I’m in a space where, if I’m not inspired, I can’t really do the music. I can’t feel it.

If you’re waiting for the perfect moment, you’ll never write a thing because it will never arrive. I have no routine. I have no foolproof anything. There’s nothing foolproof.

An operatic voice is like no other.

I learned how important it is to entertain people and give them a reason to come and watch you play.

My drive is other people’s success.

If you are going to write, say, fantasy – stop reading fantasy. You’ve already read too much. Read other things; read westerns, read history, read anything that seems interesting, because if you only read fantasy and then you start to write fantasy, all you’re going to do is recycle the same old stuff and move it around a bit.

A poem is a naked person… Some people say that I am a poet.

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

One of the things you do when you make a piece of art is you try to make the world you’d rather be in.

A song is anything that can walk by itself.

To be honest, I never really considered myself to be too much of an actress. So, whenever I get the chance to do music, I’m always, like, just in it. It’s like, ‚Oh my God, I finally get to do this. I’m so happy.‘

Disneyland is a work of love. We didn’t go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money.

The problem with fine art is that in most cases people have to make a special excursion to go and look at it: they can’t afford to own it. So it isn’t really part of their life in the way that music can be.

I’ve never been to New Zealand before. But one of my role models, Xena, the warrior princess, comes from there.

When I’m inspired, I get excited because I can’t wait to see what I’ll come up with next.

It’s not essential for me to have a big debut week; it’s not essential for me to have big radio records.

I made an album I’m very proud of, and that’s about it.

One of my most popular songs, ‚Satellites,‘ I paid $300 for that beat on SoundClick.

Effective philanthropy requires a lot of time and creativity – the same kind of focus and skills that building a business requires.

That is my wish, hope, instruction for all of you: Take your education seriously, okay? Always do that. Because I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for my education.