Russell Simmons Quotes

I feel the choices our president Barack Obama is making now are safer and better.

Culture in America and everywhere else comes from the suffering, from those who don't want the old ways. They want to bring in the new, whether it's the ballet, when it started, or Shakespeare.

Hip-hop took some lessons from rock 'n' roll, and rock 'n' roll took some lessons from hip-hop.

Hip-hop is such a wide statement of culture that everyone is not the same, and it's impossible to put it into one box.

I had too many businesses that are frivolous. I have enough. What interests me most is under-served communities. We need a new style of empowering these people, and new approaches.

I would like to employ more people but I don't want to empower my charities at the cost of exploiting people or doing things that are not useful, so I'm working on that.

The reason I got a break in Hollywood when I moved here a few years ago is my good buddy, who I was on the beach with when he was a publicist, is now the chairman of HBO.

I don't want to appease everyone. It seems very difficult to be steadfast on truth and be a politician.

I don't eat anything that runs away from me.

I know a lot of angry liberals right now. Hell, I know a lot of angry vegans.

A poet or a comedian can say what's on the mind of people. They should be funny. They should make you laugh. It may be so truthful that it hurts, but it makes you laugh.

[Performing artists] are making greater percentages. People are going to live events more and it's a big success story for everyone - except the music industry itself.

I really, really try to be a good servant. It makes me happy when I'm a good giver without expectations.

I'm a full disclosure kind of person.

It's always marketeers building their own careers.

People build themselves up before you even have to deal with them.

I signed Jay-Z because he was on fire. I wasn't a genius. The record was great. I put it on The Nutty Professor soundtrack and we signed him.

I'm always surrounded by smart talented people. I had talented partners. Stan Latham for one. Talent scouts.

The old world is quickly disappearing, and the new opportunities are opening up.

Imagine if you have a million views on a show and they say it's a hit on some cable networks. I could put out a piece of content that has 20 million views.

Donald Trump's not politically correct. Although you are running for president, you should be politically correct. But there is also the expression of an artist.

I don't want to wait for Hollywood to decide that what I do is good.

I'm lucky that I have a platform that I can answer my own questions.

You need Black [people] sometimes to understand things about Black culture.

I can't pay my [bills]. I can't go to work. My car is out of gas.

The elected officials should be working for the voters who elected them. Money corrupts the process. Why would you be giving a candidate money unless you expect something in return?

I can't get my medicine.

I was literally calling my customers who were complaining on social media and having a dialog with them, and sending them money.

Urban pop culture is its own phenomena that is for some reason is left out of Hollywood. It's the most mainstream thing there is.

They're lacking culture in Hollywood. That gives me a big up, right? I know something about pop culture.

I live in hip-hop. I don't find it to be offensive.

That happens to me everyday. I watch my thoughts, not only on the mat, but all through the day.

The always-connected culture isn't as much a contributor as Grace might think. The nervous mind, the monkey mind, will create its own noise. It doesn't need a new toy.

The greatest tool to eliminate the noise is meditation.

Nothing increases happiness like quiet time. The truth is, the only moments that make you laugh or happy are seconds of stillness.

86% of its audience was made up of people of color. That tells you that the full potential of many black stars won't be realized until their audiences are fully integrated.

I have a pilot called The Re-Education of Oliver Cooper starring the white kid from Project X where follows a black girl to a black university, like in Legally Blonde. I have so many fun projects.

My idea is to integrate black stars into mainstream stars. It hasn't been explored properly. That's what Im doing in Hollywood.

Hollywood is full of very liberal people, but it still has an infrastructure that needs to be broken.

I'm still moving around.We're building a platform to put a song out every week for 52 weeks called ADD52.

Needing nothing really is the ultimate goal. And to have nothing to do with things.

The seconds of presence are where most inspiration comes. There are sunsets that promote it.

There's one overriding issue, namely, that we live in a police state so long as the police get to police themselves. And that is why cops go unindicted.

The best way to protect both the policemen and the community going forward is by creating a system that's just, where everyone feels safe.

Sometimes, a new toy, a new technology, will focus you. The world is always trying to draw you out, so you always have to remember to go in.

Fortunately, Hollywood is open to change. It's just a question of how to go about doing it.

A more happy mind leads to quietness and clarity. And that clarity helps you have a greater capacity to do more and to become more successful and more giving.

Running all my different companies has turned out to be a lot easier because I mediate twice a day and go to yoga every day.

I think it's very important. I've gone into prisons to meditate with inmates. It's something I plan to do with Tim Robbins soon.

At the core of everything that is hurtful to humanity is a lack of consciousness.