By the time I got to record my first album, I was 26, I didn't need pen or paper - my memory had been trained just to listen to a song, think of the words, and lay them to tape.

Don't tell me what was said about me. Tell me why they were so comfortable to say it to you.

Remind yourself. Nobody built like you, you design yourself.

Everybody look at you strange, say you changed Like you work that hard to stay the same.

You not feeling me, fine. It costs you nothing, pay me no mind.

A wise man told me don't argue with fools. Cause people from a distance can't tell who is who.

Don't ever go with the flow. Be the flow.

I seen the worst of the worst. I deserve every blessing I receive I'm from the dirt.

You can pay for school, but you can't buy class

Everybody can tell you how to do it but they never done it

Identity is a prison you can never escape, but the way to redeem your past is not to run from it, but to try to understand it, and use it as a foundation to grow.

It is better to be a star for one day than a moon for a lifetime.

Jesus is the only significance. Beside Jesus nothing has any significance. He alone matters.

Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.

It's the giving that makes one stronger, but sometimes the taking can make one weaker, if even vulnerable or blinding.

When all is lost, ask the I.R.S. - they'll find something.

The duties of each moment are the shadows beneath which hides the divine operation.

Yeah, I am a character actor.

[In 2007] People's relationship with a brand is becoming a dialog, not a monolog.

I suggest...that you develop early in life the habit of retiring and arising early. You remember the advice of Ben Franklin: "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

Tradition: how the vitality of the past enriches the life of the present.