I lost my childhood. I didn't play football or video games. Or have birthdays or the love of a family.

The worst people on earth are not only those who commit evil, but those who stand by and turn a blind eye

Music is powerful. It is the only thing that can speak into your mind, your heart and your soul without your permission.

I'm still a soldier, fighting with my pen and paper for peace till the day I cease.

Any child soldier has to go through a lot of love, care and understanding to become normal.

A cold heart is my protection mechanism. I don't really feel anything for anyone.

I am proof that one person can rise above any challenge, and if I can, then so will others if they are given the chance.

I still have nightmares of dead comrades, a long time ago, talking to me. 'Emmanuel, don't forget about us, don't give up, keep telling our story.'

In Africa, music is for everything, Music was originally used for community. That was what music was for.

Peace may be negotiated by politicians, but it is something written in hearts and minds not on pieces of paper

If I sleep for more than half an hour, I get horrible dreams in which I'm firing a gun and helicopters are coming down.

Public education was not founded to give society what it wants. Quite the opposite.

Good lyrics always drown me with them till they cease to flow.

The idea of avant-garde art is a very suspicious thing to me, the idea that poetry is new and it keeps being new the way Chevrolets every year are new.

If you put on an item of clothing that hurts just because you have an idea it looks better or conforms to what other people are wearing, it's dumb.

I prefer silence. Then you can hear thoughts and see into the past. In silence you can’t hide anything … as you can in words.

Most, if not all, creativity is born out of perspiration rather than inspiration.

Nothing has transformed my life more than realizing that it's a waste of time to evaluate my worthiness by weighing the reaction of the people in the stands.

I'm happy with the success I've had, and I feel like there's been a lot that I've learned this year, and that's a great thing going into the future.

[Jesus] said that they will know we are Christians - not by our bumper stickers and T-shirts - but by our love.

Great men are the commissioned guides of mankind, who rule their fellows because they are wiser.