When I look at the arc of my career, my focus is on lyricism, right? I own that.

A flower that grow in the ghetto know more about survival than the one from fresh meadows.

Skip the religion and politics, head straight to the compassion. Everything else is a distraction.

I ignored your aura but it grabbed me by the hand, like the moon pulled the tide, and the tide pulled the sand.

Do the math: You never settle for less than the whole if you knew the half.

You gotta get back to your essence, Use your gifts and share your presence, Don't count your dollars 'til you count your blessings.

Life without knowledge is death in disguise.

The beautiful thing about hip-hop is it's like an audio collage. You can take any form of music and do it in a hip-hop way and it'll be a hip-hop song. That's the only music you can do that with.

If lyrics sold then truth be told/I'd probably be just as rich and famous as Jay-Z.

I'm at a loss for words. But even my loss is amplified.

You know, there's a lot of activism that doesn't deal with empowerment, and you have to empower yourself in order to be relevant to any type of struggle.

A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.

They don't sell friends in stores....

You won't rise to the occasion - you'll default to your level of training.

God's unique capacity is too surprising to surprise.

We are oftener deceived by being told some truth than no truth.

I really think the key to any movie is that you tell the story kind of in a fulsome way, with depth, with skill, and you will find your audience.

Expiring for love is beautiful but stupid.

I'm inspired by failure. The process of defeat – picking yourself back up again is the hardest thing in the world.

The need to congregate workers in offices will gradually diminish.

I've never been without a dog. I've made trips across the country with a dog. I've been in that angst of loneliness, where you're really alone in the universe, except for the dog.