“I want there to be a piece of me in my music, you know? I genuinely believe that’s the secret of all the success that’s happened (for me).”

I don’t try and be dark, but there are obviously darker emotions that I want to capture sometimes.

When it’s your time, it is your time.

Treasure, that is what you are.

I think I don’t take myself too seriously. You know as far as, it’s a fun life. I take my music serious, but I like to have fun.

I think that success is having fun.

Every time I try to write a song, when I sit down and think I’m going to write, I really want to write a song, and it never works out. It’s always when it hits me unexpectedly on a plane or right before I go to bed, something like that.

To write a song you must have an imagination, to have an imagination you must be free.

If I was a billionaire, I’d be smart with my money.

Becoming famous was never what I wanted to do. There’s a lot of things that come with fame – it’s what people in the limelight have to do.

Songwriters, you have to work – you have to wait for residuals. You have to pray that the song’s going to be a hit. And then a year later, you might get a check.

People can hear my songs are coming from something real. I mean what I say; I’m not just writing to impress critics or young girls, or older girls. The way I talk is the way I write a song.

My dad was just the king of finding these little spots for us to stay that we should never have been staying at.

There will never be another Michael Jackson, a huge pop star since (the age of) 7.

When I see your face, there’s not a thing that I would change ’cause you’re are amazing just the way you are.

You pick up some fans and a handful of haters along the way.

I know I’m probably much too late to try and apologize for my mistakes.

I believe in justice, and I believe in people being held responsible for their actions.

Freedom and justice cannot be parceled out in pieces to suit political convenience. I don’t believe you can stand for freedom for one group of people and deny it to others.

I wouldn’t let a biopic be made on me. That’s because I don’t believe in them. I don’t like them.

Democracy is in the blood of Musalmans, who look upon complete equality of manhood [mankind] and believe in fraternity, equality and liberty.

I got a divorce, and I felt like I finally started my career. I started making movies and projects that I just really believed in.

Money is necessary — both to support a family and to advance causes one believes in.

As you go down the path of life, ask whats true. Not who else believes it.

I do not believe in god because I do not believe in Mother Goose.