“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.”

When you learn, teach, when you get, give.

Don’t let the man bring you down.

Surviving is important. Thriving is elegant.

Talent is like electricity. We don’t understand electricity. We use it.

In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours. In all the world, there is no love for you like mine.

If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded.

I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one.

Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.

We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.

Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.

First best is falling in love. Second best is being in love. Least best is falling out of love. But any of it is better than never having been in love.

The sisters and brothers that you meet give you the materials which your character uses to build itself.

Be present in all things and thankful for all things.

My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and try to love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return.

Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option.

I’m not a character, so how I rap is just an everyday thing.

Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them.

Occasional war is one of the rigorous instruments in the hands of Providence to give tone to the character of nations.

How I am in the booth, how I am when I meet you, that’s how I am in general.

I was raised orthodox Muslim. Very sheltered, very conservative.

You’ve got to be twice as good to get half as far.

One of my strongest gifts is that I’m pretty straightforward.

There are times when I am so unlike myself that I might be taken for someone else of an entirely opposite character.