“Me is what them call illegitimate, that mean say me is a criminal, bomba rassclaat! That’s why me go write a song called ‘Illegitimate Children.’ It took me years to find out I was one.”

Music must never be forgotten, it’s like a fountain that keeps on flowing.

And I ask why am I black, they say I was born in sin, and shamed inequity. One of the main songs we used to sing in church makes me sick, ‘love wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

Everyone’s trying to reach the top. Tell me how far is it from the bottom.

I was the only one in my family to be musically inclined, and my mother loved that.

It takes a lot of physical and spiritual energy to balance on one wheel. Seen?

I go to church because my parents go to church, and I believe the things they were doing at the time were right.

If the music does not penetrate the heart, the soul, the mind, and the body. Then you ain’t gon’ feel it.

I travel the garden of music, thru inspiration. It’s a large, very large garden, seen?

Peace is a certificate you get in the grave.

Music is in me.

I have no mother here; I have a bearer. Jah is my mother, and Jah is my father.

It’s not the one-half that’s never been told; it’s the three-quarters.

I man don’t come red, I come Black

I was born with music inside of me, and that was the first flower that bloomed on my tree, but I was the highest key in my school and also the lowest key, seen?

My philosophy is: if you don’t bear a cross, you can’t wear a crown so you gotta go through some form of humiliation to reach tribulation.

To be coordinated with the power of balance, your mind and your temple must be running parallel.

Too many children in foster care are falling through cracks. Be a hero, take the time learn about adoption today.

If you think about my filmography, I have never done a movie that a kid could go see, except for Iron Giant, and I’m not even on the screen.

When I was a kid, I was like everyone else: afraid of getting nuked. We had drills in school – Sweden was very close to the Soviet Union. There was definitely a lot of tension.

Your kids need your love and attention, and being able to devote myself to them is very fulfilling. As I get older, spending time with my daughters makes things much easier. You learn to put your ego aside.

Before my mother was a King, she climbed trees and wrestled with boys. And won. Even as a child, Coretta Scott demonstrated that her gender would not deter her success, nor did it detract from her strength.

My approach to acting now is so different — I’m fearless because I have nothing to lose. Before [children] my identity was wrapped up in every decision — now, I don’t care.

If your parents never had children, chances are neither will you.

Getting sober was one of the three pivotal events in my life, along with becoming an actor and having a child. Of the three, finding my sobriety was the hardest thing.