If you enjoy the fragrance of a rose, you must accept the thorns which it bears.

There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry toward religious beliefs... begins.

A certain administration which I won't call by name took the arts out of the schools, and that left the brothers out on the street with nothing, so they went to the turntables and started rhyming. Then they had a way to express themselves, and that's the birth of hip-hop.

Religious beliefs are sacred to people, and at all times should be respected and honoured.

Have you ever wondered why young people take to music like fish to water? Maybe it's because music is fun. Plan and simple. It opens up their minds to dream great dreams about where they can go and what they can do when they get older.

Guys in slavery sang praises to the Lord to deliver them from bondage.

I influence people, hopefully on the positive side.

I think the kids today need to hear more about morals and values.

I used to stand in front of the mic and cry.

I was a pop freak.

Know the business, learn the business, own something.

The rappers have gone in and created a lot of hit music based upon my influence. And they'll tell you if you ask.

There's always hurdles. So I just keep moving, just constantly redefining myself. That's how you stay in the race.

I first heard African drum rhythms and chants at the movies. Then, when I had the opportunity to go to Africa and visit the villages, I heard the real, raw, true rhythms and realised the origins of the old Negro spirituals I grew up with in the South.

I'd always loved strings. When I was in high school and saw strings playing on stage, an orchestra or a symphony, all those bows moving at the same time... wow.

Just, you know, you can't put bread in a cold oven. You know, you've got to take your time. You've got to heat it up. So that's what, that's what I like to do with my music. I like to build it, and build it into a maddening, exciting crescendo.

There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins.

It is no use describing a house; the reader will fix the scene in some spot he knows himself.

Then India, everyone has his own idea of India.

I wrote The Green Eye of the Little Yellow God in five hours, but I had it all planned out. It isn't poetry and it does not pretend to be, but it does what it sets out to do.