“You just have to pay attention to what people need and what has not been done.”
— Russell Simmons
“Don’t ruin a good today by thinking of a bad yesterday, Let it go!”
“You’ve got to put your head down and do the work. There are no shortcuts.”
“Needing nothing attracts everything.”
“Compassion is the ultimate expression of your highest self.”
“No matter where you want to go, as long as you follow your path with faith, dedication and hard work, you are going to get there.”
“If you just remember to breathe and smile before you act, you’ll always make the right decision.”
“Gratefulness is a practice, just like happiness is a choice.”
“Never change for the mainstream – stay in your lane, and if you’re talented and resilient enough the mainstream will come to you.”
“There are no failures, only quitters.”
“Be encouraged. Stay on your hustle. You can’t fail until u quit.”
“Respect your parents. What they tell you is true. Hard work, dedication and faith will get you anything. Imagination will drive itself. You can get anything you want, but you have to have faith behind all your ideas. Stick to your goals and have an undying faith.”
“Always focus on your effort, instead of the results of that effort.”
“I am very lucky that I have talented and creative people around me. Also, mediation has been a very big part of my freedom, because it allows me to watch all the things going on and allows me to focus.”
“The book ‘Do You!’ is about your inner voice. And when you connect to that voice then you – then the freedom comes. And we’re only here to be happy. So happy makes money. Money doesn’t make happy.”
“Give what you want to receive. If you want happiness, make others happy.”
“Reacting to the world with a smile instead of a curse, a wave instead of the middle finger, will actually help you live longer.”
“If you don’t break a hole through the brick wall, don’t just start digging a new hole. Keep going until you break through that wall.”
“The person who understands Dharma will have the opposite reaction to a “hard” job. That person will be eager to get started, no matter what kind of work is in front of her, because she understands that she’s doing God’s work. And when you’re working for God, nothing is too hard.”
“I’m just suggesting that when you’re faced with fear and anxiety, don’t medicate. Meditate instead.”
“Don’t worry what others are doing. Do you!”
“Never pass up any opportunity to share your gifts with the world.”
“Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you.”
“Good givers are great getters.”
“By listening to your higher self, or Atman, you can return to the truth that’s already inside of you and in the process change not only yourself, but the entire world, through positivity and love.”
“Every day set the simple goal of trying to be more awake and less distracted.”
“Happy can make you money, but money can’t make you happy.”
“If you give a good thing to the world, then over time your karma will be good, and you’ll receive good.”
“What holds most people back isn’t the quality of their ideas, but their lack of faith in themselves.”
“I look for people who have insight in places where I don’t.”
“It’s very simple: When you’re working your hardest, the world opens up to you.”
“Whatever you chase will run away from you. So, stop chasing success and realize you already have it all.”
“You know, sometimes people never get to learn how successful they could have been because they give up too easily. If I’ve learned one thing in all my years in the business, it’s that often things don’t work out the way you want at first. But that doesn’t mean you should give up.”
“Being a thoughtful vegan makes our time on this Earth more peaceful and joyous, because you get to have a hand in promoting and increasing the happiness, good health and well-being of others – both animal and human – rather than being an instrument of their suffering and death.”
“The key ingredient to any kind of happiness or success is to never give less than your best.”
“We meditate so we can see miracles unfolding. Without stillness life is a blur.”
“It’s all about the work. Nothing is going to fall into your lap.”
“No matter where you’re from or what you’ve done, you’re never stuck in a particular circumstance, relationship, or cycle unless you say you are.”
“A person’s strength is to know their weaknesses.”
“I don’t miss my prayers and I don’t miss my yoga. Those things are important to me.”
“When you’re a good giver you’re a good getter.”
“No matter what you’re doing, try to work at that task like it’s your dream job.”
“I try to keep a positive intention, and use whatever resources I have to benefit others. I try to create businesses that I think are not hurtful. I try to do things that I think are helpful to the environment, to the animals, and to the planet.”
“Many of my biggest business endeavors were failures before they became a success. Some failed for as long as six years before they hit. Everyone around me thought I was crazy. You just have to stay at it.”
“You can’t jump to vegan if you’re not. Some people are absolute. Some people are able to be gradual.”
“If you wake up deciding what you want to give versus what you’re going to get, you become a more successful person. In other words, if you want to make money, you have to help someone else make money.”
“People are afraid of failure – they don’t like to work so hard and have people keep saying, ‘No.’ I think that’s what people fear most.”
“You have to learn to laugh all the time. It’s a practice of life. It’s a practice of happiness.”
“Whatever obstacles appear in your path, put your head down and get past them. Those obstacles aren’t real. They’re just God’s way of testing you. He’s asking you, ‘Do you want to make it or not?’”
“Art is a way to express yourself and through that you can escape a bad situation.”
“Antisemitism is just another form of racism. It’s the same sickness, whether it’s about Christians, about Islamophobia, which is horrible. It’s all wrong. It’s all the same.”
“You’ll see a lot of funny stuff, you’ll see a lot of daddy-knows-best stuff, you’ll see a lot of me and my wife trying to hold the family together.”
“Hip-hop is a voice for voiceless poor people.”
“Every time I go into a new venture, I find a “rabbi” who has the business acumen to help me understand the mechanics of that industry, the costs involved in developing a product, and what you need to do in order to make a profit.”
“My wife Kimora once told me while we were watching “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” that it’s a vegetarian movie because the way that the woman was screaming, “Aaaahhh,” and trying to run away is how every animal you eat reacted at the slaughterhouse.”
“I’m always surrounded by smart talented people. I had talented partners. Stan Latham for one. Talent scouts.”
“As long as you are passionate about your vision, you should keep moving forward.”
“I don’t like to say, Oh, this is my favorite record because there was a moment that that record made me feel a certain way. The one on the radio at the present moment could be the one that’s most inspiring, because it’s at that second that you’re aware of “the infinite everything.””
“I want to promote poetry to the point where you got all the baldhead kids running around doing poetry, getting the music out of the way and having only words, the spoken word, and then see what happens.”
“If you run a corporation, your job is to maximize the return on investment for your investors. Good for you. But by the same token, we have to remember that corporations have no compassion. That’s why legislation and regulations are necessary.”
“There are songs and melody that make you really happy. And there are spiritual gifts that you have – giving these gifts away sometimes gives you that feeling of inspiration. These seconds of awareness make you realize that any second can be your favorite one, and it really is up to you.”
“I think I’m less afraid of failure than some others.”
“The best defense for any group of people is what we do to defend other people.”
“If you aren’t passionate about a vision, it’s hard to have faith in it.”
“I don’t believe that people create their own visions. Rather, I believe that visions are actually God’s way of communicating with us.”
“Not every move you make has to be a great leap.”
“Anyone whose mission is keeping people apart is swimming against a very strong tide.”
“Last year my wife got a Rolls-Royce.”
“I ask everyone – white Hollywood and black Hollywood – to get outside of your comfort zone and make friends. That’s where they’re going to learn from each other, and that’s where they’re going to make better movies and make Hollywood a better place.”
“Quit taking, start giving.”
“I think that’s what made rap such a stable footprint in culture, that it’s so honest.”
“The thing about hip-hop is that it’s from the underground, ideas from the underbelly, from people who have mostly been locked out, who have not been recognized.”
“You know, the diversity that America has is so special. It’s starting to really become a cool thing for young people.”
“I think when you’re very dedicated to something and you’re engaged fully, you become a giver.”
“The best way to protect both the policemen and the community going forward is by creating a system that’s just, where everyone feels safe.”
“Get unstuck from whatever it is you perceive is holding you back from realizing your dreams.”
“I’m not a politician. I only want to help relieve the suffering in communities, and I want to help people see their community in each other.”
“Music is the noise that surrounds the stillness of the art form.”
“In the end, the overriding factor in whether or not you realize your dreams is going to be you. Not the world. YOU.”
“Cruelty is cruelty, whether it’s cruelty to children, to the elderly, to dogs and cats, or to chickens.”
“I always say neediness is the cause of suffering. I’m not the only one who says it. It’s something I adopted and I believe.”
“The seconds of presence are where most inspiration comes. There are sunsets that promote it.”
“Always try to be yourself.”
“I don’t know that God favors the person who has a greater reach than those who have a small reach. It’s the intention. I try to keep a positive intention, and use whatever resources I have to benefit others.”
“I don’t eat anything that runs away from me.”
“I had too many businesses that are frivolous. I have enough. What interests me most is under-served communities. We need a new style of empowering these people, and new approaches.”
“Hip-hop is such a wide statement of culture that everyone is not the same, and it’s impossible to put it into one box.”
“I’m a big supporter of President Obama.”
“No matter what we’ve done or where we’ve been, every single one of us can change.”
“I kind of think that artists throughout history, poets throughout history have been criticized for sharing what’s on people’s minds and I don’t think it’s any different now.”
“I knew it was unrealistic to think I could build an institution overnight. But if I took baby steps, eventually it would happen.”
“Culture in America and everywhere else comes from the suffering, from those who don’t want the old ways. They want to bring in the new, whether it’s the ballet, when it started, or Shakespeare.”
“The reason I got a break in Hollywood when I moved here a few years ago is my good buddy, who I was on the beach with when he was a publicist, is now the chairman of HBO.”
“Black actors on the road, flying around the country working as poets. Those people are inspirations for millions of kids who write.”
“I would like to employ more people but I don’t want to empower my charities at the cost of exploiting people or doing things that are not useful, so I’m working on that.”
“Labels cloud our vision and distract us from seeing how much we have in common with one another.”
“I think the artist’s job throughout history has been to tell – to say things that people are inspired by.”
“I think that diversity is key for the next American entrepreneurs. They want to be a part of this society where there is so much diversity they have to have people from all the experiences.”
“I try to do things that I think are helpful to the environment, to the animals, and to the planet.”
“I think people instinctively know that their job is to give service and that they are part of a community. It had a great impact on me when my father walked the picket lines and I walked with him during the civil rights movement.”
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