The best training is to play by ear: trial by fire.

The best training is to play by ear: trial by fire.

I played classical as a kid.

I want to move people.

Now that I'm coming out with my own record people can see I'm a solo artist.

I think writers are prone to hyperbole sometimes.

My first big break came with Lauryn Hill on a track called Everything is Everything, I played piano on that track way back in 1998.

Experience is a great teacher.

I was always the front man for what I was doing from when I was 6.

In the 1970s, for all the Stevie Wonders, I'm sure there were five artists that were making forgettable music.

John legend is a nickname that somebody started calling me a while ago and part of it is 'cos I sound like an old man when I sing.

Anybody under the age of forty knows hip-hop, gospel and R&B pretty well, and it's all a part of what we consider to be 'black music.' There is a natural synergy between the three.

Artists in general never stay in the same place; we keep growing. It's still you: you still have that core that you always had, but you work with new people and hear new things.

As a nation - and as a world - we need more truth.

As a politician, you have to deal with someone wanting you to fail every day. I think I prefer being in a situation where generally people are rooting for me, and if they aren't rooting for me, they aren't out there to see my downfall. I respect the people who have the stomach for it.

As a young black boy, it made me proud to see black leaders that did something amazing and made the world change.

At the end of the day, there's only a few major stars in the music business, and then there's all these people that are aspiring to be that.

At work, you want to stand out but not in extra-funky ways. At the core, it's about dressing for girls - who are most of my fans - and you want to dress up for them. You just want to feel like you're on top of your game.

Being married is not the same as having a kid because being married to another adult who can take care of themselves to a degree is different than having a kid that is completely dependent on you.

Dr. King was unpopular while he was alive - he's only popular now because he's dead and not a threat to anyone.

Even with G.O.O.D. Music, we have artists that have done very well, and we've had artists that haven't. Being attached to Kanye is only going to get you so far. You've still got to have the records and the talent and the artistry on your own to carry it.

For me as a songwriter, I love when other people cover my songs.

Hip hop has the urgency and rebelliousness that early rock n' roll and punk had: a level of rule-breaking and flirtation with danger. It allows you to break the rules.

Hip hop is usually a bunch of guys talking to a bunch of guys, in my experience. It's homosocial, not homosexual, in that it's almost always all one gender in a room where it's being created. That locker-room environment has an impact on the language. I think the music suffers 'cause it allows an almost cartoonish level of misogyny.

Hip-hop is one of the most free art forms there is. There's so many sounds you can use, so many things you can bring in. You never know, man. I bet years ago people would've never said they would hear me with Rick Ross, and we did four classic songs together.

I always felt that rap didn't cause crime; it just reflected it.

I always figured I would live long enough to see a black president. The movies predicted it. Usually, Morgan Freeman.

I always saw myself as a singer-songwriter, a solo-artist, that's why working with other artists was never satisfying for me.

I am a feminist. Women are discriminated against in so many ways, and they make up half the population.

I ate some pretty funky, authentic Chinese food in Hong Kong. There was an egg from some bird that's not a chicken. I can't remember what it was, but it was green and brown and not very tasty.

I don't actually go to a lot of games because I think football on TV is better. Even though I'm pretty busy, I watch 90 percent of Ohio State's games.

I don't feel like that many musicians are competitive with each other.

I don't get to listen to music for fun very often; a lot of what I'm hearing is for work and isn't released yet.

I don't like going to football games. I like watching them on television. When you go to a game, it's hard to focus. There's so much going on, and it's cold. I'd rather sit and watch it and get replays and commentary.

I don't think it's an artist's responsibility to be political all the time. I think your first responsibility as an artist is to make music that people will listen to and enjoy. However, I think that when you are able to say something that is moving and put it in a great song, then that is even better.

I know how it feels to be a singer who wants to get discovered.

I like a lot of documentaries, I like political movies and political thrillers. But I also like a good action movie. I like a pretty wide range.

I like cool jackets - a nice fall or winter coat. You can get a lot of use out of it, and you'll wear it frequently, so it can really set the tone of your uniform for the season.

I like things that feel like they're timeless and really well made and tailored... things that make me feel confident when I leave the house.

I listen to all those kinds of music, from classic soul to hip-hop to Brazilian music to, you know, jazz to indie to alternative. So whatever. I listen to all if it. Classic rock and classic pop, all of that.

I love to make fried chicken.

I remember when I first came out as an artist, back in 2004 or 2005, the record label used to take me to all the radio stations and just have me sit in, like, their lunchroom or their conference room, and play for the whole staff. Just to introduce them to me so they would play my records.

I sang 'All Of Me' at the wedding. I sang 'Stay With You' from my first album. And then Stevie Wonder came up and sang 'Ribbon In the Sky.' It was impromptu... It was cool... He's always been a friend and a mentor to me.

I signed with Kanye back in 2003, and at that time, 'The College Dropout' hadn't even come out, so he was still relatively unknown compared to where he is now. He wasn't a household name; people were still calling him 'Kane.'

I studied African American studies, and I read these slave narratives and the escape narratives of people that were able to escape slavery and always found those stories intriguing and powerful and inspiring.

I think I'm happier, not just because of winning Grammys and selling records, but because it's really fulfilling to have all these things happen with something you love to do.

I think every film is made better by having smart music supervision that's really in tune with the spirit of the visual content.

I think the thing about love is that even though the things around us change, we as human beings, a lot of the ways we interact, and the ways we love each other is timeless. It requires trust, honesty, commitment, romance, and physical chemistry.

I think they need to get a more reliable way of watching television on the laptop. Because I travel so much, if I want to watch my favorite sports team it might not be showing in that place, so I want a reliable way to watch whatever I want to watch on my laptop.