I wouldn't even hold my kids sometimes because I didn't want them to spit up on me when I was dressed for an awards show.

I don't need anybody to market or promote me. If people don't want to hear this music, then it's not for them. You cannot please everybody.

I believe God will make a way.

We call ourselves creators and we just copy.

That strong mother doesn't tell her cub, Son, stay weak so the wolves can get you. She says, Toughen up, this is reality we are living in.

Be honest, brutally honest. That is what's going to maintain relationships.

We can't plan life. All we can do is be available for it.

Hip-Hop isn't just music, it is also a spiritual movement of the blacks! You can't just call Hip-Hop a trend!

What was freely given to me, I freely give.

Real religion is no religion at all.

I tried to manipulate and control people, and I harbored resentment. I wanted to be forgiven, but I wouldn't forgive others.

I never did anything I'm really ashamed of.

I wouldn't even hold my kids sometimes because I didn't want them to spit up on me when I was dressed for an awards show.

I need to be surrounded by people as passionate and as dedicated as I am.

Everything we do should be a result of our gratitude for what God has done for us.

We don't want people to have expectations of us, but then we have expectations of everybody else.

I don't know anybody that's not emotionally unstable or schizophrenic.

This life is a process of learning.

Reality is easy. It's deception that's the hard work.

I got into direct confrontation with everybody I love.

You don't know how much artists go through to make it look so easy. It's all in the practice.

From the first time someone says, Who do you think you are? we learn how to repress.

Nobody's going to force me to do something against my will. What do I owe anybody that I should submit my will to them?

The less I have, the freer I am to do whatever I want to do.

As musicians and artists, it's important we have an environment - and I guess when I say environment, I really mean the industry, that really nurtures these gifts. Oftentimes, the machine can overlook the need to take care of the people who produce the sounds that have a lot to do with the health and well-being of society.

I do support artists standing by their beliefs and walking with integrity. We have to find a better way to commercially exploit music while giving artists their proper respect. This cannot be done while taking their contributions for granted or trying to control the scope of their growth and power through threats and fear tactics.

I had to confront my fears and master my every demonic thought about inferiority, insecurity, or the fear of being black, young, and gifted in this Western culture.

I think what people are attracted to about me, if anything, is my passion. People got exposed to my passion through music and song first.

Let optimists rule the world.

People need to understand that the Lauryn Hill they were exposed to in the beginning was all that was allowed in that arena at the time. I had to step away for the sake of the machine. I was being way too compromised. I felt uncomfortable having to smile in someone's face when I really didn't like them or know them well enough to like.

Since those who believe they need a hero/celebrity outnumber the actual heroes/celebrities, people feel safe and comfortably justified in numbers, committing egregious crimes in the name of the greater social ego. Ironically diminishing their own true hero-celebrity nature in the process.

The danger I faced was not accepted as reasonable grounds for deferring my tax payments, as authorities, who despite being told all of this, still chose to pursue action against me, as opposed to finding an alternative solution.

To those supporters who were told that I abandoned them, that is untrue. I abandoned greed, corruption, and compromise, never you, and never the artistic gifts and abilities that sustained me.

We have to make sure the music and the message and the words and all the elements come through in our songs and every time we appear in public.

When you're young and everything dramatic is exciting, you start to believe that hype that, in order to be an artist, you have to suffer. I've graduated from that school.

If you love something and if youre committed and diligent the things happen

Be honest brutally honest. That is whats going to maintain relationships.

We dont want people to have expectations of us but then we have expectations of everybody else.

From the first time someone says Who do you think you are we learn how to repress.

Hip Hop isnt just music it is also a spiritual movement of the blacks You cant just call Hip Hop a trend

Miscommunication leads to complication.

It's more important to be righteous than to be right.

Never underestimate those who you scar.

Awards are only a publicity gimmick.

Awards were made in Hollywood, in whatever the time it was created. They're to promote each other's movies. You give me an award, I give you an award and people will believe that we are great movies and they'll go to see them. It's still the same.

A couple of guys won Academy Awards for the things that I turned down. Today, after coming to terms with everything, after being in therapy for a long time-there are areas where I will compromise.

To my mind, the most important aspect of the Nobel Awards is that they bring home to the masses of the peoples of all nations, a realization of their common interests. They carry to those who have no direct contact with science the international spirit.

Great, big, serious novels always get awards. If it's a battle between a great, big, serious novel and a funny novel, the funny novel is doomed.

Smith and Carlos aside, I object to using the Olympic awards stand to make a political statement.