Tupac Shakur

Everybodys at war with different things. Im at war with my own heart sometimes.

If you believe in God, believe in Death Row East.

There's nobody in the business strong enough to scare me.

I think I'm a natural-born leader. I know how to bow down to authority if it's authority that I respect.

You never stop loving someone. You just learn to live without them.

Imperfection is inherited, therefore we all sin, but fighting the war of sin is the greatest war of all because we all die in the end, no matter how hard we fight.

The hard times make a true friend afraid to ask.

Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real.

Let the Lord judge the criminals.

Even though you're fed up, you've got to keep your head up.

Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real

Never surrender, it's all about the faith you got: don't ever stop, just push it 'till you hit the top and if you drop, at least you know you gave your all to be true to you, that way you can never fall.

Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside while still alive. Never surrender.

I'm not sayin' I'm gonna change the world, but I guarantee that I will spark the brain that will.

I would rather have been shot straight-up in cold blood-but to be set up? By people who you trusted? That's bad.

Before we find world peace, we gotta find peace in the war on the streets.

We all gonna die, we bleed from similar veins.

All I'm trying to do is survive and make good out of the dirty, nasty, unbelievable lifestyle that they gave me.

It's a struggle for every young Black man. You know how it is, only God can judge us.

I don't mean to sound sleezy but tease me I don't want it if it's that easy.

My mother was a woman. A black woman. A single mother. Raising two kids on her own. So she was dark skinned. Had short hair. Got no love from nobody except for a group called the Black Panthers. So that's why she was a Black Panther.

Is it a crime, to fight, for what is mine?

Behind every sweet smile, there is a bitter sadness that no one can ever see and feel.

Born through hard times Ghetto child of mine. I wonder if you have to suffer for your fathers crimes.

My mama always used to tell me: 'If you can't find somethin' to live for, you best find somethin' to die for.'

I'm 23 years old. I might just be my mother's child, but in all reality, I'm everybody's child. Nobody raised me; I was raised in this society.

During your life, never stop dreaming. No one can take away your dreams.

For every dark night theres a brighter day.

I just don't know how to deal with so many people giving me that much affection. I never had that in my life.

In my mind I'm a blind man doin' time.

It's the game of life. Do I win or do I lose? One day they're gonna shut the game down. I gotta have as much fun and go around the board as many times as I can before it's my turn to leave.

Don't look back unless it's a good view.

If we're all saying that rap is an art form then we gotta be more responsible for our lyrics. If you see everybody dying because of what you're saying, it don't matter that you didn't make them die, it just matters that you didn't save them.

What I learned in jail is that I can't change. I can't live a different lifestyle-this is it. This is the life that they gave and this is the life that I made.

Dre was one of my heros in the music industry. If he's not down for his homeboys, I don't wanna be a part of him or around him.

If I win and get the money, then the Oakland Police department is going to buy a boys' home, me a house, my family a house, and a Stop Police Brutality Center.

It seems like every time you come up something happens to bring you back down.

Thug Life to me is dead.

I just spent 11 and a half months in a maximum-security jail, got shot five times, and was wrongly convicted of a crime I didn't commit.

I never killed anybody, I never raped anybody, I never committed no crimes that weren't honorable.

I don't have no fear of death. My only fear is coming back reincarnated.

Somebody help me, tell me where to go from here cause even Thugs cry, but do the Lord care?

My mama always used to tell me: 'If you can't find somethin' to live for, you best find somethin' to die for'.

The only time I have problems is when I sleep.

I worked hard all my life as far as this music business. I dreamed of the day when I could go to New York and feel comfortable and they could come out here and be comfortable.

Im not saying Im gonna change the world but I guarantee that I will spark the brain that will change the world.

When you do rap albums, you got to train yourself. You got to constantly be in character.

Don't change on me. Don't extort me unless you intend to do it forever.

I don't have to talk about whether or not I got raped in jail.

What I learned in jail is that I can't change. I can't live a different lifestyle - this is it. This is the life that they gave and this is the life that I made.

I'm a reflection of the community.

America wants its respect.

The only thing that comes to a sleeping man is dreams.

I'll probably be punished for hard living.

Hip Hop was supposed to be this new thing that had no boundaries and was so different to everyday music. As long as it has soul to it hip hop can live on.

With all my fans I got a family again.

I don't see myself being special; I just see myself having more responsibilities than the next man. People look to me to do things for them, to have answers.