Quotes by Kanye West

Bravery and courage is walking into pain and knowing that something better is on the other side.

I told y'all I didn't vote, right? But if I would've voted, I would've voted for Trump.

My doorman is more important to me than any head of any company. He keeps us safe.

The dinosaurs are remembered only by their bones. What will we be remembered for with humanity?

Being fresh is more important than having money.

Society and public opinion can beat the wings off of angels.

I just want people to be the best thems and live the happiest lives possible.

I love sleep; it's my favorite.

Fashion is merely an opinion. And I've got a lot of opinions.

I love being American, and I love family. I love having a family, and I feel so blessed, and I feel like God gave me exactly what I wanted, so now I have to do the right thing in God's eyes also. Just follow what God wants me to do.

Art is to be free. Design is to fix.

The concept of Kimye has more cultural significance than what Page Six could write.

We're a blip in the existence of the universe, and we're constantly trying to pull each other down. Not doing things to help each other.

Our focus needs to be less on what our legacy's going to be or how we can control each other and more how we can give to each other.

Michael Jordan changed so much in basketball, he took his power to make a difference. It's so much going on in music right now and somebody has to make a difference.

Know your worth! People always act like they're doing more for you than you're doing for them.

You have to be able to swim in backlash.

I live and breathe every element in life.

Don't Ever fix your lips like collagen
And say something when you gon' end up apologing.

If I was more complacent and I let things slide, my life would be easier, but you all wouldn't be as entertained. My misery is your pleasure.

I dislike the concept of 'chic' being the highest compliment for a human being. I'd rather someone be nice than to be chic.

If y'all fresh to death, then I'm deceased.

I'm the rap version of Dave Chappelle. I'm not sayin' I'm nearly as talented as Chappelle when it comes to political and social commentary, but like him, I'm laughing to keep from crying.

The dinosaurs are remember only by their bones. What will we be remembered for with humanity?

You drive in a Maybach past a homeless person and you ask, 'Who's more free?' You could be trapped to your possessions.

I love Kim Kardashian nude selfies. Like, I love the ones from the side, the back ones, and the front. I just love seeing her naked.

I feel like it's almost a Renaissance thing, a painting, a modern version of a painting. I think it's important for Kim Kardashian to have her figure. To not show it would be like Adele not singing.

What I had to learn from Kim is how to take more of her advice and less of other people's advice. There's a lot of Kim K skills that were added. In order to win at life, you need some Kim K skills, period.

But I think I'm on track to do something even bigger. I liberate minds with my music. That's more important than liberating a few people from apartheid or whatever.

It don't gotta be Mother's Day, or your birthday, for me to just call and say Hey Mama.

It's crazy that we live in a world where if your super positive and super creative...it's scary. Because what does that tell you about the mentality of most people if your scared of like...positivity.

I wanna tell the whole world about a friend of mine This little light of mine, I'm feelin' let it shine I'm feelin' take y'all back to them better times I'm feelin' talk about my mama if y'all don't mind.

I'm giving all that I have in this life. I'm opening up my notebook, and I'm saying everything in there out loud.

Yeah, I think that I have like, faltered, you know, as a human. My message isn't perfectly defined. I have, as a human being, fallen to peer pressure.

I am a pop artist, so my medium is public opinion and the world is my canvas.

I told God I'd be back in a second. Man it's so hard not to act reckless.

I didn't play the cards I was dealt. I changed the cards.

I'm gonna sit here on this runway until I'm at the end of it. Because that's that thing that people slave over. That's that thing that people are slaves to. That's that thing that I'm a slave to.

I wanna explain something about the title 'Yeezus,' simply put 'West' was my slave name and 'Yeezus' is my God name.

Every time I crash the Internet, it's like this little drop of truth. Every time I say something that's extremely truthful out loud, it literally breaks the Internet. So what are we getting all of the rest of the time?

Every time I say something that's extremely truthful out loud, it literally breaks the Internet.

This dope money here is Lil Treys scholarship

Cause aint no to tuition for havin no ambition

And aint no loans for sittin your ass at home.

I will spark a generation of thinkers who will question traditional thought until they find the absolute truth.

Taking 1,000 meetings attempting to get backing to do clothing.

I would never want a book's autograph. I am a proud non-reader of books.

I wanna make uniforms for my high school basketball team through brand Yeezy.

Racism is still alive they just be concealing it.

Never do coke with an intern ... they may not be 21.

For me to say I wasn't a genius I'd just be lying to you and to myself.

I'm a creative genius and there's no other way to word it.

I used to have insecurity about my finances, then I announced that I had debt, and now I don't have any insecurities.

I don't think people are going to talk in the future. They're going to communicate through eye contact, body language, emojis, signs.

It's not 'can'; it's 'will.' You have to will things into fruition.

I'm a let you finish, but the French Revolution had the best severed heads of ALL TIME.

I believe that bad taste is vulgar. It's like cursing. I think the world can be saved through design, because what is the most distasteful thing someone can do? Kill someone. So, good taste is the opposite of that.

I'm a pop enigma. I live and breathe every element in life. I rock a bespoke suit and I go to Harold's for fried chicken. It's all these things at once, because, as a taste maker, I find the best of everything.

Great art comes from great artists. There's a bunch of people that are hurt that still couldn't have made the album that was super-polarizing and redefined the sound of radio.

I want to be remembered for making great music and doing great things for people.

I feel that I'm very blessed. But with great blessings come great responsibility.

Everyone's born confident, and everything's taken away from you.

I'm on the pursuit of awesomeness, excellence is the bare minimum.

I wake up every day trying to give something back to you that you can rock to and be proud of.

I can't be a slave to the machine, you feel like you're in the matrix.

Cause I want to be on 106 and Park pushing a benz.

I hope we don't see no paparazzi today. Because I'm still getting acquainted with these jogging pants I threw on. Like, 'That's not my statement!'

I'm a blowfish. I'm not a shark, I'm a blowfish.

I am the number one human being in music. That means any person that's living or breathing is number two.

Cause we they leaders, and they the followers
And we the nut-busters and they the swallowers

People in this world shun people for being great, for being a bright color, for standing out. But the time is now, to be OK with being the greatest you.

I specifically ordered Persian rugs with cherub imagery! What do I have to do to get a simple Persian rug with cherub imagery uuuuugh.

Sometimes when I see a bad performance and people still clap... I wonder if they're clapping because they liked what they saw or because they're happy it's over?

I would rather sit in a factory than sit in a Maybach.

The longer your gevity is, the more confidence you build.

All this role model bullshit; you don't have any extra responsibilities because you made some good songs! Your only responsibility is to make good songs.

I think my sense of humor is really dark and super twisted and stuff like that. It's like, Is this a funny joke for real? Or am I just rich? See? That was funny.

When I was in fourth grade I was drawing Jordans when my mama couldn't afford them.

I think America just needs to get real when it comes to the way our kids speak and communicate. They need to understand what happens in rap.

Do you think there'd be a Givenchy in the hood if it wasn't for that South Park photo?

I don't know what's better: getting laid or getting paid.

I just know when I'm getting one, the other's getting away.

I'm not a corny-ass booty freak! I'm the greatest musician of all-time.

Taste and style is beyond clothes. It's in food; it's in quality. Working out, healthy bodies, organic food-they're all part of the same thing.

I'm a heaven sent instrument. My rhythmatic regimen navigates melodic notes for your soul and your mental. That's why I'm instrumental, vibrations is what I'm into.

If you ask me a question like what is your greatest accomplishment, it should be what I'm about to do.

I had a dream I can buy my way to heaven.

A lot of artists have a lot of different ventures, I think it's typical for a hip hop artist, at this point, to have a bunch of different ventures.

The idea of Kanye and vanity are like, synonymous. But I've put myself in a lot of places where a vain person wouldn't put themselves in. Like what's vanity about wearing a kilt?

I'm not comfortable with comfort. I'm only comfortable when I'm in a place where I'm constantly learning and growing.

I honestly feel that because Steve has passed, you know, it's like when Biggie passed and Jay-Z was allowed to become Jay-Z.

I'm talkin' about us, the new slaves, the people who love fashion. I'm talking about us, you know? 'Cause I'm a slave to it. I love it.

Just know that if you want to be a boxer you're going to get your face beaten constantly but then you may end up being a Mayweather or an Ali at the end of the day.

When someone comes up and says something like, 'I am a god,' everybody says 'Who does he think he is?' I just told you who I thought I was. A god. I just told you. That's who I think I am.

When I think of competition it's like I try to create against the past. I think about Michelangelo and Picasso, you know, the pyramids.

I'm supposed to be a musical genius, but I can't work the car seat that well.

They classify my motivational speeches as rants.

Well, I just don't want to talk to America about my family. Like, this is my baby. This isn't America's baby.

I can sleep. I love sleep; it's my favorite.

My favorite body part of Kim's: heart.

Me and my girl split the buffet at KFC.

I'm a mix of a 14-year-old high schooler and a 60-year-old guy. It can never fall into the 30s or the 40s. It has to be 100 percent 60 or 100 percent 14, no in between.

I am so credible and so influential and so relevant that I will change things.

It's only led me to complete awesomeness at all times. It's only led me to awesome truth and awesomeness. Beauty, truth, awesomeness. That's all it is.

I will be the leader of a company that ends up being worth billions of dollars, because I got the answers.

If you don't make Christmas presents, meaning making something that's so emotionally connected to people, don't talk to me.

I understand culture. I am the nucleus.

I get to represent somebody I don't think is getting represented right now. The regular dude: the guy who believes in God but still likes pussy.

I'm really happy I'm me because if I wasn't I'd be scared. If you want that Number One spot you need to listen to my album and try to beat it.

I know I've been called the Louis Vuitton Don ... I've been called a lot of names ... Due to what happened, so severely, when the red shoes hit the runway, I was forced to change my name to Martin Louis Vuitton the King, Jr. Address me as such.

Visiting my mind is like visiting the Hermes factory. Sh*t is real. You're not going to find a chink. It's 100,000 per cent Jimi Hendrix.

Having a Rolex or a Benz is not something that actually represents your success because there's always something more expensive to buy. Success is really being able to do things for others as well as the people around you and yourself.

You basically can say anything to someone on an email or text as long as you put LOL at the end.

If you can focus the energy into something valuable, put that into work ethic.

Okay, everyone please be completely quiet, because I can literally hear a whisper, and it'll throw off my stream of consciousness, and when I get my stream of consciousness going that's when I give the best, illest quotes. Literally, a whisper can throw it off.

I think God has me on a path. I think he puts certain people in my life, and angels send messages to me, like, Kanye, I want you to say this, and I want you to say that, and I want you to talk to this girl here, and I don't want you to do this over here.

I make music as good as possible, but I do reference cultural icons, because I want my music to be a time capsule of 2007.

Thirty-three-years-old, still creating art. It's rage, it's creativity, it's pain, it's hurt, but it's the opportunity to still have my voice get out there through music.

Look, I can be married to the most beautiful woman in the world, and I am. I can have the most beautiful little daughter in the world, and I have that. But I'm nothing if I can't be me. If I can't be true to myself, they don't mean anything.

It's a tough world out there. You're going to prepare yourself for politics, bad bosses, hating employees -- and usually when you're the absolute best, you get hated on the most.

I worked a telemarketing job. I always worked those because I always knew how to talk to people and I always knew how to sell because my father was a salesman. He used to sell vacuum cleaners, payroll services to companies, so that was natural for me to go into sales.

That's very cool. Well, that's great. If I were to cater to Kanye, he would know that I'm catering to him. The fact that I make what I make -- he gets it. He gets the quality and he respects it. And I think that's the key, why I work all the time is to do that. That's the fun.

They say, he must had an angel, cuss look how death missed his ass. Unbreakable, what you thought they'd call me Mr. Glass?

An artist's career doesn't happen in the cycle of one week of news. An artist's career happens in a lifetime, and if you're a true artist you're willing to die for what you believe in.

Drug dealer buy Jordans, crackhead buy crack. And a white man get paid off of all of that.

You want me to be great, but you don't ever want me to say I'm great?

In America, they want you to accomplish these great feats, to pull off these David Copperfield-type stunts. You want me to be great, but you don't ever want me to say I'm great?

I'm never at my worst because even at my lowest, its a learning experience. It's something that I'll bounce ideas off. I can take negatives and flip them to positives at all times.

My goal, if I was going to do art, fine art, would have been to become Picasso or greater.

One of my biggest Achilles' heels has been my ego. And if I, Kanye West, the very person, can remove my ego, I think there's hope for everyone.

I am in the lineage of Gil Scott-Heron, great activist-type artists. But I'm also in the lineage of a Miles Davis -- you know, that liked nice things also.

I got a long road ahead of me to make people believe i'm not actually a huge douche.

I was wearing like, a Juicy Couture men's polo shirt. We weren't there, like, ready for war.

They say your attitude determines your latitude.

I would like to thank Julius Caesar for originating my hairstyle.

I don't like to say something's weird when it's innovative and fresh.

I'm here to fight for the re-education of what celebrity is: to say, 'Yes, we are celebrities, but yes, we're also innovators. We're also inventors. We're also thoughtful.'

It was a strike against me that I didn't wear baggy jeans and jerseys and that I never hustled, never sold drugs.

My goal is just to be respected as a man when I walk down the street with my family. I don't care what your job is, you're not gonna talk down to me, you're not gonna try to get a rise out of me. I'm a man first. And in establishing that, some interesting things have happened.

This one Corbusier lamp was like, my greatest inspiration ... I'm a minimalist in a rapper's body.

So few hip-hop artists have ever advanced. Their songs on their seventh, eighth albums sound exactly like the songs on their first album. More than an artist, I'm a real person-and real people grow. And I wanna just sing my growth.

Love is cursed by monogamy.

And I can't even go to the grocery store without some ones that's clean and a shirt with a team It seems we living the American dream but people highest up got the lowest self esteem The prettiest people do the ugliest things for the road to riches and diamond rings.

People have me pinned as a shark or a predator in some way, and in no way am I that. I wouldn't want to hurt anyone. I want to defend people. I want to help people.

The dinosaurs aren't remembered for much more than their bones. When humanity's gone, what do we give to this little planet that we're on, and what could we do collectively, removing the pride?

My favorite record label of all time is Motown. That era of music was my favorite.

I'm not always going to say things the perfect way, the right way. But I'm going to say how I feel.

There would have been no Beats deal without the Samsung deal. It showed the number one company the importance of connecting with culture.

I'm the No. 1 living and breathing rock star. I am Axl Rose; I am Jim Morrison; I am Jimi Hendrix.

All I need is the breakthrough. The joint-venture for my clothing. Same as Stella McCartney has.

I don't understand why they trippin', If you ask me, Flow is just as nice as, I admit the propane, I just spit, probably, Just raise the gas prices, Everybody in the club, Try and get as fresh as me, What you want dog, Trying to stay recession free, And spit, refreshly.

My attitude is tattooed that means it's permanent.

I'm always fighting either to have a house work with us or to head a house. It's a lifestyle I can totally see: the future, modern Versailles, modern Versace, modern Calabasas, paparazzi, celebrity language. I just want to build a collection that's around me and my wife and my kids.

The amount of people who talk about guns, versus who actually uses them, is not even close in this millennium.

My parents taught me that AIDS was a man-made disease designed to get rid of the undesirable people.

I've reached a point in my life where my Truman Show boat has hit the painting.

To be a visionary, all you have to do is make decisions based off of your eyes instead of your ears and your memory.

I could never be in a situation with a job where I was not allowed to listen to music all day. I would rather work at a fast food restaurant where I could turn on the radio all day rather than be in a situation where I have to sneak and listen to music.

Sometimes people write novels and they just be so wordy and so self-absorbed.

What if you're Gaudi and you know you're the best architect and everyone is saying that you're saying you're the best architect the wrong way?

What happens if a drone falls right next to her?

Do I worry about being in the public eye and raising kids? Yeah. Any situation you're in, you're gonna worry about raising kids. But it's champagne problems, too. There are people who can't feed their kids.

For me, money is not my definition of success. Inspiring people is a definition of success.

We came into a broken world. And we're the cleanup crew.

I don't use blue. I don't like it. It bugs me out. I hate it.

I don't even listen to rap. My apartment is too nice to listen to rap in.

People say it takes a village to raise a child. People ask me how my daughter is doing. She's only doing good if your daughter's doing good. We're all one family.

I've known my mom since I was zero years old. She is quite dope.

Keep rockin', and keep knockin' Whether you Louis Vuitton it up or Reebokin' You see the hate, that they're servin' on a platter So what we gon' have, dessert or disaster?

Throw your diamonds in the sky if you feel the vibe.

I miss the old Kanye, straight from the 'Go Kanye, Chop up the soul Kanye, set on his goals Kanye, I hate the new Kanye, the bad mood Kanye, The always rude Kanye, spaz in the news Kanye.

Nike told me, 'We can't give you royalties because you're not a professional athlete.' I told them 'I'll go to the Garden and play one-on-no-one.' I'm a performance athlete!

The plan was to drink until the pain is over, But what's worse, the pain or the hangover?

I just think that when my confidence meets other people's insecurity, that equals Kanye's arrogant.

Man, I'm the No. 1 living and breathing rock star. I am Axl Rose; I am Jim Morrison; I am Jimi Hendrix.

I'm putting my life at risk, literally! And if I slipped... You never know. And I think about it. I think about my family and I'm like, wow, this is like being a police officer or something, in war or something.

Though it's thousands of miles away
Sierra Leone connect to what we go through today
Over here, its a drug trade, we die from drugs
Over there, they die from what we buy from drugs.

I think I do myself a disservice by comparing myself to Steve Jobs and Walt Disney and human beings that we've seen before. It should be more like Willy Wonka... and welcome to my chocolate factory.

I am a God, so hurry up with my damn massage; in a French-ass restaurant, hurry up with my damn croissants.

If you're taught you can't do anything you won't do anything, I was taught I could do everything.

I guess every superhero need his theme music.

I make all my own decisions and I take full responsibility.

My Caps Lock Key Is Loud!

Wait 'till I get my money right.

You're not perfect, but you're not your mistakes.

Everything in the world is exactly the same.

Hate and love are very similar emotions. The opposite of love is you don't care.

If you admire somebody, you should go ahead and tell them. People never get the flowers while they can still smell them.

No one man should have all that power.

Criticism can bother you, but you should be more bothered if there's no criticism. That means you're too safe.

Recognize and embrace your flaws so you can learn from them. Sometimes it takes a little polishing to truly shine.