Quotes by Jay-Z

“Id rather die enormous than live dormant.”

“He who does not feel me is not real to me, therefore he does not exist. So, poof... vamoose, son of a bitch.”

“Can I live?”

“They say a midget standing on a giants shoulders can see much further than the giant. So I got the whole rap world on my shoulders, they trying to see further than I am.”

“No matter where you go, you are what you are playa”

“If youve got a problem with me, then obviously something is wrong with you.”

“Today we Americans lost a hero who always seemed larger than life. ... Bear Bryant gave his country the gift of a life unsurpassed. In making the impossible seem easy, he lived what we strive to be.”

A poets mission is to make words do more work than they normally do, to make them work on more than one level.

I couldnt even think about wanting to be something else; I wouldnt let myself visualize another life. But I wrote because I couldnt stop. It was a release, a mental exercise, a way of keeping sane.

Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther King could walk. Martin Luther King walked so Obama could run. Obamas running so we all can fly.

Only God can judge me so Im gone, either love me or leave me alone.

You could name practically any problem in the hood and thered be a rap song for you.

Rap has been a path between cultures in the best tradition of popular music.

Im not a businessman, Im a business, man!

Im hungry for knowledge. The whole thing is to learn every day, to get brighter and brighter. Thats what this world is about. You look at someone like Gandhi, and he glowed. Martin Luther King glowed. Muhammad Ali glows. I think thats from being bright all the time, and trying to be brighter.

Im here to tell niggas it aint all swell.Theres Heaven then theres Hell niggasOne day your cruisin in your seven,Next day your sweatin, forgettin your lies,Alibis aint matchin up, bullshit catchin upHit with the RICO, they repoed your vehicleEverything was all good just a week agoBout to start bitchin aint you?Ready to start snitchin aint you?I forgive you. Weak ass, hustlin just aint youAside from the fast carsHoneys that shake they ass in barsYou know you wouldnt be involvedWith the Underworld dealers, carriers of mac-millersEast coast bodiers, West coast cap-peelersLittle monkey niggas turned gorillas.

Its always been most important for me to figure out my space rather than trying to check out what everyone else is up to, minute by minute. Technology is making it easier to connect to other people, but maybe harder to keep connected to yourself-- and thats essential for any artist, I think.

Housing projects can seem like labyrinths to outsiders, as complicated and intimidating as a Moroccan bazaar. But we knew our way around.

To me, its just a word, a word whose power is owned by the user and his or her intention. People give words power, so banning a word is futile, really. Nigga becomes porch monkey becomes coon and so on if thats whats in a persons heart. They key is to change the person. And we change people through conversation, not through censorship.

Man Im high off life. Fuck it, Im WASTED