"Reach for the stars so if you fall you land on a cloud"
from Homecoming, Graduation
_______________

"When it feel like living's harder than dyin'
For me givin' up's way harder than tryin'
from Champion, Graduation
_______________

That that don't kill me
Can only make me stronger
from Stronger, Graduation
_______________

There's a thousand yous, there's only one of me
from Stronger, Graduation
_______________

I'm a star, how could I not shine
from I Wonder, Graduation
_______________

The good life, let's go on a living' spree

Sh*t they say the best things in life are free
from Good Life, Graduation
_______________

I always had a passion for flashing' before I had it

I close my eyes and imagine, the good life
from Good Life, Graduation
_______________

This is my life homey, you decide yours
from Can't Tell Me Nothing, Graduation
_______________

Must be the pharaohs, he in tune with his soul,

So when he buried in a tomb full of gold.

Treasure. What's you pleasure?

Life is a, uh, depending how you dress her.
from Can't Tell Me Nothing, Graduation
_______________

Everything I'm not, made me everything I am.
from Everything I Am, Graduation
_______________

my 15 seconds up, but I got more to say
from Everything I Am, Graduation
_______________

If you admire somebody you should go ahead and tell um

People never get the flowers while they could smell um
from Big Brother, Graduation
_______________

Ain't no tuition for having no ambition
Ain't no loans for sitting at home
We Don't Care, College Drop Out
_______________

Y'all don't know my struggle
Y'all can't match my hustle
You can't catch my hustle
You can't fathom my love dude
Lock yourself in a room doin' five beats a day for three summers
Spaceship
_______________

I won't be taking no days off
until this space ship takes off
Spaceship
_______________

They say people in your life are seasons,
And anything that happen is for a reason,
And niggas guns a clappin and keep to squeezin',
And Gran (Grandma) keep prayin' and keep believin',
And Jesus and one day that ya see him,
Till they walk in his footsteps and try to be him,
The devil is alive I feel him breathin'
Heard 'Em Say, Late Registration
_______________

Now I could let these dream killers kill my self-esteem
Or use my arrogance as the steam to power my dreams
Last Call, College Drop Out
_______________

I'm trying to write my wrongs,
But it's funny these same wrongs helped me write this song.
Touch the Sky, Late Registration
_______________

Live today cause tomorrow man you never know
Drive Slow, Late Registration
_______________

Sometimes I feel the music is the only medicine
So we cook it, cut it, measure it, bag it,sell it
Crack Music, Late Registration
_______________

I think we at an all time high
To get there we run, we fly, we drive
Coz with my family we know where home is
So instead of sending flowers
We the roses...
Roses, Late Registration
_______________

You see, if you ever wanted to ever be anything
There'd always be somebody that shoot down any dream
There'll always be haters, that's the way it is
Hater niggas marry hater bitches and have hater kids
But they're gonna have to take my life 'fore they take my drive
'cause when I was barely living, that's what kept me alive
Bring Me Down, Late Registration
_______________

I said mommy Imma love you till you don't hurt no more
Hey Mama, Late Registration
_______________

My mama told me go to school, get your doctorate
Somethin to fall back on, you could profit with
But still supported me when I did the opposite
Hey Mama, Late Registration
_______________

I'mmmm
Ah-head of my time, sometimes years out
So the powers that be won't let me get my ideas out
Gone, Late Registration
_______________

They claim you never know what you got 'til it's GONE
I know I got it, I don't know what y'all on
I'ma open up a store for aspiring MC's
Won't sell 'em no dream, but the inspiration is free
Gone, Late Registration
_______________

If I talk about God
then my record get played...
Jesus Walks
_______________

They can't stop me rapping can they?

I'd gladly risk it all right now
It's a life or death situation.
You don't really know how I feel right now.
Through the Wire
_______________

I'm a champion
so I turn tragedy to triumph
Through the Wire
_______________

It seems we living the american dream
But the people highest up got the lowest self esteem
All Falls Down, College Drop Out
_______________

We all self conscious I'm just the first to admit it
All Falls Down, College Drop Out
_______________

Chased the good life my whole life long
Look back on my life and my life gone
Where did I go wrong?
Welcome To Heartbreak, 808s & Heartbreak
_______________

I'm exhausted, barely breathing
Holding on to what I believe in
Amazing, 808s & Heartbreak
_______________

Don't worry about what we can't control
All the talk in the world lost in the world
Till you finally let that thing go
Paranoid, 808s & Heartbreak
_______________

Let me know
Do I still got time to grow
Things ain't always set in stone
That be known let me know
Let me
Seems like, street lights, glowin
Happen to be just like moments, passin
In front of me so I hopped in, the cab and
I paid my fare see I know my destination
But I'm just not there
Street Lights, 808s & Heartbreak

Find more hot Lil Wayne quotes and commentary here

from XXL Magazine (Jan/Feb 2008)

I'm not hot. I'm great.

Insight: To be hot is to be temporary. Greatness endures.
_____________
I love fans, but I honor believers. Believers know you're great. That's why they believe in you.

Insight: Know the difference between who will ride with and who will ride for you.
_____________
XXL: You do have a similar work ethic (as 2 Pac), as far as the amount of records you put out and the time you spend in the studio?

Wayne: It's not even time I spend. I live in the studio. I spend time doing other $h#+.

Insight: Passions aren't for free-time, they're for full-time.
_____________
XXL: Do you ever get creatively drained working at such a pace?

Wayne: That's a crazy question because obviously I don't right?

Insight: Just keep creating to get more creative energy.
_____________
My mind set is always the same. I'm never there...You're never there until you're there.

Insight: It's not until we push ourselves to our limits that we realize that we're limitless.
_____________
Yeah, that's very not important to me - sales. I'm not set out to be bought. I'm set out to be heard...I'm focused on making great music.

Insight: Create value first and the money will follow.
_____________
I don't think nobody know what they can do 'til they do it

Insight: Action speaks louder than words. Don't talk about it. Try.
_____________
I'm changing that. It used to be "Work like Jamaicans." (I want it to be) Work like Waye.

Insight: Whoever wants to work the least later, must work hardest today.
_____________
I do what I do 'cause I do. 'Cause I know why I do what I do.

Insight: Know your intentions and disregard what other people think.
_____________
I don't listen to radio and $h#+. I rarely...I'm on this bus all day. I critique my $h#+ all day. I'm my biggest fan and hater and believer and nonbeliever. I'm trying to study MY game. No disrespect to anybody. It ain't even that I don't have the time to listen to it, it's just - that's how great I wanna be.

Insight: Competition is a distraction. Study you, not your perceived competitor.
_____________

from The Source, April 2008
Man, I just work. When you work the way I work, things find themselves.

Insight: Don't force it.
_____________
I already be seeing me on stage like what should I be looking like? What they gonna say when I say this part? Ni%&as don't be analyzing that $#&t. Ni%&as just trying to make the next word rhyme with the last word they said. Me thought...I aim for the heart.

Insight: Visualize greatness.
_____________
You should feel like you're the best with anything you do, whoever you are. I just happen to rap so I said I'm the best rapper. If you don't think you're the best at something what are you doing it for? Do you want to be conservative or do you want to live life doing what the f%ck you wanted to do, saying what the f%ck you wanted to say, being who the f%ck you wanted to be. I'm the definition of everything I just said.

Insight: If you're not striving to be the best, don't play the game.
_____________
I'm so much of a perfectionist, nothing I do ain't gonna be right. To tell you the truth, I think everything I've done has been a classic. You gonna have to find another word cause classic (5 mics) ain't gone do.

Insight: Always put your best foot forward.
_____________

This is what I was born for. You know how they got people who are made to do things and they can't do them wrong 'cause that's what they're here for?

Insight: We all have a calling and when we find it, we can't do wrong.
_____________
Record sales have never been a thing to me. My album dropped in three years first of all. And I'm the hottest n!gg@ out here.

Insight: The money will come.

from Vibe, May 2008
_____________
I wanna be a Bob Marley. I wanna be a Tupac - their lives mean so much...I wanna mean so much after I'm gone.

Insight: Focus on leaving a legacy
_____________
I still feel like I'm not being respected...I still feel like I don't have the crown. I still feel like there's something I have to do that hasn't been done.

Insight: Do what has never been done before.
_____________
I love the studio...It feels like going into a classroom, you know you didn't study everything, the test gets in front of you, and you're like 'Damn, I know all the answers.' That's how I feel when I get in the studio, like 'Damn, I know all the answers.

Insight: Focus on your strengths. Take the class where the answers come naturally.
_____________
MTV Interview

"I ain't nowhere near my goal. I'm just having a great time getting there."

"Every time I get in the studio, I do it for those people. And for the people that don't agree, I do it for them too. So hopefully one day they do agree. But if you agree with what I'm saying, then I love you, but if you don't, I love you too — but you will [agree] one day."

"I love what I do," he added. "I love this job. My job is my dream, so every time I get in the studio, I get to dream again. I just chase my dream."
________________
from the Guardian

"I'll be there. I don't think about things that I have to do to get there; I just wake up every day and do something to get there. And whatever it is that I do, I look back and say that's what I done to get here."

"It's not lyrics, so I don't have to come up with it. I am what I'm saying. I just do it. This is what I am,"

"I already know who I am. I gotta lot of mirrors all around my crib, so I know what I look like and I can see through these," he says, pointing to his inked eyes. "It's more about figuring out everybody else and the way they are. You know how they act, who they are and then you're never sure. And that's the beauty of psychology, the beauty of humanity. Psychology teaches you that you could never know someone."

"I can explain me in one word," he decides. "Unexplainable." Here we go. "No, listen," he pleads, suddenly eager to be understood. "Anybody who can be explained should be ashamed of themselves. I wasn't created, I wasn't made. I was put here and there's no word for it," he nods, gathering up his sunglasses and syrup. "I can't explain myself. You look at me and tell me what you see, you listen to me and tell me what you get. That's what it is, that's who I am." Swig, grin, sunglasses back on. "I am music, ya dig?"
_____________
from the Carter 3

"Confidence has no budget." - Dr. Carter

"Repetition is the father of learning." - Shoot Me Down
__________
from Baller Status

"Music is my drug."
__________
"Stay personal. Music is personal. It's about the person. Stay within yourself.
__________
"I'ma Leave it to God, not me nor neither you"
Mr. Carter, The Carter 3
_____________
Related Posts:
* Jay-Z Quotes for Personal Growth
* Stop Playing Yourself

Fantasy is what people want but reality is what they need

If you want the answers, you've got to ask the questions

My world it moves so fast today
The past it seems so far away
And life squeezes so tight that I can't breathe
And every time I try to be, what someone else has thought of me
So caught up, I wasn't able to achieve

But deep in my heart, the answer it was in me
And I made up my mind to define my own destiny
___________________________________
Trace Magazine Interview July/Aug 2005

If I make music now, it will only be to provide information to my own children. If other people benefit from it then so be it.

Honesty is the very thing that protects love.

Computers should be used a a tool to enhance creativity, not to replace it...The whole world has become one big sample.

In order to have one's soul, one has to display their whole vulnerability.

I like people and relationships, but I know now that the spirit of God is the most wonderful experience.

I had to learn through violent, turbulent experiences.

You will find that insecure women have a tendency to attract insecure men.

Niceness should not be prioritized over the truth or honesty.

When you do something [The Mis Education of Lauryn Hill album] good, you expect good to happen...It's like being in a room when a beautiful woman walks in. When you don't notice the beautiful woman, that says something about you.

[These record company people] they crunch numbers because they're not talking about the intangibles which are love, drive, and passion.

That's what happens when creativity comes; there's a gestation period. You can't induce a baby in three months. That's how people get burned out quickly.

Everyone who listens to the voice of God will have conflict. Many times you will find that people who have God's standards prefer to be liked to the detriment of being what they are supposed to be in this world.

I am a real person which means I change my mind and there is the occasional mood swing.

What I want now is to manifest the truth, unapologetically; to remain clear; to maintain integrity; to never take advantage of people.

The world has become one big marketplace, but no one asks where the human compassion has gone. I guess its for sale now.

For an honest opinion people will send you an invoice. That's the sick society we live in. People are sending invoices against God's will.

There are things you tell your friend, when they're not acting right, that you wouldn't tell a business partner, and I guess I didn't treat her like a friend, but rather as a business partner. In retrospect, I believe I failed her as a friend, not as a business partner. In business we were close to infallible and quite successful.

This blog & post have been updated HERE »

"...How you get so fly? From not being afraid to fall out the sky..."
from Beach Chair, Kingdom Come

Insight: The only way to overcome fear is to face it.
_____________
"...I'm not a businessman. I'm a business...maaaannn..."
from Diamonds Are Forever Remix

Insight: Like businesses, individuals need visions, strategies, partnerships, positioning, constant evaluation and accountability, etc. See The C.E.O. of You.
_____________
"...Remind yourself. Nobody built like you, you design yourself..."
from A Dream, Blueprint 2

Insight: We are fully responsible for our being. We are co-creators (with God) of our lives and can be whoever we choose to be.
_____________
"...I'm not afraid of dying. I'm afraid of not trying..."
from Beach Chair, Kingdom Come

Insight: Failure is underrated. To not try is worse than failing.
_____________
"...I'm far from God, but I work god damn hard..."
from Breath Easy, The Blueprint

Insight: To create like the Creator takes hard work.
_____________
"...I spring train in the winter, around early December..."
from Breath Easy, The Blueprint

Insight: He who practices the most is most prepared to win.
_____________
If I don't show the world growth, how are we going to grow?
December 2007 XXL Interview

Insight: Things that stagnate don't last long.
_____________
I love that because that's what I'm supposed to be doing - whether it's accepted b everybody or not. I'm supposed to be pushing that envelope and trying new things. And people are supposed to say, "Hov, you might have went too far".
December 2007 XXL Interview

Insight: If people aren't looking at you funny, then you're not pushing the envelope.
_____________
I love what I'm doing. I love the artist I'm developing. I love the whole thing about it. Once again, I have to really look at it for the next three years and say, "Am I doing it for the right reasons?" 'Cause all I want to do is make history at this point. They got to pay me to make history of course. But that's my goal. I want to sit there with people really into making history. I mean everybody. I don't mean just artists. The interns -if everybody's not committed to making history every time I go into a meeting, and if I can't look into their eyes and I don't see the fire, then I gotta move on. ' Cause, you know, I don't have time. I don't have the luxury of time to just blow off three years. I do, but I don't. But I'm not looking to have a job. That's not hot!
December 2007 XXL Interview

Insight: It's about making history. Music is just to the tool.
_____________
"I'm a person that works off of music. I let the music dictate the direction."

Insight: Let the creative energy guide you. Don't dictate too much.

HipHopDX Interview
_____________

If you know of other worthwhile Jay-Z quotes for personal growth, please comment below.

Here's what my readers added:

"Treat my first like my last and the last like my first and my thirst is the same as- when I came."
from My 1st Song, The Black Album
_____________
"I will not lose for even in defeat, there's a valuable lesson learned so it evens up for me."
from Blueprint 2, The Blueprint 2
_____________
"what tomorrow has in store we could never be sure so all we can do is pray"
from Pray, American Gangster

Related Posts:
* Lil' Wayne Quotes for Personal Growth

Related Articles:
* Jay-Z on Personal Success in Best Life Magazine

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