Stay focused, go after your dreams and keep moving toward your goals.
LL Cool J
When adversity strikes, that's when you have to be the most calm. Take a step back, stay strong, stay grounded and press on.
You have to always continue to strive no matter how hard things get, no matter how troubled you feel. No matter how tough things get, no matter how many times you lose, you keep trying to win.
Do what you love; you'll be better at it. It sounds pretty simple, but you'd be surprised how many people don't get this one right away.
Dreams don't have deadlines. I'm thinking of doing bigger and better things and having more fun with it.
I am what I am, I'm doing very well in my life, and I'm thankful to God for that.
If you do cardio one day and the next day you can do weights, do it that way. If you need to do it at night or in the morning, do it that way. Whatever you need to get it done, just get it done.
You can't let your past hold your future hostage.
I think fitness is important. I think a healthy lifestyle is important. I think putting positive energy out there is important and just staying connected with the people.
I'm not trying to be new school and I'm not old school - I'm classic. There's a lot of new cars and there's a lot of old cars, but I'm just classic in doing what I do.
I'm not trying to keep up or adapt. I'm allowing myself to grow, evolve and create new music.
Nobody is perfect, but life is about choices.
Stand up and face your fears, or they will defeat you.
You've got to stay focused without being boring - because all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Skinny, but dull.
Sometimes you've just got to grab an apple - or grapes, or strawberries. Something that's healthy but maybe a little bit more adventurous, if you can see fruit as adventurous.
Art is about imagination. When you look at a picture from Salvador Dali, that's about imagination. When you look at Picasso, that's about imagination. Doing stuff from your heart.
I don't look back. I don't live my life in the rear-view mirror because, if you do, you're bound to end up wrapped around a pole somewhere.
To know the rules of the game, you have to be educated.
I feel like my peers now are artists like Madonna and the Stones, Michael Jackson and Prince. These are people who were able to take their careers beyond the normal here-today-gone-tomorrow life span.
Timing has a lot to with art.
To me, my peers are Bruce Springsteen and Mick Jagger. I'm not talking age-wise, but in terms of careers. Madonna. Those are my peers. And I'm okay with that.
I think when you move past your fear and you go after your dreams wholeheartedly, you become free.
Once you achieve one goal, you should be looking forward to trying to build onto the next thing, and not just getting comfortable with what you're doing.
I don't think you should go around talking trash about people because I think that's how you get your hat handed to you.
We need to make sure that there's art in the school. Why? Why should art be in the school? Because if art isn't in a school, then a guy like Steve Jobs doesn't get a chance to really express himself because in order for art to meet technology, you need art.
The person that made me want to make movies, and the reason I do films, is Bruce Lee. He was an incredible actor, and he had a lot of charisma. Handsome, action, you know, everything was there. I loved Bruce Lee.
Hip-hop's always reached out to kids. If you look at the last 10 big albums it might seem ironic. But when I look at the history of this music it's always had a lot of positivity.
I think when you move past your fear and you go after your dreams wholeheartedly, you become free. Know what I'm saying? Move past the fear.
People will feel the way they feel.
I don't wanna abandon my identity as LL Cool J, but at the same time, I had to figure out how to let people know that I'm really serious about making these movies.
Our world is at the crossroads. We have a choice, right and wrong.
What I don't do is try to like become whoever I'm rapping with. The people who go get an LL album want to hear LL.
Once the referee throws the ball in the air, it's either your ball or their ball and you have to just take your shot.
I try to do the right thing with money. Save a dollar here and there, clip some coupons. Buy ten gold chains instead of 20. Four summer homes instead of eight.
I think I'm the best, of course. How could I not?
As a black man, my hope is that I can touch more and more people all over the world of different races and different colours.
Hip-hop can be limiting and I refuse to accept limits.
Let me tell you something - compared to a TV-drama production schedule, touring is not strenuous.
There's a lot of single black women who did the best that they could and that's a beautiful thing, but they don't know how necessary a father is in a kid's life and how much guys miss that deep down inside.
I'm a real person that cares about his art and cares about what he's doing. I have a heart and a soul and I want to touch people and give.
I've been training as an actor for six years. Nobody goes to acting school for six years. I mean, the college course is only four years! I absolutely trained.
I've got to see my movie to see how I'm acting, see what little things I can learn about my craft.
I think in order to keep America great, we have to keep America creative.
I think the guy who has had the better films is Will Smith. I don't know if he's a better actor than me. I don't think so. I am a rapper first. Man, I just love what I do. I am just the greatest and I can't help it. I'm sorry man.
I love my fans, I love my music - I have no reason to retire.
I don't have an image that I'm trying to, like, portray. I'm just being me.
I'm not giving up my history and what I've done in my music because I love it and I'm very proud of it. I just want to open it up for more people.
I think that politics could be a positive thing. My beef is that people focus on the personal aspect of a politician too much. They should focus on the results.
I just like to do different things. What is more important than the name is that people know that I really like acting, I enjoy it and I want people to know that I am serious.
I'm good at what I do, but I wouldn't be so bold and arrogant as to say something disrespectful about, say, Eminem. He's talented and he's good at what he does.
