David Bowie was one of my most important inspirations, so fearless, so creative, he gave us magic for a lifetime.

Y'all might be thinking right now, 'I wonder, did he smoke something before he came up here?' The answer is yes, I rolled up a little something. I knocked the edge off.

I will die for the art

And yes, as you probably could have guessed by this moment, I have decided in 2020, to run for President. [Drops Mic]

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

[on fending off a "fan" and his video camera] I appreciate that, but here's the thing. Don't talk to me. Don't talk to people that know me. Don't even talk to yourself.

I am not a fan of books. I would never want a book's autograph. I am a proud non-reader of books.

[Interrupting Taylor Swift's award presentation] I'm-a goin' let you finish.

It's the beginning of me rattling the cage, of making some people nervous. And people are strategically trying to do things to mute my voice.

I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family it says they're looting, if you see a white family it says they're looking for food. And you know that it's been five days because most of the people are black and even for me to complain about - I would be a hypocrite because I've tried turn away from the TV because it's too hard to watch. I've even been shopping before even giving a donation and so I'm calling my business manager right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give. And just to imagine if I was down there, those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything to help with the set up, the way that America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible. I mean, Red Cross is doing everything they can. We already realize a lot of the people that could help are at war right now fighting another way and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us... George Bush doesn't care about black people. - about the response to Hurricane Katrina on A Concert for Hurricane Relief (2005).

If I don't win Album of the Year, I'm gonna have a problem with that... I said I was the face of the Grammys last year. [This year] I'm 10 times that!

I can always tell if a band have a British rhythm section due to the gritty production.

Nothing is promised in life except for death.

I was never really good at anything except for the ability to learn.

No one at Def Jam or Roc-A-Fella believed in "Through the Wire." So I shot a video using my own money.

[on living in Asia for a year.] Most of the kids had never seen a black person before, so they'd come over to me and touch my face, thinkin' it was paint or something.