Top 285 Quotes & Sayings by Jay-Z - Page 3

I think it's very important for hip-hop, when an artist reaches a certain level, to ascend to executive work.

That's the reason why I'm making albums. That's the reason why I love hip-hop: It's a challenge every time.

I don't think any rapper can go back. You can be a car salesman, a bank teller - I mean, really good jobs, and people are still gonna look at you and be like, 'You used to rap; what happened?'

What people have to understand is 'Billboard' is a magazine. They're like elected officials - they work for us.

Leave a mark they can't erase, neither space nor time.

Men lie, women lie, numbers dont

I look in the mirror, my only opponent

Remind your self. Nobody constructed like you, you style your self.

You can't turn a bad girl good, but once a good girls' gone bad, she's gone forever.

Don't ever go with the flow. Be the flow.

I'm not concerned with noise because I'm playing the long game.

You can pay for school, but you can't buy class

In trouble waters I had to learn how to float

I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man!

Don't make decisions based on the fear.

You learn more in failure than you ever do in success

I keep my enemies close/ I give 'em enough rope/ They put themselves in the air/ I just kick away the chair.

We change people through conversation, not through censorship.

Life is for living, not living uptight, see ya somewhere up in the sky.

I'm hungry for knowledge. The whole thing is to learn every day, to get brighter and brighter.

There's the gift, there's the spirit, and there's the work-all three have to come together. If one of those things is off, it can stop you from becoming who you were meant to be.

Only God can judge me so I'm gone, either love me or leave me alone.

Only he without sin can tell me if my means justify my ends.

I got mouths to feed til they put flowers on me.

Be true to yourself- and keep things simple. People complicate things

A wise man told me don't argue with fools. Cause people from a distance can't tell who is who.

Everybody can tell you how to do it but they never done it

Don't tell me what was said about me. Tell me why they were so comfortable to say it to you.

You can put a new shirt on your back, slide a fresh chain around your neck, and accumulate all the money and power in the world, but at the end of the day those are just layers. Money and power don't change you, they just further expose your true self.

Niggas pray and pray on my downfall, But every time I hit the ground I bounce up like round ball

Ain't nothin' wrong with the aim, just gotta change the target.

Males shouldnt be jealous. Thats a female trait.

I'm a hustler, baby; I sell water to a well!

You can want success all you want, but to get it, you can’t falter. You can’t slip. You can’t sleep. One eye open, for real, and forever.

Nine to five is how ya survive, I ain't trying to survive I'm trying to live it to the limit and love it alive

Life is a gift, love opens it up.

I'm not afraid of dying I'm afraid of not trying

May the best of your today's be the worst of your tomorrow's

When you step outside of school and have to teach yourself about life, you develop a different relationship to information. I've never been a purely linear thinker. You can see it in my rhymes. My mind is always jumping around, restless, making connections, mixing and matching ideas, rather than marching in a straight line. That's why I'm always stressing focus. My thoughts chase each other from room to room in my head if I let them, so sometimes I have to slow myself down.

Their gunnin' for me, want to see me fall, you know my story, been through it all, times I felt like dyin', but I ain't cryin', what didn't kill me, makes me strong as iron.

I believe you can speak things into existence.

Everything evens up, you just wait, Even a garbage can gets a steak, You ain't even a garbage can, you have faith!

I will not lose, for even in defeat/There's a valuable lesson learned, so it evens up for me

Everybody look at you strange, say you changed Like you work that hard to stay the same.

Without the work, the magic won’t come.

Identity is a prison you can never escape, but the way to redeem your past is not to run from it, but to try to understand it, and use it as a foundation to grow.

Put me anywhere on God's green earth, I'll triple my worth. Motherf--. I, will, not, lose.

I never ask for nothin' I don't demand of myself. Honesty, loyalty, friends and then wealth

Jealousy’s a weak emotion.

You not feeling me, fine. It costs you nothing, pay me no mind.

Your future is ahead of you. Imagine the notion of the past fifteen years of your life being a blip in your story.

I'd rather die enormous than live dormant.

No one's walking around here perfect. Everyone's gonna make mistakes. That's part of how you learn.

Be fluid. Treat each project differently. Be water, man. The best style is no style. Because styles can be figured out. And when you have no style they can't figure you out.

No matter where you go, you are what you are playa.

Remind yourself. Nobody built like you, you design yourself.

I seen the worst of the worst. I deserve every blessing I receive I'm from the dirt.

Difficult takes a day Impossible takes a week I do this in my sleep

The genius thing that we did was, we didn't give up.

Everyone needs a chance to evolve.