John Quotes

People tell me all the time that my songs help them express things to loved ones that they may not be able to say themselves.

I believed in myself and I am a firm believer you have to think the things you want and visualize.

Artists in general never stay in the same place, we keep growing. It's still you, you still have that core that you always had, but you work with new people and hear new things.

I do believe that part of us ending racism is us seeing each other's humanity and learning to love each other, even if we look different or worship differently or live differently.

Sometimes I start just on the piano with a melody or musical idea that kind of leads me to certain lyrics.

I always felt that rap didn't cause crime; it just reflected it.

It's not enough to say we need to love each other, you have to go behind that and say we need to change these policies, we need to fight, we need to protest, we need to agitate for change.

Music, to me, if it's good, it's good. That's all that matters.

I feel like spirituality definitely comes through in my music, but I don't make any specific efforts to make it that way.

It's an artist's duty to reflect the times in which we live.

No matter how big or successful and famous you become, if you do that, that's the most fulfilling thing, is making music that you love and that you're proud of.

I think it's not enough for us to extend the hand of love. I think it's important that that goes both ways. It's important also that we look at policies we need to change as well.

I don't think I'm craving any more fame. But success and being recognized for making great work all around the world, I think it's a great thing.

The main focus for me is not trying to find duet partners. It's about just making great songs. I want most of my album to be in my voice, because it's my point of view.

You can't be a 25-year-old forever.

I'm trying to be me and embrace all the parts of me that have grown up, listened to more music and soaked up more influences.

I just want my music to measure up to. Part of it's just thinking about my place in history and how this music is going to be perceived, if it's listened to 30, 40 years from now.

I don't love the idea of three superstars coming together to form a dream team, I'd rather teams are built more organically, just as a fan it's more interesting to see.

I do speak to kids a lot. I am very clear with them that not all of them should aspire to be me and not all of them should be aspire to be LeBron.

Happy that New York passed marriage equality tonight. A victory for human rights. Progress.

My family is very musical, I was surrounded by it. And from four years old I was the one that asked my mother could I take piano lessons.

Black people invented jazz. But this story [in La La Land] wasn't ever claiming to be that. It's just a story about two people from one writer's point of view.

I guess a lot of times pressure is put on something after it becomes big.

I'm not going to run for office. I don't think that's the right move for me.

Kind of the critical acclaim of this movie [La La Land] is that it's striking a chord with the public in a way that has been really beautiful and powerful.

When I write, I don't really focus on duets or anything like that, or whether I'm going to feature this or that rapper. I just focus on just making a great song and figure out the rest later.

Sometimes success is just limited to festival circuit.

I've written good love songs when I have been in love and I've written good love songs when I haven't.

I know when things feel a little, like, intrusive and when they don't. I don't have a lot to hide. But I do sometimes think, don't share everything.

Now that I'm coming out with my own record people can see I'm a solo artist.

Well, I like songs that have like a little bit of quirkiness to them.

I think people relate to the music because I have a sense of empathy, and I think I have a good understanding about relationships, and I talk about them in a real, honest way

I gravitate toward people that are a little more outrageous than I am. And we complement each other well.

My first big break came with Lauryn Hill on a track called Everything is Everything, I played piano on that track way back in 1998.

At the end of the day, there's only a few major stars in the music business, and then there's all these people that are aspiring to be that.

I always saw myself as a singer-songwriter, a solo-artist, that's why working with other artists was never satisfying for me.

I don't feel like that many musicians are competitive with each other.

I don't get to listen to music for fun very often; a lot of what I'm hearing is for work and isn't released yet.

I want to move people, stir something within them that makes them feel. That's what a movie should do and an actor should do, make you feel something. I think that's why people love films so much.

Anybody under the age of forty knows hip-hop, gospel and R&B pretty well, and it's all a part of what we consider to be 'black music.' There is a natural synergy between the three.

There's so much music out there, and so many different styles that I've been influenced by, so each album reflects some of that knowledge or influence that I've had.

The fun part about collaborating is that you naturally just bounce off each other's energy and learn off each other.

Hip-hop and R&B are especially fertile bases of collaboration. It always makes good records and good music.

If a few people decide not to buy my album it's really not going to change my life that much.

I thought it would be funny to take a photo in the White House bathroom, I take pictures everywhere I go, but I don't think I can top that one.

I'm pretty adventurous with food, so I'm not afraid to try anything.

There's a lot of hurry up and wait. But it gives you time to write a song.

I've always followed politics, and I think politics is everybody's business because we're electing someone who's going to be making important decisions that will affect all of our lives.

I'm used to getting sexy sometimes in the lyrics.

The weirdest thing about Hillary Clinton's email 'scandal' is finding out some of our senators still don't use email.