Lenny Kravitz Quotes

I'm half Jewish, I'm half black, I look in-between. I dress funny. I play all these different styles of music on one record. It's like, What is he doing?

I think it'd be a real nightmare to put a record out and sell 20 million copies and then that's it.

The fans of 'The Hunger Games,' of the book, are very passionate. It's funny: Even at my concerts there are people holding up 'Cinna' signs.

A lot of people pretty much only listen to the chorus.

I'm more hungry now than I was 11 years ago. Which is great because I see a lot of artists that have been out for a long period of time. They get kind of fat.

If I were white, I'd get less criticism.

The image that the public gets is whatever they perceive it to be. Everybody has an opinion, everybody has their own vision, so I don't know what my public image is. I have no idea.

I feel like I'm only in the beginning of my career. I've only made five albums. It's not a lot.

My mother gave lots of good advice and had a lot to say. As you get older, you realize everything she said was true.

I'm a very open and loving person. My whole thing has been "let love rule" since my first album. I'm about unity and peace and God.

I always read the Capitol as f—ked up pansexuality, everybody is doing everybody. Back to Greek and Roman times! It’s all happening.

I went to Paris in 1989 when the Americans didn't quite know what to do with me at first. Now, all those years later, it's kind of the same story. Not the same scenario, but kind of the same story.

I started out making furniture because I couldn't find certain things, and then I really got into it.

Let's look at human interactions. I really believe that there is a way for us to settle disputes nonviolently, using our minds, using all of that was given to us.

I've had to work very hard, and I don't really have a category or fit into any niche, so each time I come out with a new record, it's like, I'm a new guy.

I don't think about the styles. I write whatever comes out and I use whatever kind of instrumentation works for those songs.

A lot of people don't listen to the lyrics, really.

I never sit down to write. When I'm moved, I do it. I just wait for it to come. You just hear it. I can't really describe writing. It's in my head.

I want to get away, I want to fly away. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

My mother passed at the end of the Circus tour. After that I really needed to take some time and just chill out and get my head together.

Race in this country is still the elephant in the room that no one wants to discuss.

When you see a close person you know pass in front of your eyes, it's hard core. After all that, I just wanted to enjoy every day. That was my goal. And to give thanks and to live fully.

I was in Paris last year, where there's a great appreciation of many different aspects of African culture and of black culture. The music... the art... whatever... And I kind of went with that.

We're getting so pulled in by computers and technology, and our kids have their face in the computers all day. The human relationship is being diminished by this.

I just need to know that I did the very best I could and that I was true to myself.

I just live my life and try to be present.

Keeping grounded and keeping focused and keeping calm and thankful, that comes from God.

If I had to associate myself with one song, it would probably be Let Love Rule. It's so simple and to the point. It speaks for itself.

Music definitely inspires my design all the time.

When I stopped trying to write songs, that's when I'm able to begin writing songs. You have to just use your life, and the things around you for your inspiration.

Fly Away changed my life. There are certain songs that do. When I won the Grammy, I was in Paris. I sort of forgot about it.

I identify more with women than with men. I guess I have a strong feminine side.

There are so many people that don't believe in themselves and don't have faith.

A lot of my songs deal with spirituality and God, and I guess if you're in tune with that, you'll read into it.

I am trying to get closer to God.

I do my best to try to keep God with me on a personal level. It's my belief that God really wants a personal relationship with us.

One musician listens to another musician, and you get inspired and then you do your thing, but it's yours.

I was always talking about peace and love, even when I was a kid. That's how I grew up in my family.

That's a big gift when people say to you that a song helped them or brought them to some place in their life where they needed to be.

I'm so happy. I am able to see the world just by making music, just by doing the thing that I loved doing when I was five years old.

Don't take it so seriously.

What motivates it is life. Life is everything. Life influences my music and brings it forth. Life is always changing, so I'm always hearing new music.

I knew what I wanted to do from the time I was 5.

Good design is being able to put a $100,000 thing next to a $20 thing. If it looks right and it works then it works. It doesn't have to be expensive; it's all about the high meets low for me.

I'm definitely happy with everything I've done. I stand behind it. You'll always be saying, "Well, I could change that, or I would do that differently." But you have to let it be what it is.

I couldn't tell you what I am going to do next 'cause I have no idea, but I am open to anything.

I think that we have to be very careful and get back into the loop, get back to nature. Get back to God and not let the technology send us somewhere that we're going to regret.

I just live my life and try to be present. When I'm present in the moment and something comes, I can capture it, because it doesn't come from me, it's out there.

I bought [John Lennon's] 'Plastic Ono Band,' and I listened to it over and over for months. It's a monumental work of genius.

My mom and dad would take me all over. One night we'd be at the Apollo watching James Brown, and then I'd be at the Joffrey Ballet. It was that kind of scene.