Jay-Z Quotes

Do not go with the flow. Be the flow.

Living creatively is really important to maintain throughout your life. And living creatively doesn't mean only artistic creativity, although that's part of it. It means being yourself, not just complying with the wishes of other people.

One of the things my parents taught me, and I'll always be grateful as a gift, is to not ever let anybody else define me; that for me to define myself. and I think that helped me a lot in assuming a leadership position.

Don't wait for people to tell you who you are. Show them.

Freedom means the opportunity to be what we never thought we would be.

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

Don't follow trends, start trends.

I never said to be like me, I say to be like you and make a difference.

Principles are the most important thing to me. One of the things I think my dad taught me was there are people who accept the world they live in and there are people who change the world they live in. I don't accept my circumstances.

I just want to inspire my fans to be whoever they want to be, because that's what I've always done.

The real story is that I am very free, that I've managed to be who I wanted to be without compromising.

Life can be a lot broader... when you realize one simple thing: And that is that everything around us that we call life was made up by people who were no smarter than you. And you can build your own life that other people can live in. So build a life. Don't live one. Build one. Find your opportunity, and always be sexy.

You just have to do; you can't live by the rules of what you're supposed to do. I think every person is good at something, and you just have to push that forward.

I don't want to be the next anyone. I just want to be me, now. And that means all different things.

For me, embracing my own power is about embracing my right to be an individual.

My advice for young people is to just be yourself. There's no pressure. Do what you want to do. And if you want to do something, then go after it and make it happen.

The great thing about letting people be true to themselves is they often do very good things indeed.

I'm just trying to show people that I ain't gotta ride off no movement. I can ride off myself.

I think everyone needs to feel they've created something that was their own, on their own terms.

I brought my personality to HQ. I injected my DNA into this thing. They gave me a blank slate to work with.

What I try to pass on in my work for everyone is that we can be who we want.

You don't have to change who you are for anyone: if you are your regular, authentic, confident self, then you can push to do whatever you want.

I am increasingly an architect of self. I am free to will and choose. I can, through accepting my individuality... become more of my uniqueness, more of my potentiality.

If it's not happening, write your own thing!

A time comes when you need to stop waiting for the man you want to become and start being the man you want to be.