Ice Cube Quotes

The best thing is to always keep honest people around, because when you have a bunch of yes men around that know that you're making a mistake but let you go on with it, that's when it ruins your mind state as an artist.

A good, hard-hitting dissent keeps you honest.

People tend to scare you pointing out your shortfalls. If you voluntarily admit your faults, then people won't have anything to point out.

You've got to be who you are. You've got to be honest with people. If your views change on something, you've got to be willing to express it.

The only players I hurt with my words are the ones who have an inflated opinion of their ability. I can't worry about that.

If I am going to trash others for their dumb predictions, I must at least hold myself to the same sort of accountability.

Fear is not in the habit of speaking truth; when perfect sincerity is expected, perfect freedom must be allowed; nor has anyone who is apt to be angry when he hears the truth any cause to wonder that he does not hear it.

I've always been motivated more by negative comments than by positive ones. I know what I do well. Tell me what I don't do well.

I don't want people kissing my butt. If I had a bad show and I know it, don't tell me I had a good show. I hate that. I guess because I'm 17, people think I don't see stuff like that.

Never exaggerate your faults, your friends will attend to that.

Their is no defense against criticism except obscurity.

People need to know that when I was interviewed when I played, I would really pat myself on the back when I did well and tell you how good I was playing, but I'd also tell you when I choked or I was playing terrible. I told it like it was.

If you have any fault to find with anyone, tell him, not others, of what you complain; there is no more dangerous experiment than that of undertaking to be one thing before a man's face and another behind his back.

If I'm going to be straightforward, like I always try to be, I know guys are going to come back at me sometimes.

If I feel I am not doing something right, I express it to people and to the media, too. I wouldn't shy away from that. It's healthy to interact. What you see is what you get with me.

I don't like to hide the errors I make. Any time I'm doing a mistake, I'm just saying it.

I think that I'm pretty much who you see onscreen. Are there times when I ask questions of people and have a sense of what their answer may be? Sure. I think that you can't deny that. But you still want to hear from that person, even though you may anticipate what they may say. I am as natural right now as I am when I talk to somebody in the Middle East. It's just trying to be a real person to them. So long as I can be as honest with myself when I make a movie like that, I can continue to be honest with you.

I don't praise my people. I am their greatest critic.

I would much rather have somebody say, "You know what? I just didn't like what you were doing," then say, "They didn't know what they were doing." I know what I'm doing. If it's going to be bad, or if it's great, it's me, in either case.

I usually tell people upfront what to expect, and that I really want their feedback and their ideas, and if they think I've got a hair out of place or food stuck in my teeth, gosh, I want to know that.

I've always told the truth. I think that's been part of the foundation of my career. I don't put myself above people. I don't put myself different than people. And I, for one, know that none of us is immune.

If you're telling a story, and somebody is going to come out badly, it better be you.

Just be honest with yourself. That opens the door.

Anonymous comments? You're not in the arena, man. If you can't say it to me in person in front of my kids, don't say it.

I realized that I had to be honest about where I was, where I was coming from, and what I was trying to do.