Rokia Traore Quotes

I want to be remembered as the person who helped us restore faith in ourselves.

Take actions that will give people hope.

I have tried to generate hope and trust as a person.

There's girls that grew up like me and even worse, and they need to know that there is someone out there that can give them hope with my music. It's about inspiring people and helping people.

I don't think just scaring people is enough. That worked during the freeze days to a major extent, but we really didn't achieve that much even at that time. You have to have more, you have to give people hope and a vision of a better world.

We want to encourage people. We want to help them. We want them to see all the good things God has placed in them and give them a right future.

People always accuse me of being motivational in a way, like it was a bad thing, but that's just how I was raised. My mom raised me in a positive environment, with lots of love in my heart, and that reflects in my music.

Children have limited power to shape their own lives, but when they can experiment with possibilities through books, their optimism can be recharged and kept alive.

Anything that instills a sense of hope will at least temporarily help treat depression.

All kids need is a little help, a little hope and somebody who believes in them.

Hip-hop saved my life, man. It's the only thing I've ever been even decent at. I don't know how to do anything else.

I feel like Obama in a way. His idea that hope means not shrinking from a fight; it's the courage to reach for something. My music is that. Those are principles I try to embody.

If I let myself sink into depression, I won't be able to get out. And then I'll be awfully unhappy. I just have to turn my face to the light and walk on. And trust that things will be all right.

Hope is the motivation that empowers the unemployed, enabling them to get out of bed every single morning with unbounded enthusiasm as they look for work.

The most rewarding thing for me has been this affirmation for me that people are basically good and smart, and if you give them a simple tool that allows them to exhibit that behavior, they'll prove it to you every single day.

I don't know what can be so dangerous about giving people hope. Causing people to have better relationships. I'm not leading them to some false God or something like that.

Optimism is the key.

I am proud to have been capable of giving people hope again.

Have confidence in everything. No matter what it is that you're doing, know that you can do it better than anyone.

In fact, the confidence of the people is worth more than money.

I don't want my daughters to grow up the way that I grew up. I want them to actually see Mommy in a fulfilled relationship that's amazing for her.

You can't vote your hates; you've got to vote your hopes.

Things don’t always get better. Sometimes they get worse. The only way things will get better if people make them better.

Folks, just a few minutes of my voice can change a life.

African-American music tends to have, at the very least, a glimmer of hope to it - sometimes full-fledged hope.