J. Cole Quotes

I thought I was so much smarter than everybody. And I'm not.

Fame didn't change me.

I try to become more humble and more myself with every year. There was a while when I got famous where I was so confused and my head was spinning.

I don't find it hard to stay humble.

Success can make you go one of two ways. It can make you a prima donna - or it can smooth the edges, take away the insecurities, let the nice things come out.

Only humility can take you places.

I think I have let ego get in the way sometimes - the pendulum swung pretty strongly. I was maybe a little overconfident at one point in my time, and then I went way the other way and thought I wasn't capable of anything.

I've had a lot of accolades throughout my career, but that hasn't really changed me. I know that comes with the winning.

My wife says to me, 'You have achieved a lot'... yeah, I do know. But... there are a couple of things I haven't.

The most important thing is to stay humble because there are always people telling you that you're this and that you're going to do that.

I stopped a lot of people who wanted to shove me into the real big time. Your ego wants to say, 'Hey, I'm somebody, man,' but I knew there were many days when I just wanted to be John Cale.

I find it hard to believe when people tell me I inspired them in any kind of way because I think to myself, 'well, why?' It's just me - not Madonna.

It's a good habit to trumpet your failures and be quiet about your successes.

I never think I have success even when I have it, for better or for worse.

I used to say things like, 'My name's not Al (Bundy), you know?' Not to the press, but to fans. 'My name is actually Ed.' I'd find myself saying that, and I'd think, 'Who do you think they think you are? They only know you from that!' And finally I just got...I don't know, I guess a switch went on for me, and I realized, 'This was the greatest job that you've ever had in your life. Why are you acting like an asshole?' So from that minute on, I kind of...well, I hate the word 'embraced,' but I just kind of went, 'Yeah, okay.' 'So you're Al, right?' 'Yep!'

There’s nothing more humbling than seeing your best quotes in a list, and thinking they could have been written by a coma patient with a keyboard and spasms.

Talent is God-given; be humble. Fame is man-given; be thankful. Conceit is self-given; be careful.

And I like asking questions, to keep learning; people with big egos might not want to look unsure.

Earlier in my career, I was really tight, really together, and knew who I was and I was confident. I kind of feel in between now.

I look back at old photographs and videotapes, and I go, Who was I trying to be? Who was I doing this for?

For our vanity is such that we hold our own characters immutable, and we are slow to acknowledge that they have changed, even for the better.

Young man, the secret of my success is that an early age I discovered that I was not God.

I know it sounds pathetic, but I don't know who I am.

I always told, Sandra Bullock was my student when she was younger, I always told her it's important that we hold on to our insecurity, the wisdom of insecurity.

Am I an ego on legs? No I am not. Do I want to be seen out there all the time saying everything? No, I don't.