Talib Kweli Quotes

You can't take yourself too seriously.

I always say be humble but be firm. Humility and openness are the key to success without compromising your beliefs.

It's bad taste to be wise all the time, like being at a perpetual funeral.

You are just as capable of making a mistake as anyone else. By insisting too eagerly upon a small right, you may turn it into a wrong against yourself and also against your neighbor.

Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too selfish to seek other than itself.

There is a time to speak and a time to listen, and sometimes people need to shut up.

I've always believed in having a sense of balance and stealth.

I'm very competitive, but I know when not to be competitive. I know how to have fun, but I know when it's time to get serious. That makes things a lot easier.

Women want honesty but sometimes get upset if you are honest, so you need to know when to be honest.

What I know about me is that, in order to lead, you also have to know how to follow.

It is always well to accept your own shortcomings with candor but to regard those of your friends with polite incredulity.

When you're out in the field and spending time in these different places around the world, humility is one of the most important assets that will serve you well.

When I was younger I probably didn't understand something basic about tact, but I think it kept faint-hearted people at arm's distance and that's not such a bad thing, because life is short and I know the kind of people I want to work with.

It is a good rule in life never to apologize. The right sort of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them.

If You are mighty, gain respect through knowledge and gentleness of speech. Do not command except as is fitting.

I'm so tough and so bad, I can be humble and lift another guy up.

Never seem more learned than the people you are with. Wear your learning like a pocket watch and keep it hidden. Do not pull it out to count the hours, but give the time when you are asked.

When I must be mean, I'm mean. When I can be nice, I am nice.

My parents always told me be confident but be humble at the same time.

You can't take yourself too seriously with anything.

Sometimes I'm a bit under-aggressive and sometimes a bit over. But I think it's good to have both.

He has given ample evidence of qualities hardly any other living statesman has demonstrated to the same degree: the courage to look facts in the face and to seek flexible solutions, respect for others, give-and-take in dialog situations, absence of hypocrisy, a complete absence of grandeur in the conduct of his personal life. He has never been driven by blind self-assertion to make absurd decisions.

In some way, people believe that if you are permeable, if you are a good listener, you don't have the quality of somebody with a firm attitude. This is what, fundamentally, I got from my mother.

I don't go to different countries to criticise their political system and tell them what they should be doing - what do I know?

Like, I get along with everybody. I respect everybody, but at the same time, I carry myself with an aura that demands respect, too.