"I know of nothing more despicable and pathetic than a man who devotes all the hours of the waking day to the making of money for money's sake."

"Good management consists in showing average people how to do the work of superior people."

"I can think of nothing less pleasurable than a life devoted to pleasure."

"I don't make music for eyes. I make music for ears."

"I just want to make music, I don't want people to talk about me. All I've ever wanted to do was sing. I don't want to be a celebrity. I don't want to be in people's faces, you know, constantly on covers of magazine that I haven't even known I'm on."

"The thought of someone spending $20 to come and see me and saying, 'Oh, I prefer the record and she's completely shattered the illusion' really upsets me. It's such a big deal that people come give me their time."

"I like looking nice, but I always put comfort over fashion. I don't find thin girls attractive; be happy and healthy. I've never had a problem with the way I look. I'd rather have lunch with my friends than go to a gym."

"Mum loves me being famous! She is so excited and proud, as she had me so young and couldn't support me, so I am living her dream, it's sweeter for both of us. It's her 40th birthday soon and I'm going to buy her 40 presents."

"If I am constantly working, my relationships fail. So at least now I can have enough time to write a happy record. And be in love and be happy. And then I don't know what I'll do. Get married. Have some kids. Plant a nice vegetable patch."

"I get so nervous on stage I can't help but talk. I try. I try telling my brain: stop sending words to the mouth. But I get nervous and turn into my grandma. Behind the eyes it's pure fear. I find it difficult to believe I'm going to be able to deliver."

"I've been singing properly every day since I was about fifteen or sixteen, and I have never had any problems with my voice, ever. I've had a sore throat here and there, had a cold and sung through it, but that day it just went while I was onstage in Paris during a radio show. It was literally like someone had pulled a curtain over it."

"I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity an obligation; every possession, a duty."

"The most important thing for a young man is to establish a credit... a reputation, character."

"Competition is a sin."

"Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great."

"Do you know the only thing that gives me pleasure? It's to see my dividends coming in."

"The way to make money is to buy when blood is running in the streets."

"If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success."

"I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity."

"I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity an obligation; every possession a duty."

"Every right implies a responsibility; Every opportunity, an obligation, Every possession, a duty."

"The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity as sugar or coffee and I will pay more for that ability than for any other under the sun."

"[But longtime friend and competitor Robert Johnson, who founded BET, says,] To me, his achievements would rival those of any business person in America, ... He had charisma, tenacity and passion to convince people that there was such a thing as a black consumer market."

"A friendship founded on business is better than a business founded on friendship."

"I do not think there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature."

"I believe that thrift is essential to well-ordered living."

"Next to doing the right thing, the most important thing is to let people know you are doing the right thing."

"I have ways of making money that you know nothing of."

"Don't blame the marketing department. The buck stops with the chief executive."

"The success of each is dependent upon the success of the other."

"Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people."

"If you win, you need not have to explain...If you lose, you should not be there to explain!"

"If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed."

"Do not compare yourself to others. If you do so, you are insulting yourself."

"Anyone can deal with victory. Only the mighty can bear defeat."

"If you want to shine like sun first you have to burn like it."

"And I can fight only for something that I love, love only what I respect, and respect only what I at least know."

"Think Thousand times before taking a decision But - After taking decison never turn back even if you get Thousand difficulties!!"

"Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live."

"When diplomacy ends, War begins."

"The man who has no sense of history, is like a man who has no ears or eyes"

"He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future."

"The victor will never be asked if he told the truth."

"Words build bridges into unexplored regions."

"I use emotion for the many and reserve reason for the few."

"The art of reading consists in remembering the essentials and forgetting non essentials."

"Reading is not an end to itself, but a means to an end."

"To conquer a nation, first disarm its citizens."

"Kill, Destroy, Sack, Tell lie; how much you want after victory nobody asks why? -- uncited source"

"The only preventative measure one can take is to live irregularly."