Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) Quotes
I never had any ambitions of being a movie star or anything like that, but you know, this is nice.
Quotes to Explore
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When I first started writing songs, I never intended on singing. I didn't really consider myself a singer at all. I was just kind of recording the demo vocals as a holding place until someone else came and sang.
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For me, the greatest good fortune I have being raised by actors is I came in knowing that a career is the ebb and flow.
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I like to think I'm quite brave. I stand up for myself.
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Knowing constitutional law helps one at the opera. The trial in 'Billy Budd,' as example, invokes the fugitive slave clause of the U.S. Constitution.
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Sometimes a chord on a guitar will somehow spur some thought in your head, and you will write a song about it.
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Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent.
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The true Tarot is symbolism; it speaks no other language and offers no other signs.
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It's funny because when I'm outside Australia, I never get to do my Australian accent in anything. It's always a Danish accent or an English accent or an American accent.
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I've spent a lot of time being bohemian and sleeping on floors, but eventually I want to have kids and I want to bring them up in a secure environment.
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Everybody knows that I am not usually patient enough to actually sit down and watch one of my own films from the beginning to the end - I never do.
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Teenagers did not have, before rock 'n' roll and rhythm-and-blues - they did not have any type of music they could call their own once they got over 4 or 5 years old until they were well into their 20's and considered adults.
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Before I go to bed, I brush my teeth and take off all my makeup. I like to use Neutrogena's makeup remover wipes.
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There are certain songs that just stick around and do something that transcends whatever time they were written in. Through different eras, people are able to impart different meaning to the song, and they become part of some sort of consciousness.
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Coming from a background of being onstage, you're onstage for two and a half hours and you're in it for the whole time no matter what you're doing. Even if you don't have a line, you have to stay in it.
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To be honest, the core reason why I became an actor was that I didn't want to go to school. That's where it started. I hated opening my history books and my English books, but then, of course, you grow older. I went to film school in New York, and that's when you really realize that you have to grow up now. It's not child's play anymore.
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Siberia is a state of mind.
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It is not history which uses men as a means of achieving - as if it were an individual person - its own ends. History is nothing but the activity of men in pursuit of their ends.
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I wrote lots of pages. I showed what I wrote to Iowa friends, and they said, 'Good start.' That was discouraging because I thought it was almost done.
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It's because we are so flooded with American culture that we're startled when we see ourselves up there on the screen.
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Since I began my practice of Forgiveness Therapy, it's now instinctual for me to choose to eat like I love myself - instead of eating like I wanted to punish myself. Plus I've not only lost weight, I've lost the anger and anxiety I was feeling, and so I feel happier and calmer within.
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A neurotic can perfectly well be a literary genius, but his greatest danger is always that he will not recognize when he is dull.
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When you define the audience, the performer becomes what the audience wants. Politicians do that all the time.
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Most important of all, there is no right or wrong way to write - there's only what works for you. I was taught to write every day, but I know a writer (a bestseller at that!) who only writes on weekends.
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I never had any ambitions of being a movie star or anything like that, but you know, this is nice.
