William Michael Griffin Jr. (Rakim) Quotes
Maybe I’m too sensitive to the struggle, but I think a lot of people that listen to music are trying to escape.

Quotes to Explore
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If I had had a chance to tour with Van Halen before the record, I think it would have been a different record.
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If the reporter has killed our imagination with his truth, he threatens our life with his lies.
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I have a charity called the Chain Of Hope, where we target children from poor areas where heart surgery is not available, and we offer our services.
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Geffen was never supportive of the band.
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This is what's sick about living in L.A. My eight-year-old daughter will point to a woman and say, 'Look! That woman's had too much Botox.' She spots them because they all look a bit like Lord Voldemort from 'Harry Potter.'
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I've achieved more than some people do in a lifetime, but it doesn't mean I've done it all.
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There is no more respected or influential forum in the field of journalism than the New York Times. I look forward, with great anticipation, to contributing to its op-ed page.
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I can't help but laugh at how perfect I am.
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There's very few dork movies made by dorks.
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I used to be fast and loose with the term 'country' because I didn't know what else to call my music. I still don't.
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We want a money that some government mandarin can't just whisk into existence with a pen stroke.
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Even the best community organizations and faith-based initiatives and the extraordinary charity of Americans across the country can't carry the brunt of eliminating poverty.
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'We are tempted so that we may pray the more. Afflictions are meant for our spiritual benefit.'
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Being as we know it, the world as we come upon it, stands before us as otherness, remoteness. For all our efforts to exploit or comprehend it, it remains evasive, mysteriously immune. Being is unbelievable.
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Do not mistake yourself by believing that your being has something in it more exalted than that of others.
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War can be prevented only by broad-minded statesmanship - a statesmanship that understands how to enlist people's interests in a leading cause.
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I worry when athletes are simply used by their universities to produce revenue, to make money for them, nothing to show at the back end. I grew up with a lot of players who had very, very tough lives after the ball started bouncing for them. And that's why I'm going to continue to fight.
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Learn to bet on yourself and have confidence in your own decisions. No one knows your business better than you.
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I was never a monist - always a diversitarian.
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Don't call my lyrics poetry. It's an insult to real poets.
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To a greater or lesser extent there goes on in every person a struggle between two forces: the longing for privacy and the urge to go places: the introversion, interest directed within oneself toward one's own inner life of vigorous thought and fancy; and extroversion, interest directed outward, toward the external world of people and tangible values.
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The similarity between Van Gogh, Haiku poetry, and good photography is the concern for mortality. That things are very fleeting, that there are people who are more sensitive to death than others. The threat of time is of great concern to them. And the camera is a very appropriate instrument for many.
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Maybe I’m too sensitive to the struggle, but I think a lot of people that listen to music are trying to escape.