Alicia keys quotes

If we took the time to learn more about different places and people, perhaps we would have more empathy for each other.

Most times, your blessings are also your curses. And for me, I have this ability to express myself so clearly with pen and paper, but when it comes to expressing myself verbally, I put up a big wall.

There's something so powerful about being my own gorgeous, beautiful, individual, unique self.

I'd rather not have anything than be a liar.

Love me like you'll never see me again.

I'm committed to evolving and growing and sitting at the head of my own table with no fears or limitations. But I've also learned to be more open now and more spontaneous in life.

I think we deserve people who really, really love us.

You could have all the riches in the world, but it doesn't mean much without family.

Things can be really empty in this world, and I don't just mean the music world. It can become a very meaningless place if you don't really understand: Who am I? Why am I here? What am I doing? To feel fulfillment and have a deeper level of understanding, personally, that is the most important thing.

I think there was something about being in a tough environment that gave me a certain drive.

Early on in my career, I was more closed off in every way. I thought I was protecting myself; instead, I was robbing myself of all I could learn and experience.

I've always expressed myself best through writing. I've gotten out all of my deepest feelings that way for as long as I can remember.

At the end of the day, so many things that we hold so much value with, it just doesn't even mean anything. I really try to stay focused on being really positive.

I always want to stay focused on who I am, even as I'm discovering who I am.

I've stepped more into my womanhood, I'm a mother now, I'm having a beautiful relationship as a wife and as a friend.

We're all going to change. Otherwise, it's boring. Who wants to stay the damn same all their life?

It's when we become afraid of everything and worried about everything that you are never going to reach your highest potential.

It's the unknown that makes me feel the most vulnerable.

Create the world you want, and fill it with the opportunities that matter to you.

You just can't take a day for granted. We had to work really hard for anything, and so that's been instilled in me. And I don't look at myself as better than anybody else, because in an instant everything can change.

Living will always be a struggle looking for someone to love you.

Maturity and experience are part of my liberation.

I really like to live my life in a low-key fashion.

I don't worry cause, everything's gonna be alright.

I don't know if we tell women great news about themselves enough. You'd be surprised how often a young woman doesn't hear positive things about herself - not in her home, not at school. It's hard to create a beautiful image for yourself when you've never seen it or heard it.

I'm a very positive person, but this whole concept of having to always be nice, always smiling, always happy, that's not real. It was like I was wearing a mask. I was becoming this perfectly chiselled sculpture, and that was bad. That took a long time to understand.

I know people who've gone to jail. It don't mean you stop loving them! They deservin' love just as much in there, and maybe they needin' it more.

I'm a very caring person.

It's karma, baby. And it goes around.

When I'm on stage, my interaction with the audience is something that really makes me come alive. It's a feeling like no other. The energy of the crowd fuels something new inside.

Love will come find you Just to remind you Of who you are [...] See that's the thing about love [...] Then life It will embrace you Totally amaze you So you don't give up

All of us are different. That's what makes us interesting and special. I don't want to be anything like another person. I want to be totally myself and go against the grain, forge my own path. I've learned that being different is what makes you stand out. It makes everything so much more intriguing.

Yes I was burned but I called it a lesson learned. Mistake overturned so I call it a lesson learned. My soul has returned so I call it a lesson learned...another lesson learned

I am able to hang with the hardest, the baddest, the worst, and I'm able to hang with the most proper and be at ease. I'm able to hang with any skin colour, any belief. I just fit in everywhere.

I think you are who you are, and your kids will see who you are. So you'd better be a good person, because they are going to see it, and that's going to shape them. They are going to become you.

Everybody goes through their life in different ways. I definitely am having my journey. It evolves and changes. At some moments, I feel totally off center and trying to find my way back.

Be driven, be focused, but enjoy every moment, because it only happens once.

A Minor is one of my all-time favorite keys to play in. It's a very moody key, and also 'A' is the first letter of my name. It just represents the songs through my eyes.

You're stronger, and you're better, and you're ready for whatever.

When I was younger, my mother and I, we'd have these crazy, crazy fights. Everyone would storm out mad, and the only way that I'd be able to express myself was to write her. We would write letters back and forth for days. When I'm writing, I feel uninterrupted. I write what I'm going through and how I see it.

Good food is an amazing blessing. Whenever you can sit down at a table, eat food that is extremely delicious, and are surrounded by people you love...it's: Wow, life is good.

My mom is definitely my rock.

What breaks my heart is suffering of any kind.

I was tired and I had overworked myself and burnt myself out. So I went to Egypt by myself. When I saw what was built there, it made me understand how powerful we are, that we can create anything. And I felt like I needed to create things that were timeless too.

Quiet moments recharge me.

You don't know what will happen from one minute to the next.

I believe in the limitlessness of humans. We're capable of incredible things. At times, that realization is frightening.

I've seen so many lives turn around from the impossible. I have come to embrace the idea that even the simplest act of understanding, love and attention can produce the biggest results.

You can't really compare people. That's one of the biggest lessons I've learned, because comparing yourself to someone else really stops you from being who you are.

No one will take care of you if you don't take care of yourself.

I find that the love we share fills me up and makes me see and appreciate life in a different way.

My life is rich because I have those kinds of people in my life.

I grew up in a pretty tough neighborhood. I grew up around drugs, alcohol, prostitution, I grew up around everything, and I think part of seeing that from really young has made me really steer very far away from it in all of its forms.

Even if your family isn't quite there for you, find the people that support you and hang on to those people and try to let go of those that try to take you down.

I'm very happy with my body.

Love is accepting people for who they are and what they are, regardless.

You've got to love what's yours.

I pray to give thanks and to recognize all the good things that are in my life even during times of great change, confusion, or frustration.

I don't dream - only if I'm uncomfortable or I'm going through something.

The more you know the stronger you become, the closer you feel to yourself and the farther you can go.

I feel the presence of a higher power. I believe that what you give is what you get. It's universal law. I believe in the power of prayer and of words. I've learned that when you predict that negative things will happen, they do.

My music comes from many, many, many places. My emotions, my feelings, my thoughts, and conversations I have with people I know who influence me.

You have to identify what you care about and why you care about it. It has to be personal. It has to be something that fires you up or means something to you, or it's not going to drive you.

I think there's an energy about just remaining excited. Like, you can't be excited when you're not doing something new.

I pray before everything. When I wake up, before I eat, before I perform, before I go to sleep, in the moments I need guidance.

Everything's gonna be alright.

The smaller you strip things down, the more you depend on the songs and yourself, as opposed to arrangements.

How far you go depends on what you want for yourself, how much you're willing to leave on the floor, and how much you wanna face the fears you have inside of you. It's everything we're all dealing with every day.

Empower us women and we will change this whole entire world.

Fear is not a part of my vocabulary, actually, and I think that it's really made me a much smarter, braver for sure, person.

Writing in my journal keeps me focused on my spirit and what I need or feel.

Love will come find you, just to remind you of who you are.

All women are NATURALLY, bad ass!

The most important thing to remember is that you can wear all the greatest clothes and all the greatest shoes, but you’ve got to have a good spirit on the inside. That’s what’s really going to make you look like you’re ready to rock the world.

You are what you listen to

My mixed-race background made me a broad person, able to relate to different cultures. But any woman of colour, even a mixed colour, is seen as black in America. So that's how I regard myself.

Love is giving of yourself in a way that is free of fear.

I think that marriage is beautiful. And if it's a partnership with someone you love, then it really is beautiful. Yeah, I think that marriage does work.

I believe if you can find something to give back to, your soul will feel fulfilled in a very powerful way.

Sometimes you need to start again, in order to fly

Everything you want to be, you already are. You're simply on the path to discovering it.

There's too much darkness in the world. Everywhere you turn, someone is tryin' to tear someone down in some way; everywhere you go, there's a feeling of inadequacy, or a feeling that you're not good enough. I want to bring a certain light to the world.

Through the shake of an earthquake I will never fall. That’s how strong my love is.

I don't have a ton of friends, but the friends I have are great ones. I don't have huge family, but the family I have is a great one.

Moments are so fleeting; I want to hold on to the good ones.

From the beginning, I've had to juggle and weigh the silly things people say - and I've learnt that they're meaningless, and they're mostly inaccurate. So I don't worry about it, because there's nothin' for me to deal with.

I thought I had to be perfect. I would often make choices I thought would make everyone else happy. I lived at a pace that was "good for my career," whether it was good for me or not. I have learned how important it is to check in with myself and listen, really listen.

If you treat me fairly, I'll give you all my goods.

Falling down ain't falling down, If you don't cry when you hit the floor, It's called the past cause I'm getting past, And I ain't nothing like I was before, You ought to see me now

Our mission goes beyond commerce, it goes beyond technology. Our intent is to preserve music's importance in our lives, music is the language of love, of laughter, of heartbreak, of mystery. It's the world's true, true, without question, universal language.

The artists who have inspired me the most in my life are the ones who have really had something to say and stand up for. That, to me, is part of being an artist-having the voice to express things that need to be verbalized and brought to light. Unfortunately, I don't think that's a priority for people, because the few artists who do have the nerve to take a stand for what they believe get shut down in a way.

Business can change you, and chew you up, and spit you out, and be rid of you, and on to the next thing. That's why it's so important to know who you are and stand up for something.

We have the potential to help people out of poverty, out of disease, out of slavery and out of conflict. Too often we turn the other way because we think there's nothing we can do.

I'm in constant pursuit of growing and evolving.

The most important thing is to be proud of the work that you put into something, and put the ego aside.

I'm discovering my sexual side, and exploring relationships. You know, sensual stuff. And I'm discovering a lot of sides of myself, stuff I've buried. So the music is also therapeutic, to come to terms with things. And I feel now like my head is in the right space.

Wait, I'm deciding to be my own individual self. And it looks nothing like what anyone else is doing.

I think following my instinct has proven to lead me in the right direction, and it's hard to hear sometimes, because it's a noisy world and there's a lot of people talking to you.

But when I first fell in love with the piano, I knew it was me. I was dying to play.

Prayer keeps me centered.

I'd rather believe in my own choice and see it all go wrong than do something I'm not fully convinced of and later feel guilty about it.

What breaks my heart is suffering of any kind. Too often, our world is divisive and cruel where it needs to be uniting and loving.

When I was a kid I'd practise Chopin on piano - and I love Chopin! He's my dawg! Then I'd go out on the stoop and blast the radio. I'm from New York, the concrete jungle. Hip-hop influenced me from day one.

I'm not ashamed of what I am and that I have curves and that I'm thick. I like my body.

Some people want it all But I don't want nothing at all If it ain't you baby If I ain't got you baby Some people want diamond rings Some just want everything But everything means nothing If I ain't got you, Yeah

Right now the way I define beauty is individuality and wisdom, which I think creates a certain inner confidence. And not confidence in a way that's only on the surface, but a deep-down knowing of yourself or settling into who you are.

Why give up before we try?

Life is going to be a constant peeling back of layers, a constant unlearning of what we've been taught or believe to be true. I think that I've come to terms with the fact that that's just going to happen for the whole duration of my life. I feel really good about being able to look myself in the face and say, "Oh, who are you now?" And that might change.

Hand me the world on a silver platter, and what good would it be?

If I know everything around the situation, all the facts, I feel like I can handle just about anything.

You're at your most purest, most innocent, pure state when you're doing something you've never done before. You're scared a little, you're a little vulnerable, you're kind of trying, and then you're also better, because you're trying harder than you maybe would try.

I don't think even when you find a person, you can be completely honest, ever. There's still pieces of you that you don't give away. I do believe you always need that place where it's just you, your thoughts, no one else's judgment or anything.

Risk the fall to know how it feels to fly.

Meditation has been a big change for me in a super-positive way. I see the result and strength and clarity - even my creativity is different and more connected. It might be 10 minutes a day; it might be 20 minutes a day. But every day in this crazy world, it's a sense of peace and purpose.

Failure isn't an option. I've erased the word fear from my vocabulary and I think when you erase fear you can't fail.

Still when I'm a mess I still put on a vest With an 'S' on my chest Oh yes, I'm a Superwoman

Simplicity makes me happy.

The desire to play has always been in me. I remember my first experience at about four or five of really dying to sing and dying to play that came from no one telling me to do so.

How you look is your statement, because it's a claiming of yourself.

We're all going to change. Otherwise, it's boring.

I've been able to find a lot of what I've not had before: freedom, bravery, fearlessness. It's empowering to find those things.

I feel more like I'm a person who has so much to offer in different capacities that it would be a danger for me not to give myself a chance to spread my wings in all different directions.

You can be very fulfilled as a mother, but that can't be the only way you are fulfilled. What about being a woman? What about being yourself? Your awareness of what's happening in the world? It lives altogether in a way that makes a whole. I guess I'd say I'm the wholest I've ever been.

There was no other path for me. I knew this was my path. I had to follow it.

Your life can become the background for the art you create.