60+ Kendrick Lamar Quotes: Life Lessons from a Hip-Hop Icon

We’re all human at the end of the day, making mistakes. But learning from them is the key.

The worst part of success is, to me, adapting to it. It’s scary.

We hurt people that love us, love people that hurt us.

I be off the slave ships, building pyramids, writing my own hieroglyphs

I don’t do black music, I don’t do white music. I do everyday life music.

I live this life at a pace that anyone can go. Know your place, and dedicate your role …To the faith that you’ll die alone

Life will put many red lights in front of you, but sometimes we must push on the gas and trust god.

Look at me, I’m a loser, I’m a winner, I’m good, I’m bad. I’m a sinner, I’m a killer. What I’m doing, I’m saying that I’m human

Am I the only one who measures time using songs? “Oh it only took me 4 songs to get here! that’s not too long!

So the next time you feel like the world’s about to end, I hope you studied, because he’s testing your faith again.

Whatever pressure I feel all comes from me, from within. I always was that person who was hard on myself and challenged myself no matter what I was doing, whether it was passing third grade or playing basketball.

If a flower bloomed in a dark room, would you trust it?

Everybody heard that I f*** with Dre, and they wanna tell me I made it. N**** I ain’t made s***. If he gave me a handout, I’m taking his wrist and break it.

Consequences from evil will make your past haunt you.

Maybe because I’m a dreamer and sleep is the cousin of death.

I’d rather not live like there isn’t a god than die and find out there really is. Think about it.

I am a sinner….who’s probably gonna sin again…Lord forgive me!

I’m standing on a field full of landmines doing the moonwalk hoping i blow up in time.

Every day I try to escape the realities of this world.

Can’t let the government tell me how my future lookin’.

I cut off my ears before i hear your advice and vice versa.

The best way to describe myself would be…unpredictable.

I’d rather not live like there isn’t a God Then die and find out there really is Think about it

Consequences from evil will make your past haunt you.

We all seem to stumble, planning our own demise, Getting the big picture, and making it wallet-sized.

I’m trying to learn something new. I’m trying to surround myself with people that inspire me, or at least inquire about similar desires.

You can’t have people listen to you unless you come to their world and then bring them to yours.

I learned when I look in the mirror and tell my story, that I should be myself and not peep whatever everybody is doing.

It’s the beauty in her, But when the makeup occurs, I don’t see it, All I see is a blur.

Sometimes you just need to distance yourself from people… if they care, they’ll notice. If they don’t, you know where you stand.

If I speak the good into existence, that instant my dreams will unlock, money flow like water, and I’ll just wait at the dock.

The message I’m sending to myself – I can’t change the world until I change myself first.

I walk alone with a cross and a diamond stone. I’m a diamond inside the rough, that’s too mighty for maricons.

Don’t you know your imperfections are a wonderful blessing, Heaven is where you got it from.

My whole thing is to inspire, to better people, to better myself forever in this thing that we call rap, this thing that we call hip hop.

It’s a great, great experience to finally get the reception that you know you rightfully deserve.

What separated me from all my homeboys is the fact that I didn’t get caught inside the reality. I was always dreaming about doing something else or going somewhere else.

I think my worst problem is actually living in the moment and understanding everything that’s going on. I feel like I’m in my own bubble.

My rights, my wrongs, I write ‘til I’m right with God.

Everybody looking at you crazy, What are you gon’ do? Lift up your head and keep moving, Or let the paranoia haunt you?

The worst part of success is, to me, adapting to it. It’s scary.

Once I looked in the mirror and decided this is who I am, and I’m not scared of who I am, and I’m not scared that I can’t be like you, and I’m good with just doing me, that’s when I found myself, as a man.

People gonna be their own individuals and have their own worlds and I can’t knock it.

From the moment I started writing raps, I was always aware of the pressure. I always wanted to live up to how huge Snoop got, how huge Dre got, and how huge Pac got. I was always aware.

We look so much at color that we forget about the soul.

Take advantage. Do your best, don’t stress. You were granted everything inside this planet, anything you imagine, you possess.

My mind is living on cloud 9 and this 9 is never on vacation.

Being able to tell one from start to finish, and making that puzzle come together at the end. That’s the art for me.

The one in front of the gun lives forever.

The sky can fall down, the wind can cry now. The strong in me, I still smile.

Although the butterfly and the caterpillar are completely different, they are one and the same.

Eventually, you get to this point where you understand what you want to do and get across and sound like.

And I’m not sure why I’m infatuated with death, My imagination is surely an aggravation of threats… Maybe cause I’m a dreamer, and sleep is the cousin of death, Really stuck in the scheme of wondering when I’m resting.

I live this life at a pace that anyone can go. Know your place, and dedicate your role…To the faith that you’ll die alone.

The message I’m sending to myself – I can’t change the world until I change myself first.

We all get distracted, the question is, would you bounce back or bounce backward?

Mark my word, I’m a make my mark, even when they start their martial Law. Even when these Martians alienate me, my mental state is still at the heart.

Tell me how I stay positive When they never see good in me.

I had to come from something, come from a place that was negative and positive but the majority of it is a negative place.

I was a black sheep, but now I’m just a goat.

I got a greater purpose. God put something in my heart to get across and that’s what I’m going to focus on, using my voice as an instrument and doing what needs to be done.

Life Will Put Many Red Lights In Front Of You, But Sometimes We Must Push On The Gas And Trust God.

My word will never be as strong as God’s word. All I am is just a vessel, doing His work.

Tupac, Biggie, Jay. Your usual suspects. These were the people that were played in my household.

If I told you that a flower bloomed in a dark room, would you trust it?

So next time you feel like your world is about to end, I hope you studied because He’s testing your faith again.

The sky is falling, the wind is calling Stand for something, or die in the morning.

The best thing is to always keep honest people around, because when you have a bunch of yes men around that know that you’re making a mistake but let you go on with it, that’s when it ruins your mind state as an artist.

Build your own pyramids, and write your own hieroglyphs.

I don’t want to be something that just comes and goes.

When I ask OGs why there’s so much division in the streets, nobody never really knows. But you know one thing that everybody always mentions? A woman.

In all my days of schooling, from preschool all the way up to 12th grade, there was not one white person in my class. Literally zero.

My pops and my mom started playing Marvin Gaye and the Isley Brothers and all these people, but at the same time, they always had Snoop on right behind it in the same mix.

The hardest thing for – not only an artist but for anybody to do is to look themselves in the mirror and acknowledge, you know, their own flaws and fears and imperfections and put them out there in the open for people to relate to it.

My folks ain’t graduated from high school or nothing like that, so we always had to struggle in the family – and I come from a big family.

I always felt like there was a certain standard of music that I had to do from the beginning, even when I didn’t have the recognition that I have now.

Before finding music, I didn’t have too many aspirations. I wanted to hang out and make a little money from whatever I had to do.

I had to come from something, come from a place that was negative and positive but the majority of it is a negative place.

Black and brown pride have been taught in my household for a long time.

The way people look at me these days – that’s the same way I looked at President Obama before I met him. We tend to forget that people who’ve attained a certain position are human.

The opposite of love? Vice. Temptation. The negative influences that we have. The bad energy that comes around us and makes us do certain things. To me, it’s always been a war between the two.

But what love got to do with it when you don’t love yourself?

Kids don’t see hate in their eyes. They see and live in the world to the best of their abilities. And that’s where love comes from for me.

Love is not just a verb. It’s you looking in the mirror.

God to me is love.