Top 464 Life Quotes

Ralph Ellison's essays were models for me when I began my life as a critic. Slipping cultural yokes and violating aesthetic boundaries, he made criticism high-stakes work, especially for a black critic.

You get to a certain point - gratefully - when you're out of your twenties, and you realize how fleeting life is. So, it becomes important to feel as if the people in your life know exactly how you feel about them at all times.

I have a dogmatic certainty: God is in every person's life. God is in everyone's life. Even if the life of a person has been a disaster, even if it is destroyed by vices, drugs or anything else - God is in this person's life. You can - you must - try to seek God in every human life.

What I am very, very moved and struck by is that so many people in the world are often living a life that they hadn't planned for themselves. And they wake up one day and say, 'Hang on. Who am I? Is this really me? Is this what I really wanted?' And also, 'Can I change it? Have I got the courage to change it?'

I was really glad to meet Jane Clark because it did give me an insight. I couldn't imagine what kind of woman she was. I was hugely impressed by her energy, straightforward nature and enthusiasm for life.

For my whole career, I've been a singer-slash-songwriter, even though I'm very thankfully known for my voice. Songwriting has always been a joy in my life, and to be recognized for it is extremely validating.