
Ne-Yo quotes: catchy quotes from the singer/songwriter.
“If you believe in yourself, it doesn’t matter what others might be telling you is impossible. It’s all up to you!”
“If you want to be successful, you have to be the best person doing it. And in order to be the best person doing it, you have to get your work ethic right and keep going.”
“The opportunity is going to present itself, in some way, shape, form or fashion. You just have to be absolutely ready when it does. You gotta be walking around at a restaurant, as you see somebody is walking in, you gonna bump into him and knock his phone out of his hand, and that’s your moment, right then. So, I just think that the best way to get into the business is to for one, hone your skills, so that there is no question when the opportunity does approach, that, you know, you’re ready to go.”
“Fear is a healthy part of success.”
“You got to suffer in order to learn that lesson.”
“I like to learn through doing. Let me make a mistake, and then critique me on what I did so that I learn that way.”
“I feel like everything is inspired by something else. There is no 100% original thought.”
“I know everyone says attention spans are shorter now, and if you can’t get them in the first 20 seconds, you lost them. But I honestly believe if you give someone something worth slowing down to really pay attention to, they will.”
“I’ve always been the person to look at any turmoil as temporary. I recall times where my mom was working five and six jobs, and there’s still no food in the house.”
“All my musical influences came from my mom, who did everything to music. She played it 24 hours a day, seven days a week in our house. So that’s where my love for music came from.”
“I’m not a natural. I had to teach myself—or be taught—everything I do. I just spent hours and hours in the mirror mimicking Michael Jackson.”
“As far as music is concerned, the thing that really got me in the door is just always, always, always doing it. I always wrote.”
“I sing because I love singing. I perform because I love performing. I write because I actually enjoy writing.”
“I honestly do this because I enjoy it, and I feel like you can hear that in my music. Which, if you ask me, is why my music has been as successful as it has, because you can tell that it’s coming from a standpoint of passion and love.”
“I’m just thankful and appreciative that everybody is appreciating me for what it is I am, and that is, my music.”
“I feel there is always room for good music. I want to reach people’s soul with my lyrics through whatever vessel God chooses.”
“I write because I actually enjoy writing. It’s a plus and a fringe benefit that, you know, I can actually provide for my family and, you know, a few people know my name—that’s great.”
“I used to walk around with a journal when I was young, writing down just pretty much everything that happened to me throughout the day. Just the whole art of writing, it wasn’t even songs in the beginning, it was journal entries, poems, short stories, and then eventually it became songs. So, yeah, I’ve always, always been a writer.”
“I want to write for people that are trying to do some kind of quality music. What I mean by quality music is not so much the trend, what is hot right now. I don’t write trendy, I write what feels good and something that feels good will never get old. Timeless music is what I try to shoot for.”
“Via social media, I reached out, asking about relationships, dreams, hopes, fears, the whole gambit, and the stories that really resonated with me, I wrote songs about.”
“I make it my business to not really write songs about stuff that I don’t know anything about. So, pretty much every song I’ve ever written has come from either personal experience or experience from someone close to me, you know, so on and so forth. I just think the song comes out better when you know a little bit about what you’re writing about. That’s where my inspiration comes from.”
“I want to write, I want to direct and I’ve been… I’ve been learning how to do so over the last few years. You know, I’ve gotten to the point where I feel like I can write a pretty good script. I don’t know if it’s as good as I would like it to be before I give it to the world, but I’m definitely moving in the right direction.”
“This writing thing, it definitely will help in regard to the longevity of my career, but on the other side of it, I’m passionate about it. I want to learn how to do it; I want to do it well. It’s more about me further finding myself through art. That’s what it’s about.”
“I don’t go into the creative process thinking about what’s gonna sell albums. It’s about going in, doing what you love because you love it and hoping that the world catches on. I’ve finally got to the place where I realized it’s not about fitting in, it’s about standing out.”
“I’m in a different head space now man. Just my priorities have changed. At one point you know chasing women around and bottles in clubs and all of that stuff. And trying to prove to the world how much money you got. That was important at one point in my life and now it’s not. Now it’s about making sure my kids are straight. Making sure my wife is happy. Making sure I’m setting a good example for my sons.”
“I don’t want to call myself a perfectionist because perfection is imperfection.”
“I’m 100% real, even when what’s real is ugly. I don’t take any pride in covering up, hiding and lying.”
“For those people who want to keep following trends, you do that and when the trend goes away so will you.”
“I’ve worn big, stupid jewelry. I’ve worn clothes that cost more money than housing. I’ve done it and in doing it I realize it means nothing. We make it so important and it means absolutely nothing. So the kind of the gift and curse of being a human being is that you got to go through it in order to get to that place of enlightenment.”
“I’ve definitely made mistakes in the journey to get to where I am now. I feel like the plight of a good man is to know when you make a mistake, realize that you made the mistake, learn from said mistakes so that you don’t repeat said mistake. That’s kind of where I am now and in my mind and in my heart. Everything about me kind of personifies that at this point.”
“To be a good man is to make a decision within yourself. To decide that I’m going to give 100% of myself to this relationship or I’m going to genuinely love this person in the right way.”
“It’s a decision that you as a man have to make. Women will love you to death, but I need every woman on the face of the planet to know that there is no changing a man. You may inspire him to change, but ultimately he’s going to have to change himself. I feel like that maturity and experience are some of the things that help you make this decision.”
“Being a father and husband are my favorite. There are two places in the world I can 100% be myself and not worry about judgment. And that is with my wife and kids, which makes them the most important people on the face of the planet to me.”
“I’m a rather multifaceted person; or at least I like to fashion myself as such—so my dreams are multifaceted. For example, I had a dream of winning a Grammy, right? I’ve done that three times over.”
“I’ve never viewed myself as above anybody else or anything like that. I’m a regular guy at the end of the day. I like Cinnamon Toast Crunch and The Powerpuff Girls.”
“I am blessed to be doing what I do. So if I have to be at a photo shoot, do an interview, or make a TV appearance, I am not going to sit around whining and complaining about how I don’t want to get up early or I don’t feel like talking.”
“I’m never going to complain about doing my job. I love what I do!”
“What can I possibly do next to keep pushing myself to the next level? You know what, I really don’t know yet. But I guarantee that I’m gonna have a ball trying to figure it out.”
“Doing as much as you can for as long as you can—that’s the motto.”
“For all we know we might not get tomorrow. Let’s do it tonight.”
“Grab somebody sexy, tell ’em hey!”