Lenny Kravitz
It's a good time for me to pursue acting, I suppose since I'm enjoying having another medium in which to express myself. I've been getting a great response to my work.Collection: Acting
I'm sure great scripts are hard to find, but I'm definitely open, and waiting to see what comes my way.Collection: Waiting
I was in Paris last year, where there's a great appreciation of many different aspects of African culture and of black culture. The music... the art... whatever... And I kind of went with that.Collection: Appreciation
I haven't thought about making a music film, but if I did, that would be a very interesting idea.Collection: Ideas
My mother always told me to embrace both sides of my background. And she also taught me one very useful thing when I was going to first grade. She said, "You're Bahamian and African-American on one side, and Russian-Jewish on the other. You're no more one than the other, and it's beautiful that you have all this. It makes your life all the more rich. But society will see you only as black."Collection: Beautiful
Later on in life I was like, "Wow!" because that's exactly how it was. They don't care that you're mixed. They see you as one color.Collection: Color
Beyond [Barack Obama] having made history as the first African-American president, I hope that he gets re-elected for what he does while in office, not for his skin color. I certainly believe he has the capacity.Collection: Believe
Me being in my grandmother's yard in Brooklyn. I must have been about 3. I had this red balloon. I let go of it, and it went up into the sky and just kept going and going. I completely flipped out, because I didn't understand why.Collection: Letting Go
I was watching an interview with Martin Scorcese concerning Raging Bull, which is one of my favorite films, and he was talking about how he'd worked with a lot of guys who weren't quote-unquote "actors," like Joe Pesce and Frank Vincent. Scorcese was very smart in the way that he cast, because you don't know where you're going to find the right person who can carry a role and summon that emotion you're looking for.Collection: Smart
You never know where you're going to find a great actor.Collection: Actors
You can't even sing or play an instrument, so you just scream instead. You're living for an image, so you got five hundred women in your bed.Collection: Rock And Roll
(On being asked if he preferred to be a rock god or sex god) I am neither. My favourite role is father.Collection: Sex
Eleutheria, the fire is burning. Eleutheria, the tables are turning.Collection: Fire
So that's why you've got to try, you got to breath and have some fun. Though I'm not paid, I play this game, and I won't stop until I'm done. But what I really want to know is - Are you gonna go my way?Collection: Travel
I don't go to church so much, the way my life is, but it's in me every day.Collection: Church
Working with Gabby [Sidibe], I realized immediately that she was amazingly talented. I could tell just by the way she'd get into the role.Collection: Roles
I'm just as white as I am black, and I'm just as Russian Jew as I am West Indian.Collection: White
My mother's side of the family is from the Bahamas, and I spent time there on and off when I was growing up. It's the place where I feel at peace.Collection: Mother
When I hear music, it's visual; I see things.Collection: Visuals
I come in with this rock 'n' roll-oriented music, and it's not black enough . . . I've always had to deal with this black-white thing.Collection: Rocks
At 10 o'clock in the morning I'd go right in the studio. It feels good to be there in the morning before the day starts to mess with you - I don't mean in a negative way, but before I'd speak to a lot of people or get into anything, I'd go in there and just see what I felt. A lot happens in the morning for me in the studio.Collection: Morning
It doesn't take a lot to get me motivated. I'm a studio rat. When I was in high school and I would walk into a recording studio, it felt like this magical place, this temple, this womb that I could escape into.Collection: School
When it comes to acting, it's about creating a character and bringing forth a director's vision. It's a weird feeling, because with acting, it's just not about me. I love being in that position, because with the music, it's always about me.Collection: Character
I feel like my best work is in front of me. I'm in the studio now, and I'm having an amazing time making this new album. It's something I can't help.Collection: Albums
At first people thought I was really arrogant and a snob about music because I'm so intense about my production and sound, and because they knew I didn't like new music so much.Collection: People
If you go to Japan, they're still buying vinyl, and they want the education. They know who's playing on what tracks from the '60s and the '70s - who the guitar player is, who the drummer is, who the producer was, what studio it was recorded in. That's how I grew up listening to music. We bought albums. We read the liner notes. It was important to know the whole history behind it.Collection: Player
I think kids in Europe have developed a deeper knowledge of music and of black music in particular. You go to Europe, and these kids know about all this obscure funk and soul that kids over here wouldn't know. I think it's getting better in the States, though, with the age of the Internet.Collection: Kids
I'm sure at one point I will do some acting again, but it would have to be the right thing. I'm not going to do it just because people are offering it to me. Not for those box-office, bullshit, money, noncreative people. But I'll do it when it's right to do it.Collection: Offering
I really didn't know a lot of rock 'n' roll until I moved to L.A. Before that, when I was in New York, I grew up listening mostly to R&B and soul and jazz.Collection: New York
I started out making furniture because I couldn't find certain things, and then I really got into it.Collection: Furniture
I never sit down to write. When I'm moved, I do it. I just wait for it to come. You just hear it. I can't really describe writing. It's in my head. I don't think about the styles. I write whatever comes out and I use whatever kind of instrumentation works for those songs...A lot of people don't listen to the lyrics, really. A lot of people pretty much only listen to the chorus.Collection: Song
When I'm in the studio, I write the music, I play the different instruments, I produce it, I arrange it, and it's a self-indulgent exercise. It's the way I make my music. And when I'm acting, I get to leave myself behind, which is a relief. I get to collaborate with a director; I respect the director's medium and all the actors and actresses. So at the end of the day, it's about a character and it's about a director's vision. It's a really good balance for being so intense and alone in my personal process of making music.Collection: Writing
One day we're going to watch people fight to the death, like Roman times. Instead of being in a coliseum, we're going to watch it on TV.Collection: Fighting
Life, the moment. Where the magic is. That's what really keeps me motivated, alive, hungry. I'm still as excited and motivated now as I was twenty-five years ago, and that's because I really live for those moments. And that's where the art comes from, that's where the music is born, that's where it all appears. I love it.Collection: Art
I was an actor when I was a teenager and it could have been the direction that I headed in. But music and my relationship with music is quite deep, and it really is the nucleus of my creativity. So I gave up acting so I could pursue music fully, and I never thought about really going back. And then [director] Lee Daniels met me and wanted to work with me, and that's how it started.Collection: Teenager
Music, for me, is completely self-indulgent. I write it, I play the instruments, I arrange it, I produce it. It's all about me - as it should be.Collection: Writing
I used to do plays and some television commercials when I was younger. I guess my mom's being an actress got me interested in that, but music definitely took its place.Collection: Mom
I'm just looking for interesting roles and giving acting the respect it deserves.Collection: Giving
I fell in love with Paris the first time I went.Collection: Paris
When I make music, I play it, I produce it, I write it. It's a very self-centered thing, not in a negative way. But I primarily work by myself, that's my process. When I'm acting, I'm there to serve the director and the character. I'm here to give you what you need. Communicate that to me and I will do what I need to do to get that. So that's what it's about.Collection: Writing
This world is so crazy. So many things are based on popularity versus talent. So there's a lot of folks who are not so talented, but they're popular and they have "x" amount of followers on social media.Collection: Crazy
I never sit down to write or say, "Today, I have to record something." I wait to hear it and then I go for it.Collection: Writing
After listening to "Machine Gun" I have to take a nap.Collection: Gun
I'm not one of those artists who refuses to play their hits. I find that ridiculous. Hits are a blessing.Collection: Artist
Good design is being able to put a $100,000 thing next to a $20 thing. If it looks right and it works then it works. It doesn't have to be expensive; it's all about the high meets low for me.Collection: Design
What motivates it is life. Life is everything. Life influences my music and brings it forth. Life is always changing, so I'm always hearing new music.Collection: Hearing
Our music is always a reflection of where we are in a society. That's what enables so many people to do what they do. So my advice is to work at your craft. Be the best you can be at your craft and do it sincerely. Even in the world we live in today, that will give you longevity. At the end of the day, I want the quality of my work to stand, not how much I did.Collection: Reflection
I'm so happy. I am able to see the world just by making music, just by doing the thing that I loved doing when I was five years old.Collection: Years
I think that we have to be very careful and get back into the loop, get back to nature. Get back to God and not let the technology send us somewhere that we're going to regret.Collection: Regret