Bruno Mars quotes:

I'm a big fan of songs like Joe Cocker's 'You Are So Beautiful' and Eric Clapton's 'Wonderful Tonight' - songs that go straight to the point.

I love the Sex Pistols. I'm a big Beach Boys fan and a huge Zeppelin and Queen fan.

You know, when Michael Jackson does the moonwalk, he's showing off! When Prince or Hendrix do a guitar solo, it's confidence! I would hate to be at a show and some nervous wreck is sweating up there and doesn't feel like he deserves to be there.

My father moved to Hawaii from Brooklyn and my mother came there as a child from the Philippines. They met at a show where my dad was playing percussion. My mom was a hula dancer.

In pop music, the public usually see the results - the hit records, the Grammy Awards performances, the concert tours - but not all the work that goes into getting into the spotlight. And not everyone realizes that, even if you have a lot of talent, chances are you won't make it.

I don't think anyone ever plans to change line-ups, but it's something that comes with being in bands. I was in a band once and there were always problems - members come and go - and some of the world's biggest bands have changed line-ups loads!

It's probably the worst feeling in the world, when you're deeply and madly in love with a woman and you know she's not feeling you the same way, and you don't know why.

Everyone calls me Bruno; they don't ever call me Peter - that was just my government name.

You know, my sister sings, my brother plays drums in my band. My whole family is a bunch of musicians.

Honolulu is a melting pot.

Don't you love it that Prince doesn't use Twitter? Don't you think he's somewhere on a unicorn?

If I was a billionaire, I'd be smart with my money.

Someone told me something that stuck with me: 'You have to envision your life, and then go backwards.' I've been living by that motto for a while, so I see where I need to be. Now I'm just backtracking and trying to get back up there.

Music is not math. It's science. You keep mixing the stuff up until it blows up on you, or it becomes this incredible potion.

You can't knock on opportunity's door and not be ready.

Never had much faith in love or miracles, Never wanna put my heart on the line

I wish I could tell you me and my rock band were traveling around, strung out. No, we were a family band. Straight Partridge Family.

I'm the Nickelodeon version of DangerMouse.

I definitely don't plead guilty to being a heartthrob.

I guess if I'm a product, either you're chocolate, you're vanilla or you're butterscotch. You can't be all three.

Doo-wop' is a very special word for me. Because I grew up listening to my dad who, as a Fifties rock & roll head, loved doo-wop music.

Doo-wop is special music to me because it's so straightforward and melody-driven and captures emotions.

There's always a bittersweet kind of thing, but I feel like everything had to work out the way it is. Everything that had to happen, happened.

I don't ever want to come out with something safe and get away with, 'It sounds good!' It's got to be more than sounding good. The music I like are events.

I really wish I knew what I was doing because I'd be writing hit songs every minute.

I came to California and got signed at a young age. And it's not like you see in the movies, where you start rubbing shoulders with Timbaland and Pharrell, and you become a giant pop star.

I just know that I'm a fan of all different kinds of genres. You're supposed to be free doing music, and that's how I feel.

What I'm hoping is that every album I'm going to do will give my audience something different, and that they'll grow as I do.

I think that success is having fun.

I feel like you have to constantly keep proving yourself, and you have to constantly keep getting out there and showing them you're more than just that one song on the radio that's just playing. And that's what I had to do the first time around; I had to keep going out there and keep performing live.

I felt like I didn't have [any] pizzazz, and a lot of girls say I'm out of this world, so I was like I guess I'm from Mars.

What I like about Elvis is the same thing I like about James Brown, Michael Jackson, Prince. These guys, back in the day, there was no smoke and mirrors. It was just raw talent. They would step out onstage and command an audience. Talk about awesome.

If you ever forget how much you really mean to me, Every day I will remind you

I've had big record label presidents look me in the face and say, 'Your music sucks, you don't know who you are, your music is all over the place, and we don't know how to market this stuff. Pick a lane and come back to us.'

Whether it be a reggae song, rock song, a love song, the main thing was just to, whatever I was feeling, to try to capture that emotion.

I love that I can talk to my fans through Twitter, to cut out the middle man. Because I've done interviews where my words have gotten twisted, so it's nice to be able to have things coming straight from me.

I don't like two stories. I like one story. I never grew up with stairs. I like to stick to what I know.

No one sells a song better than the person that wrote it.

I tend to overthink things. I'm not the guy who screams 'This is a world smash!' when I finish a song.

Oh every time I close my eyes I see my name in shining lights

There are no record companies in Waikiki.

You're amazing, just the way you are.

I can't even speak Hawaiian, but if you go there and listen to a Hawaiian song, you get captured because it's so beautiful, like the melody is just gorgeous and you know Bob Marley is on the radio every single day. It's very reggae-influenced down there. Basically, you haven't been to paradise if you haven't been to Hawaii.

Today, I'd like to talk to Bob Marley. I'd just like to ask him what was his method. Bob is one of the greatest songwriters ever. I don't know if people understand how powerful his songs are and the simplicity and genius behind them, from 'Redemption Song' to 'Is This Love?' and 'I Shot the Sheriff.'

In Hawaii, some of the biggest radio stations are reggae. The local bands are heavily influenced by Bob Marley.

I don't try and be dark, but there are obviously darker emotions that I want to capture sometimes.

Hawaii is paradise. It sounds cheesy to say it, but there's music in the air there.

I don't throw lavish parties or nothing like that - I just want a bed and a TV.

Becoming famous was never what I wanted to do. There's a lot of things that come with fame - it's what people in the limelight have to do.

A grown man should always carry cash, right? I don't know who told me, but someone told me that a long time ago, and the biggest turnoff is when a guy doesn't have cash on him.

My mother is a singer, my sisters all sing, my uncles are incredible singers and guitar players, so it's just kind of been like my habitat.

You pick up some fans and a handful of haters along the way.

My dad was into the 1950s doo-wop era. If you look at those groups, or at James Brown, Jackie Wilson and the Temptations in the 1960s, you'll see you had to be sharp onstage.

I could sing you a thousand and one doo-wop songs. I love the simplicity in that music. It's not super-poetic, it's just from the heart.

Be in control. Know who you are. And don't try to be different just to be different.

You have to be who you are, and hopefully they dig it

It's just all love. That's what music is. That's why music is created. To make people feel good, to uplift people. That's what musicians are for: to give everyone an escape, to let everyone feel good and take people out of everyday problems, so that they can hear music and sing words that are hopefully relatable.

You know, I just do whatever feels right to me! And so that's what you're gonna get!

When everything in life gets so complicated it only takes a day to change it

And when you smile, the whole world stops and stares for a while

You gotta know what you are, who you are and how you want to be portrayed.

I want people to think of Hawaii and think of palm trees and magical islands and Bruno Mars.

When I see your face, there's not a thing that I would change 'cause you're are amazing just the way you are.

You have to envision your life, and then go backwards.

Ever since I was a kid, this was all I wanted to do. I've wanted to do music. I wanted to sing. It's all I know.

I've learned people are watching, so don't do nothing stupid.

I can show you in music better than I can tell you in words.

I write a lot of songs about being in love, how beautiful women are but I've definitely experienced that other side of love where you're in a situation where you love a girl so much but you just know for a fact that she doesn't love you the same. "Grenade" is the extreme way of saying "I'd do anything for you and why can't I feel you would do the same for me?

When it's your time, it is your time.

My goals are - I don't need much. I'm a simple man. I think that success is having fun. And when I'm having fun doing music, I'm happy. If I can make a little money on the side doing it, I'm really happy.

Jimi Hendrix is the greatest guitar player in the world... a guy who mastered that instrument. It was talking when he played. And when he did a solo, he made the guitar cry - or made it sound like it was coming from the devil's amplifier.

My dream was to not get a day job but to sleep, wake up and do my music. I want to keep that dream forever.

If perfect's what you're searching for, then just stay the same.

I love artists like Prince, who hold on to that element of mystery.

It's about you putting in the work, practicing every day, and hopefully one day you write the song the whole world wants to get down to. And one day you're going to be sitting next to Ellen DeGeneres talking about how you broke records and rocked the Super Bowl!

To write a song you must have an imagination, to have an imagination you must be free.

I know I'm probably much too late to try and apologize for my mistakes.

I got so much love for classical music and I hear so much incredible music.You should know a bunch of music and have respect for all sorts of genres and styles of music.

I watch the best. I'm a big fan of Elvis. I'm a big fan of 1950s Elvis when he would go on stage and scare people because he was a force and girls would go nuts! You can say the same thing for Prince or The Police. It's just guys who know that people are here to see a show, so I watch those guys and I love studying them because I'm a fan.

We all grew up idolizing another musician. That's how this works. That's how music is created.

I can put some chords together and maybe write a song, but I'm learning every day. And that's the fun part.

The drumming helps a lot when I'm producing songs or writing songs. My knowledge of drums helps more in that aspect, (although) I don't know, man; I'm not great at any of them.

You aspire to be as great as Michael Jackson is as an artist. I don't think any artist in pop, rock or hip-hop has ever done it any bigger than him. You know what I mean? He's the man.

What I like about Elvis is the same thing I like about James Brown, Michael Jackson, Prince. These guys, back in the day, there was no smoke and mirrors. It was just raw talent. They would step out onstage and command an audience.

I want there to be a piece of me in my music, you know? I genuinely believe that's the secret of all the success that's happened (for me).

With my being from Hawaii and being very family oriented I don't really have a fear of a tragic ending. I dont see any tragic ending for me.

I think everybody don't know what color I am. It's like, "He's not black enough. He's not white enough. He's got a Latin last name but he doesn't have - he doesn't speak Spanish. Who are we selling this to? Are you making urban music? Are you making pop music? What kind of music are you making?"

The confidence Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson exuded from stage, I'm a fan of.

I think I don't take myself too seriously. You know as far as, it's a fun life. I take my music serious, but I like to have fun.

It's dedicating yourself to your craft. Spending thousands of hours in a studio learning how to write a song, learning how to play different chords, training yourself to sing. You know, to get better and better.

My dad was just the king of finding these little spots for us to stay that we should never have been staying at.

People can hear my songs are coming from something real. I mean what I say; I'm not just writing to impress critics or young girls, or older girls. The way I talk is the way I write a song.

I grew up with so many different songs that the ones that are fun to play are the ones I want to do.

I'd like to talk to Bob Marley. I'd just like to ask him what was his method. Bob is one of the greatest songwriters ever. I don't know if people understand how powerful his songs are and the simplicity and genius behind them.

There will never be another Michael Jackson, a huge pop star since (the age of) 7.

I always say I wanna work with Alicia Keys. I'm in awe of her.

I've definitely seen bands before they made money kind of change their thing on the next tour, and I prefer it when it's a little more raw.

I just write songs that I strongly believe in and that are coming from inside. There's no tricks. It's honesty with big melodies.

Treasure, that is what you are

I am so proud and so happy to be Filipino.

Every artist should want to be like Michael Jackson

I feel, as a songwriter, it's one of the hardest things to do - to sit down and say how you feel.

'Doo-wop' is a very special word for me. Because I grew up listening to my dad who, as a Fifties rock & roll head, loved doo-wop music.

Hawaiian music is beautiful and simple.

Every time I try to write a song, when I sit down and think I'm going to write, I really want to write a song, and it never works out. It's always when it hits me unexpectedly on a plane or right before I go to bed, something like that.

In my songs, I'm not saying something that's never been said before. The have lyrics aren't going to blow people away. It's the emotion and the melody that drive it home.

As proud as I am of Doo-Wops I feel like, 'Oh, man. People haven't seen nothing. They don't even know what I'm about to do,' and that's what I can't wait to show the world.

Songwriters, you have to work - you have to wait for residuals. You have to pray that the song's going to be a hit. And then a year later, you might get a check.

I feel it's my job to continue being a student of music if I want to continue being an artist and a producer of other artists. You have to keep filling your mind with other music. You have to be ahead of the curve.

Writing for other artists helped me figure out that magic you have to capture to make everyone connect with a song.

I'm a big fan of the young 1950s Elvis when he would just go onstage and control the whole environment.

Got Chucks on with Saint Laurent; got kiss myself I'm so pretty.

I signed up to be a musician, I want to perform, I want to sing.

Expect me to give my all. Thats what I do every time I have a show. Give my all.

I'm hoping that "Nothin' On You", "Billionaire" and "Just The Way You Are" - songs that I produced... I hope that it's a warning for people. I hope it lets them know that I'm a little unorthodox when it comes to genres and styles.

My father's a musician and my mother's a singer. My dad's originally from Brooklyn and he was a Latin percussionist so I've always had instruments around the house. He used to have a show like a 1950s rock and roll show with Little Richard music. They would do doo-wop songs and stuff like that.