Lenny Kravitz quotes:

My dream is to become a farmer. Just a Bohemian guy pulling up his own sweet potatoes for dinner.

My first guitar, a Fender Jazz Master, I traded it in for a Les Paul Deluxe.

I've always had to deal with being biracial, even in music. When I came on the scene, I'd go to these record labels, and they'd say things like, "Lenny Kravitz. That's a weird name." I'm brown-skinned and I've got these dreadlocks and I've got this Jewish last name.

We're getting so pulled in by computers and technology, and our kids have their face in the computers all day. The human relationship is being diminished by this.

People see my photos and think I labor over my image and I'm this cool, brooding artist. But I'm just having fun with it.

People always accuse me of being motivational in a way, like it was a bad thing, but that's just how I was raised. My mom raised me in a positive environment, with lots of love in my heart, and that reflects in my music.

I knew Slash in high school, but not very well. Just knew him as this kid that used to hang out in the hallway. Pretty much looked then the way he does now.

I'm half Jewish, I'm half black, I look in-between. I dress funny. I play all these different styles of music on one record. It's like, What is he doing?

I am not trying to change the world. I am just offering my gift that God gave me, and if somebody is moved by it, that's beautiful.

It was amazing to me that, all of a sudden, I was hearing my music on the radio and coming out of cars.

Change is growth. For me it has been a very spiritual and musical rebirth.

The fans of 'The Hunger Games,' of the book, are very passionate. It's funny: Even at my concerts there are people holding up 'Cinna' signs.

People don't realize it, but no one lives that rock and roll life 24-7. They think it's hundreds of bottles of champagne flowing and private jets and money. But there's a lot of time when you're traveling - time to think, time to be lonely. Sometimes it gets to you.

Music is my life, it is a reflection of what I go through.

It's very important to vote. People died for this right.

They think I'm being serious when actually I'm a very big clown. But you have to know me to see that. I'm constantly cracking up and cracking everybody else around me up.

I am trying to get closer to God.

We weren't put here to be miserable. We were put here to do the best we can, and we should take our energy and improve our state of being.

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.

It's like a dream to come to Spain and stay for a couple of years and get somebody to teach me Spanish music.

There are so many people that don't believe in themselves and don't have faith.

The image that the public gets is whatever they perceive it to be. Everybody has an opinion, everybody has their own vision, so I don't know what my public image is. I have no idea.

God forbid you sing about love. It's a lost concept.

A dramatic thing, the first time you stand up to your dad.

Where I'm at in life, the women have got to come with something else, not just the body, but the mind and spirit. It usually trips them out, but that's the way it's going to be. I'm looking at the big picture.

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.

I always try to keep the circumstances in my life fresh. I like to change the physical environment I live in, change the people around me and try to experience things for the first time. I think that keeps one on their toes, creatively and spiritually.

I feel like I'm only in the beginning of my career. I've only made five albums. It's not a lot.

I wouldn't play together with someone who likes to control everything like me.

There's definitely an old school element to my music, but I also think it's modern.

A lot of people pretty much only listen to the chorus.

I'm looking forward to going out at the concert with a clear head, with a clear mind, with a clear spirit and experiencing whatever it is. It's great.

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.

Confusion makes people uncomfortable. They can't put their finger on me.

I've always been into films. I've been offered lots of films but they've always been these very stereotypical roles. They wanted me to play some gangster or street guy, or pimp, drug addict.

Race in this country is still the elephant in the room that no one wants to discuss.

You've got your entourage and people that help you make whatever happen around you. Everything's crazy and you're not paying attention to your inner feelings because you're so busy. I couldn't take it.

If you listen to a lot of old funk records, the drums are really small. But you don't perceive it like that because the groove is so heavy.

Today, people are more into the glitz and the glamour of everything. We don't even read the inside of records anymore.

I was taught by my grandfather that anything that your mind can conceive, you can have. It's a reality.

The story that I wanna tell is pretty much about the way I grew up. Being bi-racial, growing up in a big city and being an artist.

If you look at the guys in the '70s, like Led Zeppelin, they had bigger planes than we do, they had more money. But they weren't singing about it.

None of those material possessions do anything to make your life any better.... I know a lot of people who have a lot of everything, and they're absolutely the most miserable people in the world. So it won't do anything for you unless you're a happy person and can have peace with yourself.

When you see a close person you know pass in front of your eyes, it's hard core. After all that, I just wanted to enjoy every day. That was my goal. And to give thanks and to live fully.

I am still into the people I listened to growing up, so I completely remember what is like to be a fan, I haven't changed.

I want to do interiors, furniture. I want to do architecture, although I'm not an architect. Nor am I a trained interior designer.

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.

Mothers love you to the end, and she didn't want to hold me back from my livelihood. So I left for a month and called her every couple of days. I came home and she died 24 hours later.

Oasis are not just influenced by the Beatles; they actually take stuff. Then they get praised.

There's nothing more that we love than having a close, personal, open relationship, and I believe that's what God wants.

I've woken up from dreams and the whole song is there. I'm listening to it in my dreams. I consciously have to wake myself up and get a tape recorder because I hear it like a record.

Let Love Rule

Tape machines are effects boxes as well because each tape machine has its own sound. You can over-load a tape machine or you can bump it a certain way so it compresses or makes a sound, tape saturation.

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.

When I was a kid and I bought a record, I ripped that thing open, I wanted to know who was playing what, what studio it was cut at, who was the string arranger, who was the engineer.

I don't play the tuba.

I haven't thought about making a music film, but if I did, that would be a very interesting idea.

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.

I'm very much about the environment, I'm very much about health, about being able to, at the very least, eat organic, whole foods that are healthy for us. And then, of course, everyone being able to eat and at least have a humane way to live. There's enough for everybody, but unfortunately, there's a lot of greed and a lot of ego.

I want to get away, I want to fly away. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The loyalty rate isn't that high. I could have a big hit, then put out the next single, and they say, Oh yeah, who are you? Prove it again.

I wasn't the kind of person that liked waiting for autographs or following them, I just liked to go to the shows, study their records, driving many, many hours to different states to go to concerts.

I don't think about the styles. I write whatever comes out and I use whatever kind of instrumentation works for those songs.

I'm in this for the long haul. I've been making music my whole life.

I'm more hungry now than I was 11 years ago. Which is great because I see a lot of artists that have been out for a long period of time. They get kind of fat.

My career has been a gradual climb. I think that's part of the reason why I've had longevity.

I think it'd be a real nightmare to put a record out and sell 20 million copies and then that's it.

My mother gave lots of good advice and had a lot to say. As you get older, you realize everything she said was true.

It's a trip to have a Greatest Hits record. It's a trip.

I mean, there are only so many notes. What makes something original is how you put it together.

God is always in my life, and that's the most important thing to me.

Are things getting better with each generation? Yes. It's quite interesting to be living in these times, for me to witness an African-American being elected president. It's quite extraordinary.

I just need to know that I did the very best I could and that I was true to myself.

(On being asked if he preferred to be a rock god or sex god) I am neither. My favourite role is father.

A lot of my songs deal with spirituality and God, and I guess if you're in tune with that, you'll read into it.

A lot of people don't listen to the lyrics, really.

After listening to "Machine Gun" I have to take a nap.

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.

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.

Being free is a state of mind.

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.

Don't take it so seriously.

Eleutheria, the fire is burning. Eleutheria, the tables are turning.

Eventually you're going to have a digital transfer anyway when you make a CD, so it doesn't matter as long as what you're hitting first is what you want it to be.

Every night is different, you never know what it's going to be like. I remember every night. I don't like to compare them.

Everything that I make I use.

Fly Away changed my life. There are certain songs that do. When I won the Grammy, I was in Paris. I sort of forgot about it.

For me a watch is a really beautiful instrument. I don't so much care what time it is but I do love watches, and I love how they're constructed.

For the last few years, it's been so chic for everybody to be miserable. Like if you're in with the cool crowd, you can't be happy.

God gave me the gift to be able to play instruments and I have to play.

God is love and if you are ready, he always is.

God said, Here. Have it. Enjoy it. I'm gonna be miserable?

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.

I always read the Capitol as fâ??ked up pansexuality, everybody is doing everybody. Back to Greek and Roman times! Itâ??s all happening.

I basically camped out for a year and a half in an Airstream trailer on the beach out in front of the studio. I had no idea what I was gonna do, what kind of album I was gonna make - all I knew was that I wanted to sit there and just take in whatever came.

I bought [John Lennon's] 'Plastic Ono Band,' and I listened to it over and over for months. It's a monumental work of genius...

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.

I couldn't tell you what I am going to do next 'cause I have no idea, but I am open to anything.

I didn't really listen to rock 'n' roll until I moved to LA. We would ditch school, go get high, put on Zeppelin IV and just bug out.

I do my best to try to keep God with me on a personal level. It's my belief that God really wants a personal relationship with us.

I don't go to church so much, the way my life is, but it's in me every day.

I don't like to approach people that much. There's been times when I wanted to say something to somebody, in a quick moment, but didn't. Then you think, man, who knows?

I don't pull, I just receive.

I enjoy what people at the concert give me and I can't do it without them, so it's really an exchange of energy that snowballs back and forth and becomes something that's very satisfying and very magical.

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.

I fell in love with Paris the first time I went.

I find cooking to be the one thing that relaxes me. I don't get to do it often . . .

I found it a really refreshing change of pace to suddenly be completely directed. It was a type of collaboration that I don't normally have.

I get a lot of joy from playing instruments, and I have a different personality on each instrument. I like to let that come out. I get kind of selfish.

I get hired as a writer or producer and I do the best I can to bring out that artist. If somebody calls you to do something, you go right for that vision and you're aware of that person's vibe. You're trying to get inside of them.

I had no idea 'The Hunger Games' was so big. I didn't even know the book. I had been living under my own rock.

I have a great time with my band and on the stage we get along well.

I honestly don't remember how I wrote or did the songs. Or the sessions. They all become very much a blur. And each album is like that. It may be that there are different locations, it may take longer, shorter, or whatever, but it's always something that just happened.

I identify more with women than with men. I guess I have a strong feminine side.

I just feel so good; it feels like a very creative time for me. As far as my mind, spirit, and body, I've never felt better.

I just live my life and try to be present.

I just live my life and try to be present. When I'm present in the moment and something comes, I can capture it, because it doesn't come from me, it's out there.

I knew what I wanted to do from the time I was 5.

I mean, look at the people we celebrate - a lot of people who really don't do anything. They just walk the red carpets and go to all the parties, and they're hooked up with the right people, so they're celebrities. But what for?

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.