Ne-Yo quotes:

I always refer back to the days of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, the Rat Pack. Back when everyone wore a suit because that's what it was to be an entertainer. You were stylish and you were fly, and it was an effortless fly.

My mom was the picture of the blue-collar mom: Two and three and four jobs to make sure that me and my sister never needed, that was her thing.

Michael Jackson believed in making music that made people feel good.

I feel like everything is inspired by something else. There is no 100 percent original thought.

I do not cook. However, if I did, I'd cook all Italian food, all the time.

I probably wouldn't be singing if not for Michael Jackson. When I started singing, I didn't like my tone until my mom put me on to Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder, so listening to the way they used their instrument helped me get more comfortable with my own.

For the first few years of my life my mom used to cut my hair so there were a lot of bowl-cut hair styles.

My mom was the picture of the blue-collar mom: Two and three and four jobs to make sure that me and my sister never needed, that was her thing

For the first few years of my life my mom used to cut my hair so there were a lot of bowl-cut hair styles

If you believe in yourself, it doesn't matter what others might be telling you is impossible. It's all up to you!

Hats have been my thing pretty much my whole life but finance has not. I would go to the corner store and buy really cheap baseball style caps and wear those to school.

When you're dressing on a budget, simplicity is key.

I have my diehard R&B fans on one side of the spectrum and my diehard pop and dance fans on the other side of the spectrum.

A lot of time we don't get into politics because we don't believe anything you're saying and we can't understand what you're saying because we ask you question and you tap dance around the issue so much that we forget what we asked.

Prince is the ultimate performer. Prince is that dude that's going to get on stage by himself, if he need to, but hold you in the palm of his hand. Like, you can't take your eyes off the man when he's on stage, and he could just be sitting there playing his guitar.

There is no pain like the first time you get your heart broken.

An idea that will translate really well musically should work visually. I try to write music that you can feel if you were to close your eyes you can see what I am talking about.

Fear is a healthy part of success.

Grab somebody sexy, tell the hey!

For my prom, I wore a white suit with a burgundy shirt, tie and cummerbund, along with white shoes, a white trilby and a cane. I was extra fly that day.

Everybody wants me to be the (guy) who's (sleeping with) every celebrity woman in the industry. Everybody wants me to be this (guy) in the club, popping 17 bottles just because. Everybody wants me to be Diddy, and that's not me.

She's super sexy everybody wanna know bout her and the one that everybody want, but no one's ever got her. Because the way she get it in all of the men, even the women all try, all try.

As of right this second my main focus is my new album, it'll be out probably towards the summertime, predominately R&B this time. I had a little stint with the dance music and all of that, which I had a good time with- and I love the audience, I love them for accepting me doing it -but I had to go home on this one. Had to take it back to my roots, and not to say that there won't be one, maybe two songs on there that the dance crowd can get into, but the majority, the girth of the album, will be R&B.

Every song I've ever written has been based in reality, based in fact, things that happen to me.

For those people who want to keep following trends, you do that and when the trend goes away so will you.

I don't want to call myself a perfectionist because perfection is imperfection.

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 honestly don't feel that it's my music that's under-appreciated. I think that it's me that's under-appreciated. As an artist, period.

I named my album Year of the Gentleman. Just looking at how the essence of what it is to be a gentleman is very much lacking nowadays. Someone said to me that chivalry is dead, and I hated to have to agree, but it's true.

I pride myself on being the type of artist who can work half in the R&B world and half in the pop world.

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.

I wanted to do an acting role in a movie that had nothing to do with the music business or in which I would play a singer or a songwriter. When I act, I don't even want to be thought of as Ne-Yo.

I watch cartoons the way most adults watch reality-TV shows.

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.

I'm 100% real, even when what's real is ugly. I don't take any pride in covering up, hiding and lying.

Michael Jackson will live forever through the thing that he put all of his life energy into: his music. I will do my part to keep the melody alive, to keep the energy forever changing form, but never ever dying!! Long live Michael Jackson.

My style is mainly about comfort. It has to be comfortable, it has to lay right on me, know what I mean?

Sexy as she wanna be and she dancing next so close to me. I said please excuse, you steppin on expensive shoes.

That is the difference between a good song and a bad song lyrically - if you can listen to it and put yourself in that place, or see that person in that place, normally it is a pretty good song.

The essence of being a gentleman is to understand the way you're supposed to treat a respectable woman.

There wasn't a lot of R&B cats doing songs at 120 beats per minute before 'Closer,' which I take full credit and responsibility for. That's all good, but it was an experiment. You experiment with something, if it goes good, cool, but you never forget where you come from and R&B is where I come from.

This is ridiculous. It's been months and for some reason I just can't get over us. I'm stronger than this. Enough is enough; no more walking around with my head down, I'm so over being blue crying over you.

What I definitely learnt from Michael Jackson is that simple is almost always better. As a songwriter, as an artist period.

What is hot now will not be hot tomorrow, I promise you. Trends are made to die. It's the truth.

Women wanted to be viewed as equals to men. So men were like, 'You wanna be viewed as equal to me, then open your own damn door.' But I still don't view it as an excuse to be an a**hole.