Kanye West: Top 10 favorite inspirational quotes from Yeezy

Kanye West has been known to share some great quotes and one-liners throughout the years. Here’s a list of my top 10 inspirational Yeezy quotes.

Let’s be honest, Kanye West has a way of grabbing attention whenever he wants it — or needs it. It might not always be the best attention, but there’s no denying the fact that he has a voice that people will listen to.

Not a lot of people can say that.

Now, there have been a lot of questionable quotes, some that he definitely should’ve held back from and some that are just straight random. I would like to take a break from those and focus on the ones that have inspired me — or at least made me respect him that much more.

Bear with me because I am only limiting myself to 10, noting that I can easily find 20 more that have had that same effect on me.

Let’s start with a common one:

10. “And I’d rather be hated for what I am, than loved for what I’m not.”

Pretty standard, but speaks volumes. A lot of people allow themselves to act differently from who they are, but there’s just no reason for it. If people don’t like you, that’s okay — it’s not the end of the world.

Find those that love you for who you are and don’t let the others stop you from loving yourself.

9. “People liking me or me liking myself — I chose the latter. You Know, and I think people gonna like me for liking myself, eventually. And people gonna like themselves. This is about motivation, about self-esteem, if other people got the power to dream and see where I got the power to dream, more things are going to happen.”

Kanye West speaks some truth here. It’s going to be very difficult to reach your goals and become who you want to be unless you first learn to love yourself. It kind of goes with the first quote I mentioned.

Self-esteem is very important because it will keep you motivated, but can also break you down if you let it. Don’t let it.

8. “You know what calms me down the most? Success.”

I feel it. Every time I see Kanye start to go through some tough times, I know the main reason is because he isn’t succeeding — or at least as much as he would like.

That’s why I always get excited when Kanye announces new music or just new moves in general. I love success just as much as the next person, so it definitely calms me down.

7. “My mother made me believe in myself. No matter how many people tell me ‘stop believing in yourself! Stop seeing what you can do. Stop affirming what you’re gonna do and then completing that in real life.’ That’s the improper way to do it. I refuse to follow those rules that society has set up and the way that they control people with low self-esteem.”

If you don’t believe in yourself, it’s going to be very difficult to make it anywhere. It’s not always about the skill or talent you have, sometimes it just takes a little faith in yourself.

Every time someone says you can’t do something, give them two reasons why you can.

6.  “And the only thing real is your family, your loved ones, the time that you have, the only luxury is time and the only thing promised is that you gonna die one day.”

Two things here — family and time.

Family is important because without them, you have no one behind you cheering you on. In addition to that, family doesn’t necessarily mean blood family. It’s those that you love and love you back.

As for time, we aren’t given a whole lot of it. Don’t waste it on the meaningless stuff and spend it more with the ones you love. If you do, you’ll regret it when it’s too late.

5.  “Don’t be afraid to be wrong, don’t be too proud to be wrong. You know, you can’t learn anything from a compliment.”

Anyone who has ever done something great, has had to go through adversity and deal with problems along the way. Nothing comes easy and it won’t always go as planned.

Because of that, don’t be afraid to go out and take that risk. It’s okay to be wrong, but at the same time don’t be too proud of it. Whenever you’re wrong, accept it and figure out how to avoid it next time.

4.  “I always felt like I could do anything. That’s the main thing people are controlled by. They’re slowed down by their perceptions of themselves. If you’re taught you can’t do anything, then you won’t do anything. I was taught I could do everything.”

If you tell yourself you can’t do something, you won’t do it. The more you believe in yourself and the more self-esteem you have, the better off you’ll be.

Even if you come to a fork in the road and you don’t think you can do it, just keep telling yourself you’ll make it. Never give up on yourself.

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3. “Mentally I’m so focused, there’s nothing anyone can say or do to me to stop the music, the product that I’m going to put out. At the end of the day, the talent will overcome anything. So I have a right to talk about what I want, I have a right to give my opinion because I back everything up. Y’all thought I was talking s**t when I first came out, now you see I back everything up. Back to back to back to back to back.”

Kanye has a point here. A lot of people doubted him coming up. In fact, people still doubt his abilities, but he doesn’t let that effect him or stop him from doing what he came here to do.

It’s okay to be cocky and talk up yourself from time to time, just as long as you back it all up with your actions. Kanye West has done that time and time again, so he has earned the right to sit back and say ‘I’m great.’

That kind of brings me to the next quote.

2. “Did I not become the biggest rock star on this planet? Did I not influence all musicians? Did I not go and get the exact girl that I wanted? Did I not start my family? Did I not get a chance to work with my idol? Did I not make Louis Vuitton’s, did people not line up at the Yeezy Store? Did I not make The College Dropout, Late Registration, Graduation, 808’s, Blueprint 1, Blueprint 3, Watch the Throne, Cool Summer and Yeezus if people like it or not?”

Hey, sometimes you have to sit back  and just tell yourself how great you are. Remind yourself of your accomplishments. I mean, there are going to be times that you feel less motivated or a little down.

What’s a better way to get motivated than confirming what you’ve done to get to where you are.

1.  “If I see an opportunity I’m gonna go for it. We’re all gonna die one day, so we live like that. Live like you could die tomorrow, you know,  go for it.”

Tomorrow isn’t promised, so don’t treat it like it is. Anytime you hear youserself saying ‘I can do that tomorrow’ or ‘that can wait,’ stop yourself and think again. If you have time to do it now, do it now. Don’t wait. Opportunity doesn’t come knocking all the time and some people never get that knock, so don’t take it for granted.

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What’s your favorite inspirational quote from Kanye West himself? Leave your thoughts below!