Alicia Keys

My first instinct is great pride for all of us as women who are finding our voices.

I don’t want to cover up anymore. Not my face, not my mind, not my soul, not my thoughts, not my dreams, not my struggles, not my emotional growth. Nothing.

I want to keep redefining my work and trying new things. I want my music to be able to fit into any category. I want it to float wherever my heart goes. My music is heart music; giving it any other description is dangerous.

You’ve got to have a good spirit on the inside. That’s what’s really going to make you look like you’re ready to rock the world.

It’s my nature to downplay.

I feel like….Music is the – it’s the answer. It’s the reason.

Zen mind is not Zen mind. Throwing away Zen mind is correct Zen mind.

Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace.

Heaven and earth and I are of the same root, The ten-thousand things and I are of one substance.

In heaven all the interesting people are missing.

In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.

If you are a Christian, you are in danger. If you decided to abandon your faith and become an atheist, you also are to be liquidated according to their concept. You are in danger if you decide to become a Muslim. It is not going to save you anyway because they believe traditional Islam is hostile to their goals.

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written.

What is faith but a kind of betting or speculation after all? It should be, I bet that my Redeemer liveth.

Remembering a wrong is like carrying a burden on the mind.

Not thinking about anything is Zen. Once you know this, walking, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is Zen.

A mind committed to compassion is like an overflowing reservoir – a constant source of energy, determination and kindness.

A cult is a religion with no political power.

Buddha means awareness, the awareness of body and mind that prevents evil from arising in either.

What was never lost can never be found.

The instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.