Lenny Kravitz

“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.”

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

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

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

“I've been compared to hundreds of artists, which just goes to show you that I'm not any one thing at all.”

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

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

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

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

“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.”

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

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

“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.”

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

“The image is an image.”

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

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

“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.”

“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?”