Russell Simmons Quotes

1. Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them.

2. Gratefulness is a practice, just like happiness is a choice.

3. I am reading these stories today about how a judge ordered me to pay Kimora $40,000 a month in child support and I want to make something very clear. Nothing was ordered, it was given. My kids have a fabulous life; they are exposed to a broad range of artistic and scholastic educational programs and I'm very happy to contribute to that. As long as I have it, they can have it. If I ever don't have it, I'm coming to live with them!

4. Giving, not trading or selling, is the basis of success. The most rewarding thing you can do is just to give the world something good. And ultimately you will be paid so much more for that gift than it you had tried to trade it for something else.

5. A person's strength is to know their weaknesses.

6. Your purpose is to act on the resources God gives you. If God gives you a bucket of fish, you have to distribute those fish. If you don't, they're going to rot, attract a bunch of flies, and start stinking up your soul.



7. There are no failures, only quitters.

8. But rich or poor, black or white, none of us are entitled to anything.

9. Only do shit you believe in!




10. In my experience, there's only one thing that will always steer you toward success: That's to have a vision and to stick with it. Once I have a vision for a new venture, I'm going to ride that vision until the wheels come off.

11. When you do good by the world, the world will do good by you.

12. Always try to be yourself.

13. I knew it was unrealistic to think I could build an institution overnight. But if I took baby steps, eventually it would happen.

14. The thing about hip-hop is that it's from the underground, ideas from the underbelly, from people who have mostly been locked out, who have not been recognized.

15. Any kind of lasting success is rooted in honesty.

16. If you aren't passionate about a vision, it's hard to have faith in it.

17. Long-distance relationships are to say the least difficult. For me & Melissa a few weeks ago…We agreed impossible.

18. I don't believe that people create their own visions. Rather, I believe that visions are actually God's way of communicating with us.

19. A clear and focused mind will last a lifetime. Getting your mind in shape is nothing less than the key to sustainable success in the world.

20. Whether you are president or a dish washer has no bearing on your happiness. Happiness is a choice.


21. I've been blessed to find people who are smarter than I am, and they help me to execute the vision I have.

22. What holds most people back isn't the quality of their ideas, but their lack of faith in themselves.

23. Whatever obstacles appear in your path, put your head down and get past them. Those obstacles aren't real. They're just God's way of testing you. He's asking you: "Do you want to make it or not?"





24. It's important to focus on what we do best and master one craft at a time.

25. No matter where you're from or what you've done, you're never stuck in a particular circumstance, relationship, or cycle unless you say you are.

26. In the end, the overriding factor in whether or not you realize your dreams is going to be you. Not the world. YOU.






27. Great love and great achievements involve great risks.

28. If you wake up deciding what you want to give versus what you're going to get, you become a more successful person. In other words, if you want to make money, you have to help someone else make money.

29. You give until they can't live without it. That's how careers are built.

30. Art allows people a way to dream their way out of their struggle.

31. Jesus and Muhammad didn't reveal themselves to prove what they could do. They revealed themselves so you could see what YOU can do.

32. Giving can be the quickest and most honest way to attract the world's attention.

33. I'm just suggesting that when you're faced with fear and anxiety, don't medicate. Meditate instead.

34. I try to make my life about service, and hope that one day we can all "see" a little better because God is with everyone and everywhere.

35. It's impossible not to do better when you let go of the results. Even though its not your goal, you're always going to get more, never less.

36. You've got to tell God thank you every day.






37. I want to promote poetry to the point where you got all the baldhead kids running around doing poetry, getting the music out of the way and having only words, the spoken word, and then see what happens.

38. I want to fight poverty and ignorance and give opportunity to those people who are locked out.

39. When I start my day by reflecting on all the things I have to be grateful for, I'll have a much more rewarding day.

40. Judgment of the people in the situation is not helpful. How can you help them is the question.

41. If you learn late, you pass it on to people so they can learn early. It's a step process.

42. My little girls are the most beautiful women in the world. I am a lucky, lucky man. I will spend every day making sure that they know this.

43. Look at all the billionaires. If I know 15 billionaires, I know 13 unhappy people.

44. Art is a way to express yourself and through that you can escape a bad situation.

45. Last year my wife got a Rolls-Royce.








46. I'm not a politician. I only want to help relieve the suffering in communities, and I want to help people see their community in each other.

47. I think people instinctively know that their job is to give service and that they are part of a community. It had a great impact on me when my father walked the picket lines and I walked with him during the civil rights movement.

48. My experiences have been, from the very beginning, cultural and creative. And my business has been a way of exposing the culture, exposing the artists so that the world could hear and see them.



49. Poverty and lack of knowledge must be challenged.

50. Make sure the gift you want to share with the world is an honest expression of what's in your heart.

51. Service is the key to everything in life.

52. Zero in on what's in front of you today and then stay in that zone.

53. Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you.

54. Your thoughts should never stray from doing your job with a smile.

55. The conditions of suffering that exist today in our impoverished communities are not acceptable. The reflection of those conditions are less concerning to me. And I work everyday about changing the conditions.

56. Get your hustle on...Hard work is easy, working out is hard.

57. You know, the diversity that America has is so special. It's starting to really become a cool thing for young people.

58. The world loves people who work hard at everything they do.

59. Well, it's the last step of the civil rights movement: You know, wrap your hands around some money, right?


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