Bob Marley

"The more you accept herb, the more you accept Rastafari."

"All dese governments and dis this and that, these people that say they're here to help, why them say you cannot smoke the herb? Herb... herb is a plant, you know? And when me check it, me can't find no reason. All them say is, 'it make you rebel'. Against what?"

"Alcohol make you drunk, man. It don't make you meditate, it just make you drunk. Herb is more a consciousness."

"We don't have education, we have inspiration; if I was educated I would be a damn fool."

"Today, people struggle to find what's real. Everything has become so synthetic that a lot of people, all they want is to grasp onto hope."

"Possession make you rich? I don't have that type of richness. My richness is Life, forever."

"One good thing about music, when it hits you feel no pain."

"Some people say great God come from the sky take away everything and make everybody feel high, but if you know what life is worth, you will look for yours on earth."

"Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights! Get up, stand up: don't give up the fight!"

"Every day the bucket a-go a well, one day the bottom a-go drop out."

"If you are the big tree We are the small axe Sharpened to cut you down Ready to cut you down"

"A hungry mob is an angry mob."

"Never make a politician grant you a favour They will always want to control you forever."

"If you get down and you quarrel everyday You're saying prayers to the devils, I say."

"Truth is the light So you never give up the fight."

"When the rain falls, it won't fall on one man's housetop."

"Your life is worth much more than gold."

"Don't worry about a thing, 'Cos every little thing is gonna be alright."

"One love, one heart, Let's get together and feel alright."

"Excuse me while I light my spliff (spliff) Good God I gotta' take a lift (lift) From reality I just can't drift (drift) That's why I am staying with this riff (riff) Take it easy, easy skanking Got to take it easy, easy skanking."

"They say the sun shines for all But in some people world it never shine at all."

"Every man gotta right to decide his own destiny."

"Life is one big road with lots of signs, So when you riding through the ruts, Don't you complicate your mind Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy Don't bury your thoughts; put your vision to reality"

"In the abundance of water a fool is thirsty."

"When one door is closed, many more is open."

"It is better to live on the house top than to live in a house full of confusion."

"Judge not, before you judge yourself. Judge not, if you're not ready for judgment."

"The Road of life is rocky and you may stumble too, so while you talk about me, someone else is judging you."

"Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, None but ourselves can free our minds. Have no fear for atomic energy, 'Cause none of them can stop the time."

"Won't you help to sing, These songs of freedom? 'Cause all I ever had, Redemption songs."

"We JAH people can make it work."

"Don't gain the world and lose your soul Wisdom is better than silver and gold."

"Two thousand years of history Black History could not be wiped away so easily."

"And what has been hidden from the wise and the prudent been revealed in the mouth of the toddlers."

"Who are you to judge the life I live? I know that I'm not perfect and that I don't claim to be, so before you point your fingers make sure your hands are clean."

"They say: only the fittest of the fittest shall survive, stay alive!"

"Say you just can't live that negative way You know what I mean Make way for the positive day Cause it's a new day."

"Good friends we have had, oh good friends we've lost along the way In this bright future you can't forget your past So dry your tears I say No woman, no cry No woman, no cry Little darlin' don't shed no tears No woman, no cry"

"Ev'rything's gonna be alright So, no woman, no cry."

"The people who are trying to make this world worse are not taking a day off. How can I? Light up the darkness."

"I carried Bob Marley’s Redemption Song to every meeting I had with a politician, prime minister, or president. It was for me a prophetic utterance or as Bob would say "the small ax that could fell the big tree". The song reminded me that freedom always comes with a cost, but for those who would prepare to pay it, maybe "emancipation from mental slavery" would be our reward."

"I am Boutros Boutros-Ghali; put down your gun and listen to Bob Marley."

"I saw Marley a few months before he died in a concert at the Crystal Palace Bowl in South London. He was magisterial on that stage. His dreadlocks were shaken at the London Stock Exchange and at the Houses of Parliament. He stomped on the spot as if to put out the fire of despotism. He crooned some unforgettable lovers' lyrics as if to confirm that even the warrior has to love. His songs are anthems for me. They celebrate Africa, berate politicians, lament slavery, invigorate the spirit. Looking over the century as it closes, I see Marley up there with the best six popular songwriters - Gershwin, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Billie Holiday, the Beatles... I know we all have our own lists."

"You just mentioned Bob Marley — I can remember when I was in college, listening — and not agreeing with his whole philosophy necessarily, but raising my awareness of how people outside of our country were thinking about the struggles for jobs and dignity, and freedom."

"He had this idea. It was kind of a virologist idea. He believed that you could cure racism and hate... literally cure it, by injecting music and love into people's lives. When he was scheduled to perform at a peace rally, a gunman came to his house and shot him down. Two days later he walked out on that stage and sang. When they asked him why — He said, "The people who are trying to make this world worse are not taking a day off. How can I? Light up the darkness.""

"The U.S. empire rests on a grisly foundation: the massacre of millions of indigenous people, the stealing of their lands, and following this, the kidnapping and enslavement of millions of black people from Africa to work that land. Thousands died on the seas while they were being shipped like caged cattle between continents. "Stolen from Africa, brought to America"-Bob Marley's "Buffalo Soldier" contains a whole universe of unspeakable sadness. It tells of the loss of dignity, the loss of wilderness, the loss of freedom, the shattered pride of a people. Genocide and slavery provide the social and economic underpinning of the nation whose fundamental values reject hate, murderers, and evil."