From his memorable singles to his more thought-provoking statements, weve collected 119Tupac quotesin honor of the rap legend.
He lived during a time of intense social turmoil and spoke openly about his experiences as an inner-city youth.
His distinguished legacy is often conflated with his troubled personal life.
viaBritannica
He was involved in several hip hop feuds, which may have led to his fatal drive-by shooting.
Shakur died about a week after being shot on September 13, 1996, at 25.
As one of themost influential figures from the 90s, Shakur continues to generate praise and debate.
He was an outspoken individual, charismatic if sometimes contradictory in his views.
While some of his greatest projectsremain unrealized, Tupac Sahkuar lives on in the hearts of millions.
Dreams are for real.
Even the genius asks questions.
Our future is our confidence and self-esteem.
I want to grow.
I want to be better.
Were made to grow.
You either evolve, or you disappear.
I dont see myself being special; I just see myself having more responsibilities than the next man.
People look to me to do things for them, to have answers.
What people do for the struggle of power is madness.
Im not perfect, but Ill always be real.
No matter what these people say about me, my music doesnt glorify any image.
My music is spiritual when you listen to it.
Its all about emotion; I tell my innermost, darkest secrets.
I am not a perfectionist, but still I seek perfection.
I am not a great romantic, but yet I yearn for affection.
Its time for us as a people to start making some changes.
Im 23 years old.
I might just be my mothers child, but in all Reality, Im everybodys child.
Nobody raised me; I was raised in this society.
Keep Ya Head Up, one of his best singles, perfectly encapsulates the importance offamilyandhealthy relationships.
Here are our top 15 Tupac quotes on the subject:
14.
It takes skill to be real.
Time to heal each other.
Fear is stronger than love, remember that.
Fear is stronger than love.
All that love I gave didnt mean nothing when it came to fear.
I am a hard person to love, but when I love, I love really hard.
I want mine, and I will do anything to feed and protect my family.
Time to heal our women, be real to our women.
Now Imma write about the women I see everyday and that was I Get Around.
With all my fans, I got a family again.
- you’ve got the option to never just be friends with someone you fall in love with.
Always falling too deep in a relationship, always end up being the one thats hurt the most.
Aint a woman alive that can take my mommas place.
Talking bout the stuff that dont wear off, it dont fade.
Itll last for all these crazy days, these crazy nights.
No matter what, you will always be in my heart with unconditional love.
Forgive but dont forget, girl keep your head up.
And when he tells you you aint nothing, dont believe him.
And if he cant learn to love you, you should leave him.
Im not saying girls are perfect cause we all know thats not true.
But why be unfaithful to her if she was true to you?
These experiences translated into his music, where he expressed bothdeep friendshipand animosity to those around him.
Weve gathered 11 of the most soul-gripping Tupac quotes about trust and loyalty in hip hop:
29.
Learn to see me as a brother instead of two distant strangers.
If you let a person talk long enough youll hear their true intentions!
Listen twice, speak once.
Pay no mind to those who talk behind your back.
It simply means that you are two steps ahead.
Sometimes, when Im alone, I cry, cause I am on my own.
The tears I cry are bitter and warm.
They flow with life, but take no form.
I cry because my heart is torn.
I find it difficult to carry on.
Just because you lost me as a friend doesnt mean you gained me as an enemy.
Im bigger than that.
I still wanna see you eat, just not at my table.
I was letting people dictate who should be my friends.
I felt like I couldnt be friends with Madonna.
And so I dissed her, even though she showed me nothing but love.
The realest people dont have a lot of friends.
I just dont know how to deal with so many people giving me that much affection.
I never had that in my life.
I dont want to be a role model.
Im going to show people my true intentions and my true heart.
He often discussed his upbringing and shared his personal struggles with fans, many of his songs being autobiographical.
We took a page out of our favorite Dalai Lama quotes to give you 20philosophicalTupac quotes:
39.
Dont believe everything you hear.
Real eyes, realize, real lies.
Its a struggle for every young Black man.
You know how it is, only God can judge us.
Its the game of life.
Do I win or do I lose?
One day, theyre gonna shut the game down.
My life was lived through falling rain, so call on me if there be pain.
Life is a wheel of fortune and its my turn to spin it.
A coward dies a thousand deaths.
A soldier dies but once.
During your life, never stop dreaming.
No one can take away your dreams.
No one knows my struggle, they only see the trouble.
Not knowing how hard it is to carry on when no one loves you.
The seed must grow regardless of the fact that its planted in stone.
I worked hard all my life, as far as this music business.
17 is such a weird age.
Its such aand the middle age, youre not 18 yet, and youre older than 16.
Its like a learning stage for me.
It seems like every time you come up, something happens to bring you back down.
The world moves fast and it would rather pass by than to stop and see what makes you cry.
It seems the rainll never let up.
I attempt to keep my head up and still keep from gettin wet up.
Behind every sweet smile, there is a bitter sadness that no one can see and feel.
If you grew up happytoo happyI dont think that prepares you for the world.
What I learned in jail is that I cant change.
I cant live a different lifestyle this is it.
This is the life that they gave and this is the life that I made.
56 If you could walk a mile in my shoes, youd be crazy too.
Everybodys at war with different things.
Im at war with my own heart sometimes.
Everything in life is not all beautiful, not all fun.
There is lots of killing and drugs.
To me, a perfect album talks about the hard stuff and the fun and caring stuff.
19 Powerful Tupac Quotes to Boost Motivation
Its a well-known fact that Tupac Shakur led adifficult life.
He lived in poverty before achieving commercial success and was briefly involved in crime before meeting Lelia Steinberg.
Steinberg would later become his first manager, kickstarting his career as a musician.
People die, but legends live forever.
Just look at me.
I got a big mouth, I cant help it.
I talk from my heart, Im real.
I would rather be stricken blind than to live without expression of mind.
Do everything you might to make it around the system, over the system, or out the system.
Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.
Why am I fighting to live, if I am just living to fight?
Why am I trying to see, when there aint nothing in sight?
So, why am I trying to give, when no one gives me a try?
Why am I dying to live, if I am just living to die?
Driven by my ambitions, desire higher positions.
I exist in the depths of solitude pondering my true goal.
Trying to find peace of mind and still preserve my soul.
Should I just stop trying and give up?
But then, thats exactly what theyre waiting for me to do.
I want to learn from my mistakes.
I have not brought violence to you, and I have not brought Thug Life to America.
I didnt create Thug Life.
Theres nobody in the business strong enough to scare me.
If I was white, I would be like John Wayne.
I feel like a tragic hero in a Shakespeare play.
Somebody who pulled himself up by his bootstraps, from poverty.
73.The fake get in where they fit in, the real stand strong where they belong.
This fast life soon shatters, cause after all the lights and screams, nothing but my dreams matter.
We can never go nowhere unless we share with each other.
Dont leave this world without giving it your all.
Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete?
Tomorrow, I wake with second wind and strong because of pride.
I know I fought with all my heart to keep the dream alive.
You gotta be able to smile through all this bullshit.
That which does not kill me can only make me stronger.
If you might make it through the night, theres a brighter day.
Cause I think we can make it, in fact, Im sure.
And if you fall, stand tall and come back for more.
Everything will be alright if you hold on.
Its a struggle every day, gotta roll on.
Death is not the greatest loss in life.
The greatest loss is what dies inside while still alive.
You gotta learn to hold your own.
Some songs alluded to his strong personal beliefs, whereas otherscarry more symbolic meaningthan overt religious metaphors.
Even warriors put their spears down on Sundays.
For quiet times disappear; listen to the ocean.
I know it seems hard sometimes but remember one thing.
Through every dark night, theres a bright day after that.
Never surrender, its all about the faith you got.
Dont ever stop, just push it till you hit the top.
Therefore, we all sin.
But fighting the war of sin is the greatest war of all.
When I was alone and had nothing, I asked for a friend to help me bear the pain.
No one came, except God.
When I needed a breath to rise from my sleep, no one could help me, except God.
When all I saw was sadness and I needed answers, no one heard me, except God.
So when Im asked who I give my unconditional love to?
I look for no other name, except God.
I shall not fear man but God, though I walk through the valley of death.
You gotta make a change.
Look to my future, cause my past is all behind me.
I set goals, take control, drink out my own bottle.
I make mistakes but learn from every one.
And when its said and done, I bet this brother be a better one.
If I upset you dont stress; never forget that God isnt finished with me yet.
Be grateful for blessings.
15 Tupac Quotes About the Importance of Change
Shakur was a majoradvocate for equalityin the 90s.
Today, modern audiences seek to learn from Tupac Shaker by studying his impact on social justice.
Here are 15 of the best-remembered Tupac quotes and lyrics discussing change and equality:
105.
What we really want to do is get the pride back in the black community.
I dont have no fear of death.
My only fear is coming back reincarnated.
I think Im a natural-born leader.
I know how to bow down to authority if its authority that I respect.
And those teenagers were given respect, because they changed a lot, and they did a lot.
So, we have to do a lot of good things.
So, I think we deserve a little bit more respect.
We shouldnt be angry and my raps that Im rapping to my community shouldnt be filled with rage?
They shouldnt be filled with the same atrocities that they gave to me?
In the media, they dont talk about it.
So in my raps, I have to talk about it.
Why cant the President take some of those people off the street and put them in his White House?
Then hell have people from the street to help him with his ideas.
They havent been homeless forever; theyve done things for society.
You know, I was steering people away from school.
And if you got a job, then thats how they cant do us like this.
This is a big question and no ones been able to answer it and this is staggering.
And hes talking about helping the homeless.
To all the seeds that follow me protect your essence, born with less, but you still precious.
I am a societys child.
This is how they made me and now Im sayin whats on my mind and they dont want that.
This is what you made me, America.
Im a reflection of the community.
They got money for the war, but cant feed the poor.
Whats your favorite Tupac quote?
How did his music influence your life?
