Quotes from John Legend

My first album, 'Get Lifted,' was a hip-hop soul album that had some of its roots in the church, as far as the sonic choices, in the way that I sing and write songs. I have always had that as part of my background and part of my influence when I am making music.

We have this film that we hope to finance, it's called 'Southern Rights.' It's a documentary about segregated proms that are still happening in the South of America. So there's a black prom and a white prom, so we hope to finance a film soon about that.

Happy that New York passed marriage equality tonight. A victory for human rights. Progress.

As a kid, I wanted to be a musician but also aspired to be Andy Griffith's lawyer character, Ben Matlock.

I was an English major in college who concentrated in African-American literature and culture. So I read quite a few slave narratives and stories of escape, and I grew up in Ohio, which was a common stop on the Underground Railroad.

If you look at what happened with Underground Railroad, there is so much action. There is so much intrigue; there is so much of historical importance.

John Legend is a nickname that some friends started calling me, and it kind of grew into my stage name.

John legend is a nickname that somebody started calling me a while ago and part of it is 'cos I sound like an old man when I sing.

There are more black men incarcerated today than there were slaves in 1850.

I signed with Kanye back in 2003, and at that time, 'The College Dropout' hadn't even come out, so he was still relatively unknown compared to where he is now. He wasn't a household name; people were still calling him 'Kane.'

All men should be feminists. If men care about women's rights the world will be a better place. We are better off when women are empowered – it leads to a better society.

I remember when I first came out as an artist, back in 2004 or 2005, the record label used to take me to all the radio stations and just have me sit in, like, their lunchroom or their conference room, and play for the whole staff. Just to introduce them to me so they would play my records.

The Obamas have been a great example for the country, and I think people are getting a bit nostalgic for that now when they see what some of the alternatives might be.

Dr. King was unpopular while he was alive - he's only popular now because he's dead and not a threat to anyone.

You learn so much from taking chances, whether they work out or not. Either way, you can grow from the experience and become stronger and smarter.

I don't have a real recipe with measurements for my chicken stew. I just kind of make it up as I go. I made it for the first time one Christmas when I came home from college. It's guaranteed to cure a cold.

With Tinder and all these other things, there's always this kind of illusion with infinite choices. There's something very cool about saying, 'Oh, I actually really care about this person, and I want to commit to loving this person and being loyal to this person.' You can't get that from the kind of infinite multiple choices that are out there.

"All of me, loves all of you."

Hip hop has the urgency and rebelliousness that early rock n' roll and punk had: a level of rule-breaking and flirtation with danger. It allows you to break the rules.

I was a huge 'Breaking Bad' fan. I just loved the whole thing. Always interesting, always urgent. The stakes were always high.

It's really about making the best music you can make. It's really about working hard.

Artists in general never stay in the same place, we keep growing. It's still you, you still have that core that you always had, but you work with new people and hear new things.

I don't think I'm craving any more fame. But success and being recognized for making great work all around the world, I think it's a great thing.

I don't get to listen to music for fun very often; a lot of what I'm hearing is for work and isn't released yet.