Swizz Beats Talks Business, Branding, Motivation, and Bringing 'Reebok Back'

The evolution happened just with me being who I am and thinking outside of the box. My famous quote I came up with is “the sky is not the limit it’s just the view.” I look at it going back to the days when people thought I should just stick to deejaying. Just think about that. If I had just stuck to deejaying I think I would have been one of the best DJs but you would’ve never known me as Swizz Beatz, the producer. That means DMX would’ve never had “Stop Drop” [“Ruff Ryder’s Anthem”], Jay-Z would’ve never had “Jigga …” [“Jigga My N--ga”]. 500 plus songs wouldn’t have been contributed to our culture if I didn’t follow my heart no matter what doors I had to knock down to move forward. The one thing that I do is that I do everything that I love. There’s a lot of opportunities for me to do this and that [and] they’re all big amazing things but if I can’t wake up in the morning feeling great about what I’m doing then I’m doing the wrong thing.  So I just cleared everything off of my table and said I’m only doing what I love doing from this point on. Life is too short.

Nike. Just Do It

"Just Do It. Who the hell do you think you are? Are you an athlete? Because if you are, then you know what it means to want to be better, to want to be the best. And if you are, then you understand it’s not enough to want to be the best. You can’t just sit around all day and BS about how much you want it. Show me how much you want it. Stop just “thinking about it” and “wondering about it” and “hoping for it” and actually go out there and get it. Dare to do what it takes to be the best. And then, whether you win, lose, or collapse on the finish line, at least you’ll know exactly who you are."

“Passion is not Arrogance. You ever hear that story about Babe Ruth pointing towards the fence right before he belted a home run exactly where he said he would? No one even knows if it’s true or not, it’s like a myth. But man, you sure want to believe that someone could have that much faith in themselves, in what they do, in what they’re capable of, that they’d guarantee they’re going to do something and then go ahead and do it.”

“Does a hero know she’s a hero if no one tells her? Do you know a hero no one else knows? A hero doesn’t have to save a busload of school kids from certain disaster. Or score the winning point in the big game. A hero can be anyone who inspires you, anyone you look up to, anyone who cheers you on, makes you better than you were before – just as they made themselves better than they were before. Do you know a hero? Tell her. Then tell everyone.”

“When do we start so desperately wanting to be someone else? When do those first doubts about ourselves creep in? Why do we let them in? From childhood we see images of idealized women. We convince ourselves that they are cuter, more fit, somehow more womanly than we are. Why do they make us want to change ourselves? Think about how good you can feel, how wonderfully exhausted (and totally exhilarated) you can be after a workout. It’s not just the physical results, it’s the energy you create that makes you feel self-assured, proud of yourself, more beautiful, And that can make us happy to be exactly who we are.”

“Gabby Reece – looks can kill – Every morning, she pumps iron. Cycles. Shoots hoops. Plays volleyball for the rest of the day. Or goes for a run. Or both.”

“What is sports? The chance to run, the need to move, kid stuff. can you hear it? The joy of play. Sports. It slobbers and giggles, laughs at winning, cries at losing. Get USED TO IT. Can you feel it? Sports is a friend who slaps you on the ass. or smacks you in the chops. it’s a way in, a way out. we all love the smell of sports in the morning. Smells like victory, an oil-soaked mitt, fresh-cut grass, sweat, balm and tape and chalk. There it is. The teacher, the enemy, the chance. Sports. It is life beyond memory, completely unpredictable. It’s the same all over. Here it is. Sports. And it wants you to play.”

“There are clubs you can’t get into. Neighborhoods you can’t get into. But the roads are always open.”

"You pass on more to your children and your grandchildren than your eye color, your hair color, your crooked smile. You also pass on your enthusiasm, your spirit, your desire to compete. You provide the living example that they can become. More than they ever thought they could. Because you did.”

"We are all hedonists and we want what feels good. All human beings are basically hedonists. We need our food, our shelter, our warmth, and our pleasure. We want to feel good. We need the feeling we get from being good at something. And then, if possible, being even better at it. Anybody who joins a team does it to play a game. But, it's not just a game. It's practice. And practice. And more practice. And knowing that a bunch of other people are depending on you. Somebody wearing the same uniform is depending on you to win. Somebody wearing a uniform you wouldn't be caught dead in, wants you to lose. What you want, basically, is to have a good time. And you never thought that was too much to ask for. If it feels good then just do it."

"Mastery Over Doubt - Nothing paramount has ever been achieved except by those who dared to believe in something inside them was superior to circumstance." 

"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES."

"Too often we are scared. Scared of what we might not be able to do. Scared of what people might think if we tried. We let fears stand in the way of our hopes. We say no when we want to say yes. We sit quietly when we want to scream. And we shout with the others, When we should keep our mouths shut. Why? After all, we do only go around once. There's really no time to be afraid. So stop. Try something you've never tried. Risk it... you have nothing to lose and everything, everything, everything to gain. JUST DO IT."

"Life isn't about keeping score. It's not about how many people call you and it's not about who you've dated, are dating, or haven't dated at all. It isn't about who you've kissed, what sport you play, or which guy or girl likes you. It's not about your shoes or your hair or the color of your skin or where you live or go to school. In fact, it's not about grades, money, clothes, or colleges that accept you or not. Life isn't about if you have lots of friends, or if you are alone, and it's not about how accepted or unaccepted you are. Life just isn't about that. But life is about who you love and who you hurt. It's about how you feel about yourself. It's about trust, happiness, and compassion. It's about sticking up for your friends and replacing inner hate with love. Life is about avoiding jealousy, overcoming ignorance, and building confidence. It's about what you say and what you mean. It's about seeing people for who they are and not what they have. Most of all, it is about choosing to use your life to touch someone else's in a way that could never have been achieved otherwise. These choices are what life's about."

"There comes a time when you'd rather injure your body than injure your pride."

"I'll never look back with regret. I will always believe in the ideal. I hope to be remembered, not recalled. And I hope to make a difference."

"Too often we are scared. Scared of what we might not be able to do."
  
"You were born a daughter. You looked up to your mother. You looked up to your father. You looked up at everyone. You wanted to be a princess. You thought you were a princess. You wanted to own a horse. You wanted to be a horse. You wanted your brother to be a horse. You wanted to wear pink. You never wanted to wear pink. You wanted to be a Veterinarian. You wanted to be President. You wanted to be the President's Veterinarian. You were picked last for the team. You were the best one on the team. You refused to be on the team. You wanted to be good in algebra. You hid during algebra. You wanted the boys to notice you. You were afraid the boys would notice you. You started to get acne. You started to get breasts. You started to get acne that was bigger than your breasts. You wouldn't wear a bra. You couldn't wait to wear a bra. You couldn't fit into a bra. You didn't like the way you looked. You didn't like the way your parents looked. You didn't want to grow up. You had your first best friend. You had your first date. You had your second best friend. You had your second first date. You spent hours on the telephone. You got kissed. You got to kiss back. You went to the prom. You didn't go to the prom. You went to the prom with the wrong person. You spent hours on the telephone. You fell in love. You fell in love. You fell in love. You lost your best friend. You lost your other best friend. You really fell in love. You became a steady girlfriend. You became a significant other. YOU BECAME SIGNIFICANT TO YOURSELF. Sooner or later, you start taking yourself seriously. You know when you need a break. You know when you need a rest. You know what to get worked up about and what to get rid of. And you know when it's time to take care of yourself, for yourself. To do something that makes you stronger, faster, more complete. Because you know it's never too late to have a life. And never too late to change one. JUST DO IT."

Will Smith Quotes: Wisdom, Success, Skill, Talent

"If it was something that I really committed myself to, I don't think there's anything that could stop me becoming President of the United States."

"In my mind, I've always been an A-list Hollywood superstar. Y'all just didn't know yet."

"Money and success don't change people; they merely amplify what is already there."

"Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too."

"I don't know what my calling is, but I want to be here for a bigger reason. I strive to be like the greatest people who have ever lived."

"Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like." 

“The only thing that I see that is distinctly different about me is I'm not afraid to die on a treadmill. I will not be out-worked, period. You might have more talent than me, you might be smarter than me, you might be sexier than me, you might be all of those things you got it on me in nine categories. But if we get on the treadmill together, there's two things: You're getting off first, or I'm going to die. It's really that simple, right? 
You're not going to out-work me. It's such a simple, basic concept. The guy who is willing to hustle the most is going to be the guy that just gets that loose ball. The majority of people who aren't getting the places they want or aren't achieving the things that they want in this business is strictly based on hustle. It's strictly based on being out-worked; it's strictly based on missing crucial opportunities. I say all the time if you stay ready, you ain't gotta get ready.”  

“Being realistic is the most common path to mediocrity.” 

” I’ve never really viewed myself as particularly talented, where I excel is ridiculous,sickening work ethic. While the other guy is sleeping, I’m working. While the other guy is eating, I’m working.”

“If you don’t dedicate yourself to becoming better every single day, you will never be able to communicate with people the way that you want.”

“If you are not making someone else’s life better, then you are wasting your time. Your life will become better by making other people’s lives better.”

Kanye West Quotes: Ambition And Work Ethic

“Shoot for the stars, so if you fall you land on a cloud.” 

“Everything I'm not makes me everything I am”

“For me giving up is way harder than trying.”

“If you admire somebody, you should go ahead and tell them. People never get the flowers while they can still smell them.”

“That that don't kill me, can only make me stronger.”

“To use is necessary. And if you can't be used, then you're useless.”

“I believe in myself like a five-year-old believes in himself. They say look at me, look at me! Then they do a flip in the backyard. It won't even be that amazing, but everyone will be clapping for them.”

“If you know you're the best it only makes sense for you to surround yourself with the best. NO EXCEPTIONS”

"If you have the opportunity to play this game of life you ned to appreciate every moment. A lot of people don;t appreciate the moment until it’s passed." 

"Now I can let these dream killers kill my self esteem-or use my arrogance as steam to power my dreams."

Muhammad Ali Quotes: "I Am The Greatest"

"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life." 

"I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was."

"I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest."

"I hated every minute of training, but I said, "Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion." 

"I know where I'm going and I know the truth, and I don't have to be what you want me to be. I'm free to be what I want."

"It's lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself."

"It's the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen."

"Life is a gamble. You can get hurt, but people die in plane crashes, lose their arms and legs in car accidents; people die every day. Same with fighters: some die, some get hurt, some go on. You just don't let yourself believe it will happen to you."

"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."

"The man who has no imagination has no wings."

"We have one life; it soon will be past; what we do for God is all that will last."

"What keeps me going is goals."

Tupac Shakur Quotes: Deeper Than Music

“There's gonna be some stuff you gonna see that's gonna make it hard to smile in the future, but through whatever you see, Through all the rain and all the pain, you gotta keep your sense of humor. you gotta be able to smile through all this.”

“I find any great man, black or white, I'm going to study him, learn him so he can't be great to me no more.”

“Measure a man by his actions fully, from the beginning to the end. Don't take a piece out of my life or a song out of my music and say this is what I'm about, because you know better than that.”

“Nothing can stop power or recognize power but power.”

“The only thing that can kill me is death, that's the only thing that can ever stop me, is death, and even then my music will live forever.”

“You have to work from one point to go to another. So I admire work ethic, I think it should be reinforced through out our neighborhoods, that everybody should work hard, practice makes perfect, you have to be diligent with what you want, you have to apply your self, you have to motivate your self. You have to do for-self by your self, and then you can do things for other people. But that's what I had to do, I had to do for-self.”
“It's not like I idolize this one guy Machiavelli. I idolize that type of thinking where you do whatever's gonna make you achieve your goal.”

"I have no patience for anybody that doubts me, non at all. My whole goal is to just make them ashamed that they wrote me off like that."

“I believe God blesses those that hustle, those that use their mind and those that overall are righteous. I believe that your karma, everything that you do bad, comes back to you. So anything that I’m doing that’s bad, I’m gonna have to suffer for, but I feel in my heart, what I’m doing is right.”

"A coward dies a thousand deaths; A soldier dies but once. Now if we do wanna live the thug life and the gangsta' life and all that, OK, so stop being cowards and let's have a revolution. But we don't wanna do that, dudes just wanna live "character", they wanna be "cartoons", but if they really wanted to do something, they was that tuff, alright, let's start our own country, let's start a revolution, let's get outta' here, let's do something. But they don't wanna do that, they wanna pimp our communities and portray this image that they know we all can't survive and make, and that's what I saw."

“Once you get an understanding on the game, and what the levels and the rules of the game is then the world ain't no trick no more. The world is a game to be played. So now we lookin at the world, from like, behind us. We know what we gotta do, just gotta put our mind to it and do it.”

“We talk a lot about Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., but it's time to be like them, as strong as them. They were mortal men like us and every one of us can be like them.”

Sean 'Diddy' Combs Quotes: Hip-Hops biggest business mogul P. Diddy.

"You got to be able to make a way out of no way."

"Sleep is forbidden. When I’m working, I’m a machine and I don’t look at other people like they are human."

"To succeed in anything in life you need a vision. If you can’t see the forest through the trees, you need to chop them mother f****ers down."

"I'm trying to be somebody. I didn't come into this business saying, I'm gonna look like the biggest black music man; I was like, I'm gonna be the biggest. I'm gonna go down in history as being one of the best music men and businessmen in entertainment. I admire Andre Harrell and Berry Gordy the most, the people who came up from the black community. But the people that I'm going to be greater than are Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, and Clive Davis."

"If you gave it you’re all, that’s the kind of performance I judge. I judge your heart. You got to go hard or go home."

"Follow your dreams - you can do it if you want it badly enough, get out there and make it happen. Look at me, I am living proof."

"If you want something bad enough and you got that desire, you'll walk to another state or country if you have to."

"Sometimes you got to wake up from a dream and go get it."

"This is my plan. When I'm in the studio making a hit record, I'm not trying to make a hit record; I'm making one. This is what I studied. This is why I stay up twenty hours a day."

"I've never been surprised about what happened to me. I've put in hard work to get to this point. It's like when you become a lawyer - if you're bustin' your ass, you're not surprised when you get your degree. I came in to win, you know. This is why I stay up late while other people are sleeping"

"Only the fittest and most aggressive will survive."

"I am a very focused person."

Vince Lombardi Quotes: Legendary football coach

“A school without football is in danger of deteriorating into a medieval study hall.”

“Coaches who can outline plays on a black board are a dime a dozen. The ones who win get inside their player and motivate.”

“Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.”

“Dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you're willing to pay the price.”

“Football is like life - it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority.”

“I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious.”

“If it doesn't matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?”

“If winning isn't everything, why do they keep score?”

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”

“Success demands singleness of purpose.”

“The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.”

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.”

“We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.”

“Winning is not everything, but wanting to win is.”