“The trust is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for.”

“The winds that sometimes take something we love, are the same that bring us something we learn to love.” “Therefore we should not cry about something that was taken from us, but, yes, love what we have been given. Because what is really ours is never gone forever.”

“There will never be no love at all.”

“You say you love rain, but you use an umbrella to walk under it. You say you love sun, but you seek shelter when it is shining. You say you love wind, but when it comes you close your windows. So that’s why I’m scared when you say you love me.”

“One love, one heart, one destiny.”

“Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our mind.”

“In the abundance of water a fool is thirsty.”

“Judge not, before you judge yourself.”

“Alcohol make you drunk, man. It don’t make you meditate, it just make you drunk. Herb is more a consciousness.” —As recorded in filmed interview (1979) with Dylan Taite in Aotearoa, New Zealand

“Just because you are happy it does not mean that the day is perfect but that you have looked beyond its imperfections.”

“Keep calm and chive on.” —As quoted in a 1974 interview with Lester Bangs

“You just can’t live in that negative way….. make way for the positive day.”

“None but ourselves can free our minds.” – Bob Marley

“I no have education. I have inspiration. If I was educated I would be a damn fool.”

“Two thousand years of history Black History could not be wiped away so easily.”—Zion Train, from the album Uprising (1980)

“You have to be someone.”

“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…”

“You not supposed to feel down over whatever happen to you. I mean, you’re supposed to use whatever happen to you as some type of upper, not a downer.”

“Don’t give up the fight, Stand up for your rights.”

“It take many a year, mon, and maybe some bloodshed must be, but righteousness someday prevail.”

“The day you stop racing is the day you win the race.”

“What we struggle to make of it is our sole gift to Jah. The process of what that struggle becomes, in time, the Truth.”

“The harder the battle the sweet of Jah victory.”

“Rastafari not a culture, it’s a reality.”

“We Jah people can make it work.”

“I don’t stand for black man’s side, I don’t stand for white man’s side, I stand for God’s side.”

“Man can’t do without God. Just like you’re thirsty, you have to drink water. You just can’t go without God.”

“Life and Jah are one in the same. Jah is the gift of existence. I am in some way eternal, I will never be duplicated. The singularity of every man and woman is Jah’s gift. What we struggle to make of it is our sole gift to Jah. The process of what that struggle becomes, in time, the Truth.”

“Me don’t dip on nobody’s side. Me don’t dip on the black man’s side, not the white man’s side. Me dip on God’s side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white.”

“People want to listen to a message, word from Jah. This could be passed through me or anybody. I am not a leader. Messenger. The words of the songs, not the person, is what attracts people.”

“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 (cowritten with Peter Tosh), from the album Burnin’ (1973)

“The devil ain’t got no power over me. The devil come, and me shake hands with the devil. Devil have his part to play. Devil’s a good friend, too… because when you don’t know him, that’s the time he can mosh you down.”

“We JAH people can make it work.” —Work, from the album Uprising (1980)

“The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.”

“I have a BMW. But only because BMW stands for and The Wailers, and not because I need an expensive car.”

“Money can’t buy life.”

“The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.”

“Your life is worth much more than gold.”

“Hey mister music, sure sounds good to me I can’t refuse it what to be got to be.”

“My music fights against the system that teaches to live and die.”

“My music will go on forever. Maybe it’s a fool say that, but when me know facts me can say facts. My music will go on forever.”

“One good thing about music—when it hits you, you feel no pain.”

“Some will hate you pretend they love you now then behind they try to eliminate you.”

“Who are you to judge the life I live? I am not perfect and I don’t have to be! Before you start pointing fingers, make sure your hands are clean.”

“Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don’t complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don’t bury your thoughts.”

“None but ourselves can free our minds.”

“Truth is the light.”

“And what has been hidden from the wise and the prudent been revealed in the mouth of the toddlers” –Forever Loving Jah, from the album Uprising (1980)

“Beginnings are usually scary, and endings are usually sad, but its everything in between that makes it all worth living.”

“Don’t bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality.”