Youssou N'Dour Quotes

Quotes about:

• People need to see that, far from being an obstacle, the world's diversity of languages, religions and traditions is a great treasure, affording us precious opportunities to recognize ourselves in others.

  Youssou N'Dour

  Opportunity, People, Diversity

  16 Copy quote

• Music in Africa often contains messages. Music in Senegal, and Africa, is never music for music's sake or solely for entertainment. It's always a vehicle for social connections, discussions and ideas.

  Youssou N'Dour

  Ideas, Connections, Sake

  11 Copy quote

• I think people should know more of Africa in terms of its joie de vivre, its feeling for life. In spite of the images that one knows about Africa - the economic poverty, the corruption - there's a joy to living and a happiness in community, living together, in community life, which may be missing here in America.

  Youssou N'Dour

  Happiness, Thinking, Community Living

  12 Copy quote

• Africa is the future.

  Youssou N'Dour

  8 Copy quote

• Travel teaches as much as books.

  Youssou N'Dour

  Book, Teach

  "Musician eyes presidency in Senegal" By Ebrima Sillah, www.cnn.com. January 3, 2012.

  6 Copy quote

• Malaria kills and its main victims are children and women. We can stop this scourge so people can live with dignity and go to work and school.

  Youssou N'Dour

  Children, School, People

  10 Copy quote

• I want to use my music to deliver a political message and sometimes to denounce, but I don't want to be a politician.

  Youssou N'Dour

  Political, Use, Want

  5 Copy quote

• In the West, you have always associated the Islamic faith 100 percent with Arab culture. This in itself is a fundamentalist attitude and it is mistaken.

  Youssou N'Dour

  Attitude, Islamic, Culture

  8 Copy quote

• I love meeting interesting people and doing things with them.

  Youssou N'Dour

  People, Interesting, Meetings

  "Youssou N'Dour is a musical wonder. He stands by his beliefs. And he's stunning Senegal and the whole world" by Jonathan Curiel, www.sfgate.com. July 17, 2004.

  6 Copy quote

• In Africa, there is much confusion.... Before, there was no radio, or other forms of communication.... Now, in Africa ... the government talks, people talk, the police talk, the people don't know anymore. They aren't free.

  Youssou N'Dour

  Communication, Government, People

  5 Copy quote

• The question of modernization is central to disturbances in the Middle East and in Africa. Everyone is after modernization, no matter where they come from. But you have to be careful about it, and more importantly, you have to have sense about it.

  Youssou N'Dour

  Middle East, Matter, Be Careful

  9 Copy quote

• I think that Sufism fits all over the world. The concept is not anything that fits standard Western ideas - it's always related to culture, to music, to religion. It is a dominant religion in Senegal.

  Youssou N'Dour

  Thinking, Ideas, Culture

  4 Copy quote

• When the slaves left Africa, they left us this music. They left us blues.

  Youssou N'Dour

  Slave, Left

  4 Copy quote

• World music is about taking things from different places and bringing them together - which is great.

  Youssou N'Dour

  Together, Different, World

  4 Copy quote

• I have studied at the school of the world.

  Youssou N'Dour

  School, World

  "Musician eyes presidency in Senegal" By Ebrima Sillah, www.cnn.com. January 3, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

• In politics, sometimes you have to lie, or you make a promise that you cannot keep.

  Youssou N'Dour

  Lying, Promise, Sometimes

  "I'm bringing a message" by Stephen Moss, www.theguardian.com. March 21, 2007.

  4 Copy quote

• Politics is politics; art is art. If you play a political role, you have to stop being an artist.

  Youssou N'Dour

  Art, Play, Political

  "I'm bringing a message" by Stephen Moss, www.theguardian.com. March 21, 2007.

  4 Copy quote

• Senegal needs to free itself, to rediscover its democracy.

  Youssou N'Dour

  Democracy, Needs

  "Youssou N'Dour interview: 'Senegal is turning into a dictatorship'". Interview with Harriet Alexander, www.telegraph.co.uk. February 19, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

• My music is like a spinning ball. It can turn in one direction, and then it comes back to origins.

  Youssou N'Dour

  One Direction, Balls, Spinning

  4 Copy quote

• I don't really see myself as an actor.

  Youssou N'Dour

  Actors

  4 Copy quote

• I grew up with reggae music.

  Youssou N'Dour

  Reggae, Grew Up, Grew

  57 Copy quote

• Islam has been badly used by a certain ideology.

  Youssou N'Dour

  Islam, Used, Certain

  "A song and a prayer" by Mark Hudson, www.theguardian.com. May 23, 2004.

  5 Copy quote

• When I'm in Senegal, I can't just sit in isolation making music. People need my help. And the Senegalese people helped create my music. It comes from the country itself.

  Youssou N'Dour

  Country, People, Needs

  4 Copy quote

• Western record companies haven't always dealt with African musicians in the best way. Giving them a lot of money and telling them they're going to be bigger than Phil Collins is the wrong way to do it!

  Youssou N'Dour

  Giving, Musician, Records

  6 Copy quote

• I don't want to see that two-tier Senegal, that two-tier Africa, when you have those at the top and those at the bottom, people who are hungry, people who do not have enough to eat.

  Youssou N'Dour

  Two, People, Want

  5 Copy quote

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