The 35 best quotes by 2Pac (Tupac Shakur)

We review some great verses from the celebrated hip-hop artist.

Tupac Amaru Shakur (1971 - 1996) (born Lesane Parish Crooks), and later known as 2Pac o Makaveliwas an American rap artist who grew up in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York City.

His career as a rapper was spectacular, selling more than 100 million copies of his albums and being considered as the best rap artist of all time by the prestigious magazine Rolling Stone. His lyrics, full of violent rhymes and about juvenile delinquency, tell us about the Bronx, with its inequalities and the prevailing racism in American society.

• Recommended article: "The 40 best Rap and Hip-Hop phrases".

Famous phrases of the rapper 2Pac.

His life was as convulsive as his verses may portend. The rivalry between rap gangs from the East and West of the United States had Tupac at the center of controversy for decades. Sadly, on September 7, 1996, 2Pac was gunned down in a shootout as he was leaving the scene, 2Pac was gunned down in a shooting as he was leaving a concert in Las Vegas, and died a few days later..

His legacy in the hip-hop world is unparalleled. Forbes Forbes magazinemagazine, in 2008, revealed that Tupac Shakur was among the top 10 dead celebrities who grossed the most money year after year.

To honor this exceptional African-American musician, we have compiled 2Pac's best quotes (and some of his famous verses) in this article.

1. With my death, people will understand what I was talking about.

Sad premonitory phrase that spoke of a redemptive end.

Only God can judge me.

"Only God Can Judge Me. Humans should not impose their vision of good and evil.

3. They can kill the revolutionary, but they can never kill the revolution...

One of those 2Pac's phrases that tell us about his transforming spirit.

4. You can't pretend to be an angel if you're surrounded by demons.

It's hard to maintain a high ethical code when you live in the Bronx.

5. You must get a woman to fall into your arms without you falling into her hands.

Succumbing to a woman's charms can spell doom for any man.

6. I fear not the enemy who attacks me but the false friend who embraces me.

About false friendship and its fearful consequences.

7. Practice will make me the true owner of the secret, not only its knowledge as the lazy believe.

The master is made by practice, not by talent.

8. Wars come and go, but my soldiers are eternal.

A phrase of teamwork and eternal loyalty.

9. Everyone is at war with different things... I am sometimes at war with my own heart.

On the contradictions in the mind and soul of Tupac Shakur.

10. Misdirected hatred is the misfortune of the races.

Evil leaders can channel rage into destructive paths.

11. The past is what determines our future.

A most true spatio-temporal paradox.

12. They dare to judge me without even knowing me.

Without justice or compassion, the gaze of another person can be destructive.

13. You grow, we all grow, we are made to grow. You either evolve or disappear.

Natural selection points this out.

14. We talk a lot about Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. but it is time to be like them, as strong as them.

About African-American civil rights leaders.

15. You can spend minutes, hours, days, weeks, even months over-analyzing a situation; trying to piece together the clues, justifying what could have happened. Or you can put the clues down and move on.

Abandoning procrastination and getting going is the only recipe for personal development.

16. If you make it through the dark of night, there will be a very sunny day.

Sadness does not last forever.

17. Revenge is the best pleasure after sex.

His winning mentality could sometimes lead him to aggressive and vengeful behavior.

18. It is not that I idolize Machiavelli. I idolize that way of thinking where you do whatever makes you achieve your goals.

About one of his intellectual references, Niccolo Machiavelli, who gives his name to one of 2Pac's nicknames.

19. My message is: young black people can do anything if they give us the opportunity, if they stop trying to crush us. And this goes for my colleagues.

The black community, so repressed in America for centuries, and their ability to get ahead.

20. I'm not saying I'm going to rule the world but if I keep talking about how dirty it is someone is going to have to clean it up.

A phrase of special egocentric value.

21. Wrap me in words of destruction and I will explode but give me the will to survive and watch the world grow.

Extracted from a verse he composed for one of his raps.

22. When I die, I'll be a living legend.

An omen that came true. After his death, he was declared by an overwhelming majority as the greatest artist the hip-hop movement in the United States has ever seen.

23. Money brings bitches, bitches bring lies.

Lyrics to his song "All Eyez On Me".

24. Hang out with real men (referring to thugs) if you want to be one of them.

How do the gangsters of the Bronx get tanned? Tupac makes it clear in this verse.

25. I'd commit to a woman who's very, very strong. A woman who loves me 'cause I could love her more than she loves me.

His vision of love.

26. Be individual, work hard, study, keep your mind in order and trust no one.

His philosophy of life, summed up in a single famous quote.

27. Only intelligence examines itself.

Self-awareness makes us have that ability called metacognition.

28. We must remember that tomorrow comes after darkness.

Without sadness, there would be no joy.

29. That always happens, all blacks who change the world die, they do not die like normal people, they die violently.

Sad reflection on the end of many activists of African-American ethnicity.

30. The lie is not a lie, it is the truth.

His Machiavellian spirit is reflected in this famous phrase.

31. Mom, tell me if I'm wrong, is God just another cop?

Brutal reflection on the coercive forces of the state, especially harsh against blacks.

32. My mom used to tell me that if you can't find something to live for you better find something to die for.

If you don't have a purpose in life, you may pass away.

33. Everyone has the maximum memory for what interests him and the minimum for what does not interest him.

Brilliant reflection on the human condition.

34. What you nurture as seeds, grows and then hits you in the face. That is a criminal life.

About the "thug lifestyle".

35. The only thing a sleeping man gets, is dreams....

Not waking up and putting action into your life is wasting your time.