Michael Franti Quotes & Sayings

Bonnaroo has kind of become the granddaddy of all American festivals. The thing I love about it most is that it wasn't born out of picking the top ten bands off the Billboard chart and creating a festival around it. — Michael Franti

We only have X amount of days and time on this planet - how am I going to spend that time? The way that I want to spend it is caring about the people that I love the most, and fighting to make the world a more livable place for everybody. — Michael Franti

Those who start wars never fight them, and those who fight wars never like them. — Michael Franti

The U.S. has historically been the world's largest contributor to climate change. — Michael Franti

It was hard for me, as a father, to imagine going through what my birth mom went through, to raise a child inside of her for nine months, and then have to say goodbye. And so it's hard for me to understand that pain and that process. — Michael Franti

Don't let mistakes be so monumental, don't let your love be so confidential, don't let your mind be so darn judgemental, and please let your heart be more influential. Be thankful for all that the spirit provides and be thankful for all that you see without eyes. — Michael Franti

I've been in those relationships. You go through years of your life and at a certain point you wake up and you go, god, what am I doing here? What have I spent the last three years doing? Part of it is learning, this process you've gotta go through. You have to recognize the point at which you're not learning anymore, and be able to let it go. — Michael Franti

Like sunshine, music is a powerful force that can instantly and almost chemically change your entire mood. — Michael Franti

My mother and father took me in and provided everything for me - the love, nurturing, basic necessities - to give me the space to grow wings, so that when I went out into the world, I could fly. — Michael Franti

I try to use the attention that I get to help and to serve, and that's really what I'd see as my work - to serve my community, serve the planet, serve my family. And I think a celebrity is someone who draws the attention on themselves, and then it kind of stops there. — Michael Franti

It's also hard for me to understand growing up not knowing where I came from. I searched for my parents - I started when I was twenty; I found both my mother and my father when I was twenty-two. Trying to catch up on twenty-two years that we can never get back, trying to reconcile that - that's a hard thing for me. — Michael Franti

I've always wanted to be a communicator of ideas through music. Today, I wanna be the most effective musical communicator of social change I could be, so I try to find different ways to do it and I'm always challenging myself to find new things, learn new instruments. But I always try to find in my heart, what it is I really want to say with words. — Michael Franti

I believe that through positive thoughts, speech, action and attitudes, we change things for the better. — Michael Franti

I think right now is when we need to hear different voices coming out of all parts of the world. You can't just hear the politicians and the military leaders. You have to hear from the taxi drivers. You have to hear from the painters. You have to hear from the poets. You have to hear from the school teachers and the filmmakers and musicians. — Michael Franti

Many kids in foster homes have a lot of emotions that are hard to get out. It's important to let them know they can make a difference in the community. — Michael Franti

My house was filled with music. We had a piano, and my brothers and sisters played instruments. Even though I was around it, I played basketball. — Michael Franti

I hope I inspire people to dream bigger than what they are living, but a dream within their reach. — Michael Franti

Johnny Cash was a rebel, not only just in the musical sense, but he was somebody who was for the people, and an advocate for labor, for workers, for prisoners, people who have been trapped by the criminal justice system. — Michael Franti

The corporate media is there to push the agenda of the sponsors, and many of those sponsors are weapons manufacturers. So it stands to reason that you won't get a diversity of opinions on television. — Michael Franti

You learn a lot when you're barefoot. The first thing is every step you take is different. — Michael Franti

In Jamaica, the music is recorded for the sound system, not the iPod. It's about experiencing music together, with other people. — Michael Franti

We have a saying in my house, my kids and my girlfriend. We say, 'Be your best for the greater good, and rock out wherever you are.' — Michael Franti

Love is the action of soul satisfaction. — Michael Franti

I went to the University of San Francisco on an athletic scholarship. I didn't study in high school. I was just there to get by and to play basketball. But a funny thing happened to me when I got to college. I got challenged by the work and the professors. — Michael Franti

I think that the transformative nature of love is why we are so drawn to it. — Michael Franti

We don't have to be good, you know? No one's telling us that we have to do good things, but we do them because we know it makes other people feel good and it makes us feel good. — Michael Franti

My mother birthed three children and she adopted myself and another African-American son. My adoptive parents were Finnish. I grew up in a white picket neighborhood. — Michael Franti

I'm a news junkie who's constantly reading newspapers and magazines. I look around and see what's happening in the world. — Michael Franti

Our country was founded on immigration. We are all occupying Native American land here. At what point do we say 'It's our land, and nobody else can come here.' — Michael Franti

Collectively, we activists are essential to advancing U.S. policy to help empower marginalized people to lift themselves and their communities out of poverty for good. — Michael Franti

Not all artists have a responsibility to be socially or politically aware, but they do have a responsibility to make great art. They have to find some truth and put that in their music. — Michael Franti

I could be really sad and I start to cry; I feel alive then. I could be at a concert and I throw my hands up in the air and I feel elation; I feel alive then. — Michael Franti

I have moments all the time when I play. — Michael Franti

To sit back and say, 'Oh, we're going to let the government do whatever they want, right or wrong,' is giving up. — Michael Franti

Investing now in safe-guarding people by helping them to adapt to climate change, will help save money and lives while building resilience. — Michael Franti

My usual day is I get up around 11 o'clock and do yoga and then eat afterwards. Then I have sound check and play soccer and do running with the guys in the band after sound check, and then do the show and eat dinner after the show and usually get to bed around 3 o'clock by the time we get everybody on the bus and get rolling. — Michael Franti

My greatest sense of accomplishment has come from having two amazing sons, but it's also a paradox in that the times when I felt like the biggest failure have been times when I felt like, as a parent, I wasn't making the right decisions or succeeding in the way that I should. — Michael Franti

Music has the power to bring people together like no other art form. — Michael Franti

If the first casualty of war is innocence, then perhaps with each bullet fired, bomb detonated, leader overthrown, wall built, economy destroyed and family member killed, we are not creating goodwill and harmony, but rather another child who believes violence is the only means to bring about change in the world. — Michael Franti

You can bomb the world to pieces, but you can't bomb it into peace. Power to the peaceful. — Michael Franti

Through music I either tame my demons or unleash them and allow them to be what they are. I don't want the music to be about provocation, I want the music to bring you to a place where you feel at home. — Michael Franti

It's never too late to start the day over. — Michael Franti

My mother, she made sure all of us were treated the same and had the same opportunity to grow and develop, so that when we left the house, we could fly on our own. And she also knew when we got out into the world, we'd treat others that we came across with that same treatment and respect. — Michael Franti

Can't keep Love like money in the bank — Michael Franti

Don't settle for something that's not great. Don't feel like having a relationship that is not serving your needs is more important than having a relationship with yourself. — Michael Franti

No life's worth more than any other, no sister worth less than any brother. — Michael Franti

All my songs are different, but from the overall experience, I want people to sense that they can overcome and move through difficult times and find strength in my music. Maybe it's a song that makes them cry and move through something else. — Michael Franti

If we do not change our negative habits toward climate change, we can count on worldwide disruptions in food production, resulting in mass migration, refugee crises and increased conflict over scarce natural resources like water and farm land. This is a recipe for major security problems. — Michael Franti

Life is too short to make just one decision, music is too loud for just one station, love is too big for just one nation, and God is too big for just one religion! — Michael Franti

When you're in Jamaica, unless you're in a tourist spot, you don't hear Bob Marley; you mostly hear dance hall music. — Michael Franti

The personal revolution is far more difficult, and is the first step in any revolution. — Michael Franti

I've never really been into flags of any kind, cause flags can bring people together, but they always bring people together against other people, and I don't really consider myself to be a patriot in the sense that I say, 'okay, this is my nation,' I consider myself to be a child of this whole planet. — Michael Franti

God is too big for just one religion. — Michael Franti

It shouldn't be a Republican or Democratic issue whether we take care of the environment. That should be a human issue. — Michael Franti

There are so many things to be worried about, and I wanted to make a record that people could put on, and it would lift them up the way the sun did for me each day. — Michael Franti

I believe that in order to tackle the big issues of the world today, like environmental issues, we need everybody's involvement. We need the resources of the corporate world. We need the cooperation of governments. We need the wisdom of indigenous people. — Michael Franti

I think my soul is intact, but my methods of reaching people are completely different. — Michael Franti

When I first started, my songs were the politics of anger. As I got older and hopefully wiser, I wanted to be part of the politics of answers. — Michael Franti

Be who you are, nothing more ... nothing less. — Michael Franti

When someone can't afford to wear shoes, it's not just about them not having shoes on that day. It's about a cycle of poverty that exists within their community. — Michael Franti

The music industry has been hijacked by corporate interests, but the way music affects people and resonates with them hasn't changed. — Michael Franti

In the '80s, Ronald Reagan inspired me to become politicized, because I grew up in that era when everything I cared about was under attack. — Michael Franti

The more I see, the less I know. — Michael Franti

You say you're a Christian, cause God made you, you say you're a Muslim cause God made you, you say you're a Hindu and the next man a Jew, but then we all kill each other cause God told us to? Naw! — Michael Franti

Traveling to the Middle East and playing music for people on the street, for soldiers, for people in hospitals, and for people who lost their homes, and seeing people open up through the experience of music really restored my faith in music, in art, and in culture to change things. — Michael Franti

When we all see justice, then we'll all see peace! — Michael Franti

I was adopted when I was a baby. My mother carried me for nine months and she held me for one hour, and didn't see me again. — Michael Franti

A lot of times we look at the whole world and think, 'it's so daunting, how can we change the whole world?' and you don't need to do that, what you need to do is change your world a little bit, and see if you can, through example, inspire others to do the same thing. — Michael Franti

I don't know if it's so grand that I can change the entire world, but I know that I can help one person. So that's the goal. — Michael Franti

It's that transformative nature of love and music and yoga that really inspires me. — Michael Franti

People worry that gas prices are high and how they are affecting their pocket book. But they want to know about renewable energy. People are really starting to question things, and that's made people look to the future in a positive way. — Michael Franti

All the freaky people make the beauty of the world. — Michael Franti

Every bit of land is a Holy land, and every drop of water is Holy water, and every single child is a son or a daughter of the one Earth mama, and the one Earth papa. — Michael Franti

If you love the planet or the neighborhood - you're finding ways to satisfy the soul of the planet or satisfy the soul of the neighborhood. — Michael Franti

Music is also one of the great heart openers. Sometimes, you hear the lyrics of a song and you dance, laugh, smile, or perhaps even cry. — Michael Franti

My goal has not ever been to change minds, my goal is to open minds. — Michael Franti

During my travels in Iraq, Israel, Gaza, Brazil, Indonesia, Japan, Europe and all over the United States, I have seen and heard the voices of people who want change. They want the stabilization of the economy, education and healthcare for all, renewable energy and an environmental vision with an eye on generations to come. — Michael Franti

Music is sunshine. Like sunshine, music is a powerful force that can instantly and almost chemically change your entire mood. Music gives us new energy and a stronger sense of purpose. — Michael Franti

Music was a central part of my childhood because my mother played organ and piano in the church, and that meant all us kids had to be in the church choir. — Michael Franti

I'm not an idealist. I know we're not going to be living in a world that's peace and love all the time. But we can live in a world where we kill each other a lot less. — Michael Franti

I went to Iraq because I wanted to see what one year of occupation had done to Iraqi society, and I went to the West Bank and Gaza Strip because I wanted to see what three generations of occupation had done to Palestinian society. I found a lot more hopelessness and despair in Palestine. — Michael Franti

When many little people in many little places do many little things, then the whole world changes. — Michael Franti

I've always found that the poorer the places that I go, the more smiles I see, and the more happiness I see. — Michael Franti

My music is part of the quest I have to find new ways of telling stories, and also, I want to inspire people. — Michael Franti

It ain't about who ya love, it's all about do ya love. — Michael Franti

I don't know if music can change the world overnight but I know that music can help someone make it through a difficult night. — Michael Franti

Today we are in a war against war - music is our power. — Michael Franti

After a show, I'll get the 16-year-old white kid whose lip is pierced, his head is shaved and his parents hate him, and the young gangster from the screwed-up 'hood, and they say that now they realize there's someone out there who thinks like they do. — Michael Franti

When I first started out, I thought it was enough to make an angry song that pointed out the problems of the world. — Michael Franti

The times when I feel not alive is when I feel stifled, when I feel like the emotion that's in me is not coming out. I'm too busy, too hectic. I'm serving my iPhone more than my spirit. Those are the times I feel bad. — Michael Franti

Recording in Jamaica is like nothing else. The studios are always closed in America. But in Jamaica, the studio doors are wide open, and there's music blasting out in the street. You can see the reaction of people immediately. — Michael Franti

San Francisco has always been a haven for misfits and weirdos. I'm both of those, which is why I came here. — Michael Franti

Music gets us in touch with our emotions in a way that's more intimate than any other art form. — Michael Franti

Be as radiant as the sun, as healing as the rain, as generous as a tree. — Michael Franti

Whenever people go out of their way to help other people - there's power and beauty in our diversity. — Michael Franti

I always identified with that feeling of being an underdog. So I always was looking to connect with and meet people from other cultures, to experience people living a different life that I am. — Michael Franti

I took a trip in 2004, a year after the war started in Iraq. I played music on the streets of Baghdad for Iraqi civilians. I'd also play for U.S. soldiers at night when they were off duty in the bars. Then I would talk to people, and I would film them and ask them about their life and the conflict. — Michael Franti

It's a really personal thing for me to write a song. — Michael Franti

I have a passion to make a difference in the world. And that difference can be just making the fans at my show leave with a smile on their faces and feeling uplifted. — Michael Franti

The world can't have a global solution to climate change with U.S. action alone; and the world can't have a global solution without U.S. action. — Michael Franti