Toure Quotes & Sayings

A former-girlfriend told me, "He has great respect for women. And a blatant disrespect and disregard for women. Not when he's speaking to you, but in his actions. They're not genuine. He's not honest. He's not a good husband. He gets bored easily. He's not monogamous. He's very controlling. And he's not that sweet to them. — Toure

I wonder if we're truly subverting anything, or if we're just playing with a loaded gun. — Toure

There's more to blackness than bludgeoning people with memories of past atrocities and injustices or the discussion of how difficult it is to be black and deal with whites. — Toure

I knew there was a minefield ahead of me and no way to avoid the bombs, and even if you didn't actually step on the bombs, you were already transformed by constantly looking out for them. — Toure

The familial rupture led to Prince becoming a person who cannot trust others, and must be in dictatorial control of everything around him, Leeds explained, "Anyone assuming any kind of control frightens the hell out of him. So much of what he does is driven by fear, fear of someone else having control. — Toure

Eric Leeds said, "This is a guy who has done some exceedingly generous and thoughtful things for me and other people but then a day later he could turn around and say something so off the wall and so ridiculously stupid and you'd say how do I reconcile these behaviors? People would wonder is he a bad guy who has good days or a good guy who has bad days? I think it's because he has the emotional maturity of a five-year-old. And he never understood the value of doing something thoughtful for somebody on its own merits. He really didn't understand the consequences of him doing something nice for somebody any more than he gave importance to the consequences of him doing something really nasty to somebody. The child doesn't know that yet. You teach your child what works and what doesn't and establish how relationships work. Well, Prince never got that and, to this day, he never has. — Toure

Eric Leeds said at one point Prince wanted the band to all be vegan. Alan told his brother that to survive being in Prince's band you had to at least pretend to drink the Kool-Aid, so, Eric said, you had guys being vegan when Prince was around and eating whatever they wanted when he wasn't around. "He attached some spiritual component to it but looked at it as another way for him to exercise control," Eric said. "If you're gonna work for me then you have to conform to my ideal. — Toure

Stars entertain us. Icons do something much more. They embody us. They tell us something about who we are and who we want to be. They are both a mirror and a shaping force. — Toure

But ability yields to deliberate, organized practice. The brain is the most expansive organ we have; it really does change. You learn something and your brain changes. — Toure

Imagine America as one house on a suburban lane. Years before he became a Jehovah's Witness, Prince knocked on America's door through his music. He came to the door holding a guitar and an umbrella while concealing a Bible. He flirted his way inside the door and told us he had a dirty mind and was controversial, and then he sat down in the living room on the good couch. And, when America's guard was down, because we thought we were having a conversation about sex, Prince eased out his Bible and said, "Let me also tell you about my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. — Toure

Professional success has not cured Prince's interpersonal problems, it's just given him the space to not have to say sorry. — Toure