Michael Jackson (1958–2009) was an iconic American singer, songwriter, and entertainer. Born in Gary, Indiana, he rose to fame as the lead vocalist of the Jackson 5 before achieving unparalleled success as a solo artist. His album “Thriller” (1982) remains the best-selling album of all time. Jackson’s influence extended beyond music; his innovative music videos, including the groundbreaking “Thriller,” revolutionized the industry. Often referred to as the “King of Pop,” he earned numerous awards and accolades for his contributions to music and dance. Jackson’s life was marked by both immense success and controversy, including his evolving appearance and legal challenges. Despite the controversies, his impact on popular culture and the music industry is enduring, solidifying his legacy as one of the greatest entertainers in history.
Michael Jackson Quotes
1. “If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and make a change.”
— Michael Jackson
2. “As a wise man once said, ‘If not us, then who; if not now, then when?’”
— Michael Jackson
3. “I’m starting with the man in the mirror.”
— Michael Jackson
4. “Be humble, believe in yourself, and have the love of the world in your heart.”
— Michael Jackson
5. “In a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. In a world filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. In a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream. And in a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe.”
— Michael Jackson
6. “Beat me, hate me, you can never break me.”
— Michael Jackson
7. “I’m Starting With The Man In The Mirror I’m Asking Him To Change His Ways And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A Change.”
— Michael Jackson
8. “You ain’t seen nothing yet, and the best is yet to come.”
— Michael Jackson
9. “Heal the world! Stop the hate. Lend a helping hand to those in need.”
— Michael Jackson
10. “Every day create your history, every path you take you’re leaving your legacy.”
— Michael Jackson
11. “Whatever you believe, you become.”
— Michael Jackson
12. “You never know how long you have with someone, so don’t forget to say I love you while you can.”
— Michael Jackson
13. “No matter what you do, give it everything you have. Be the best, not the second best.”
— Michael Jackson
14. “The magic, the wonder, the mystery, and the innocence of a child’s heart are the seeds of creativity that will heal the world.”
— Michael Jackson
15. “Music is my contribution to life. I have my heart in it.”
— Michael Jackson
16. “Lies run sprints, but the truth runs marathons.”
— Michael Jackson
17. “Be the best at what you do. Get to know more about your field than anybody alive.”
— Michael Jackson
18. “You can’t hurt me, I found peace within myself.”
— Michael Jackson
19. “I’m a gentleman, call me old fashioned if you want.”
— Michael Jackson
20. “We are the world, we are the children…”
— Michael Jackson
21. “Always believe in yourself. No matter who’s around you being negative or thrusting negative energy at you, totally block it off. Because whatever you believe, you become.”
— Michael Jackson
22. “Real charity is giving from the heart without taking credit.”
— Michael Jackson
23. “Before you judge me, ask me about my childhood. And I will ask you about yours.”
— Michael Jackson
24. “It’s all for love… L.O.V.E.”
— Michael Jackson
25. “Don’t be afraid to be different.”
— Michael Jackson
26. “Start with the man in the mirror. Start with yourself. Don’t be looking at all the other things. Start with you.”
— Michael Jackson
27. “I know who I am inside and outside, and I know what I want to do. And I will always go with my dreams.”
— Michael Jackson
28. “If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with.”
— Michael Jackson
29. “It doesn’t matter what blood or race or creed or color. Love is love and it breaks all boundaries and you just see it right away.”
— Michael Jackson
30. “Often people just don’t see what I see. They have too much doubt. You can’t do your best when you’re doubting yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself, who will?”
— Michael Jackson
31. “Always appreciate the gift of life! Be happy and have fun!”
— Michael Jackson
32. “Music is a mantra that soothes the soul. It’s therapeutic. It’s something our body has to have. It’s very important to understand the power of music.”
— Michael Jackson
33. “Together, we can make a change in the world. Together we can help to stop racism. Together we can help to stop prejudice. We can help the world live without fear. It is our only hope. And without hope we are lost.”
— Michael Jackson
34. “Thinking is the biggest mistake a dancer could make. You have to feel.”
— Michael Jackson
35. “You know I’m bad, I’m bad. You know it.”
— Michael Jackson
36. “I don’t care if the whole world is against you or teasing you or saying you are not gonna make it. Believe in yourself, no matter what.”
— Michael Jackson
37. “The world should be full of love. Love. Love is the most important thing in the world.”
— Michael Jackson
38. “I’m just a person who wants to be honest and do good, make people happy, and give them the greatest sense of escapism through the talent God has given me. That’s where my heart is, that’s all I want to do. Just let me share and give, put a smile on people’s faces, and make their hearts feel happy.”
— Michael Jackson
39. “I believe that through music we can help heal the world.”
— Michael Jackson
40. “I’m a strong person. I’m a warrior and I know what is inside of me.”
— Michael Jackson
41. “I love animals because all they really want from you is love. Too bad that’s even too much to ask for from some people.”
— Michael Jackson
42. “I am an Instrument of Nature. Love is my message.”
— Michael Jackson
43. “To give someone a piece of your heart, is worth more than all the wealth in the world.”
— Michael Jackson
44. “Never rush an emotion; everything in life has a rhythm, it is the pauses and silences that speak the truth.”
— Michael Jackson
45. “It all begins with forgiveness because to heal the world, we first have to heal ourselves. And to heal the kids, we first have to heal the child within, each and every one of us.”
— Michael Jackson
46. “Feeling free, let us fly, into the boundless, beyond the sky, for we were born to never die…”
— Michael Jackson
47. “People think they know me, but they don’t. Not really. Actually, I am one of the loneliest people on this earth. I cry sometimes because it hurts. It does. To be honest, I guess you could say that it hurts to be me.”
— Michael Jackson
48. “Please go for your dreams. Whatever your ideals, you can become whatever you want to become.”
— Michael Jackson
49. “We need to put love back into the world and remind the world that love is important. We’re all one.”
— Michael Jackson
50. “I love composing and writing music and dancing and performing and conceptualizing creatively for visual mediums. I love to create.”
— Michael Jackson
51. “The Earth we share is not just a rock tossed through space, but a living, nurturing being. She cares for us, she deserves our care in return.”
— Michael Jackson
52. “I love fairytales. I like fantasy a lot, science fiction, I like magic. I like to create magic. I love magic.”
— Michael Jackson
53. “Magic is easy if you put your heart into it.”
— Michael Jackson
54. “I love to read. I wish I could advise more people to read. There’s a whole new world in books. If you can’t afford to travel, you travel mentally through reading. You can see anything and go any place you want to in reading.”
— Michael Jackson
55. “A lot of people misunderstand me. That’s because they don’t know me at all.”
— Michael Jackson
56. “When children listen to music, they don’t just listen. They melt into the melody and flow with the rhythm. Something inside starts to unfold its wings – soon the child and the music are one.”
— Michael Jackson
57. “Before you Judge me, Try hard to Love me.”
— Michael Jackson
58. “In my business you can’t trust anyone because you don’t know who is your friend. Becoming successful means you become a prisoner.”
— Michael Jackson
59. “I’m always Peter Pan in my heart.”
— Michael Jackson
60. “Escapism- that’s what I like. I’m not so crazy about the reality of everything.”
— Michael Jackson
61. “People are always saying: ‘They’ll take care of it. The government will. Don’t worry, they will’. They who? It starts with us. It’s us. Or else it’ll never be done.”
— Michael Jackson
62. “When you want to be close to me, listen to the music. The love is stored there and will not die.”
— Michael Jackson
63. “Dancers come and go in the twinkling of an eye, but the dance lives on.”
— Michael Jackson
64. “We have to heal our wounded world. The chaos, despair, and senseless destruction we see today are a result of the alienation that people feel from each other and their environment.”
— Michael Jackson
65. “Entertainment is about taking people away from the regular order of things when there is some chaos and pain and stress.”
— Michael Jackson
66. “I’m a lover, not a fighter.”
— Michael Jackson
67. “I’ve been through hell and back. I have, to be honest, and still, I’m able to do what I do and nothing can stop me. No one can stop me, no matter what. I stop when I’m ready to stop. You know, and I’m just saying, you know, I will continue to move forward no matter what.”
— Michael Jackson
68. “I love great music – it has no color, it has no boundaries.”
— Michael Jackson
69. “Unconditional love is all you have. You can’t overdose on love, you never can. It’s a beautiful thing.”
— Michael Jackson
70. “I am Peter Pan. He represents youth, childhood, never growing up, magic, flying.”
— Michael Jackson
71. “I’m never pleased with anything, I’m a perfectionist, it’s part of who I am.”
— Michael Jackson
72. “Nothing’s real, but all is possible if God is on my side.”
— Michael Jackson
73. “Music is the soundtrack to life. It plays the melody of our being.”
— Michael Jackson
74. “But I will never stop helping and loving people the way Jesus said to.”
— Michael Jackson
75. “And that’s what innocence is. It’s simple and trusting like a child, not judgmental and committed to one narrow point of view. If you are locked into a pattern of thinking and responding, your creativity gets blocked. You miss the freshness and magic of the moment. Learn to be innocent again, and that freshness never fades.”
— Michael Jackson
76. “Oh, no, I think I’d die on my own. I’d be so lonely. Even at home, I’m lonely. I sit in my room and sometimes cry. It is so hard to make friends, and there are some things you can’t talk to your parents or family about. I sometimes walk around the neighborhood at night, just hoping to find someone to talk to. But I just end up coming home.”
— Michael Jackson
77. “I believe in love. It’s beautiful when it’s right. My love life is like my music.”
— Michael Jackson
78. “There was Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, an aloof superstar who had everything and needed no one. And Michael Jackson, the shy kid under the mask, who lacked even a single real friend.”
— Michael Jackson
79. “In times like these, we need each other. We must bond together in spirit and in service.”
— Michael Jackson
80. “Feel good about yourself. You have been blessed and you might not have even realized it.”
— Michael Jackson
81. “Love, joy and peace for the world, that’s what I want… peace for the world and love.”
— Michael Jackson
82. “My goal in life is to give to the world what I was lucky to receive: the ecstasy of divine union through my music and my dance.”
— Michael Jackson
83. “But if you don’t have that memory of being loved, you are condemned to search the world for something to fill you up. But no matter how much money you make or how famous you become, you will still feel empty. What you are really searching for is unconditional love and unqualified acceptance. And that was the one thing that was denied to you at birth.”
— Michael Jackson
84. “I put real pressure on myself and I demand the best out of myself.”
— Michael Jackson
85. “We only live once, since we are given the gift of life it should be our persistent endeavor to immortalize ourselves no matter what field of endeavor we choose.”
— Michael Jackson
86. “I’m happy to be alive, I’m happy to be who I am.”
— Michael Jackson
87. “All of us are products of our childhood.”
— Michael Jackson
88. “Say what you want, but don’t play games with my affection. Take what you need, but don’t leave me with no direction.”
— Michael Jackson
89. “I want to tell the children of the world, you are all our children, each one of you is my child and I love you all.”
— Michael Jackson
90. “In their innocence, very young children know themselves to be light and love. If we will allow them, they can teach us to see ourselves the same way.”
— Michael Jackson
91. “If you came to see the truth, the purity, it’s here inside a lonely heart.”
— Michael Jackson
92. “Holding on to love is not wrong, but you need to learn to hold it lightly, caressingly. Let it fly when it wants. When it’s allowed to be free, love is what makes life alive, joyful, and new. As long as love is in my heart, it’s everywhere.”
— Michael Jackson
93. “I always want to do music that inspires or influences another generation. You want what you create to live, be it sculpture or painting or music. Like Michelangelo, he said, “I know the creator will go, but his work survives. That is why to escape death, I attempt to bind my soul to my work.”
— Michael Jackson
94. “I believe in God…I gain strength from God. I believe in Jehovah, God, very much….I believe in God and love God.”
— Michael Jackson
95. “Deep down inside we’re all the same. We all have the same emotions.”
— Michael Jackson
96. “Remember my strong advice; just remember to always think twice.”
— Michael Jackson
97. “I always like to plan ahead of time and follow up.”
— Michael Jackson
98. “I urge all young people to go for their dreams. If they do, many of the world’s problems will be solved.”
— Michael Jackson
99. “I’m really very self-confident when it comes to my work. When I take on a project, I believe in it 100%. I really put my soul into it. I’d die for it. That’s how I am.”
— Michael Jackson
100. “Look beyond yourself…”
— Michael Jackson
101. “But they told me a man should be faithful, and walk when not able, and fight till the end but I’m only Human.”
— Michael Jackson
102. “Success definitely brings on loneliness. People think you’re lucky, that you have everything. They think you can go anywhere and do anything, but that’s not the point. One hungers for the basic stuff.”
— Michael Jackson
103. “Let us dream of tomorrow where we can truly love from the soul, and know love as the ultimate truth at the heart of all creation.”
— Michael Jackson
104. “You can always dream, and your dreams can come true. But you have to make them come true.”
— Michael Jackson
105. “To live is to be musical, starting with the blood dancing in your veins. Everything living has a rhythm. Do you feel your music?”
— Michael Jackson
106. “I think about our planet. I mean how to make it a better planet? The global warming issue is a concern to me very much. Just make the world a better, happier place. It’s our home. I’d like to see us do a better job of taking care of it.”
— Michael Jackson
107. “Honor your parents by not judging them. Give them the benefit of the doubt.”
— Michael Jackson
108. “All over the walls of my room are pictures of Peter Pan. I’ve read everything that Barrie wrote. I totally identify with Peter Pan, the lost boy from Never Neverland.”
— Michael Jackson
109. “The greatest education in the world is watching the masters at work.”
— Michael Jackson
110. “I love Switzerland. It’s so clean and cool. We don’t get much snow where I live so I get really excited in Lausanne and Geneva. I’d like to buy a house there when I’m older and settle down. It’s all so cute that it looks like a movie set.”
— Michael Jackson
111. “Just doing as well as you did last time is not good enough.”
— Michael Jackson
112. “Peace. That’s what I want all around the world, everywhere I go I always do the peace sign with my fingers.”
— Michael Jackson
113. “The meaning of life is contained in every single expression of life. It is present in the infinity of forms and phenomena that exist in all of creation.”
— Michael Jackson
114. “I could compose and write music and get to share it with the masses and the people around the world and to have them to receive it so beautifully – I love that.”
— Michael Jackson
115. “A star can never die. It just turns into a smile and melts back into the cosmic music, the dance of life.”
— Michael Jackson
116. “It’s easy to say I love you with your mouth. But I like it when people say I love you with their heart.”
— Michael Jackson
117. “I just can’t conceive of how a person could hate another because of skin color. I love every race on the planet Earth.”
— Michael Jackson
118. “I do believe deeply in perfection. I’m never satisfied.”
— Michael Jackson
119. “Being on stage is magic. There’s nothing like it. You feel the energy of everybody who’s out there. You feel it all over your body. When the lights hit you, it’s all over, I swear it is.”
— Michael Jackson
120. “I happen to be colorblind. Racism is not my motto. One day, I strongly expect every color to love as one family.”
— Michael Jackson
121. “Follow the Golden Rule. Be kind to your neighbors, love them as much as you would love yourself, do unto others…”
— Michael Jackson
122. “I find in animals the same thing I find so wonderful in children. That purity, that honesty, where they don’t judge you, they just want to be your friend. I think that is so sweet.”
— Michael Jackson
123. “Ain’t no mountain that I can’t climb, baby.”
— Michael Jackson
124. “I think justice is important because there are many injustices in the world and I hate injustice.”
— Michael Jackson
125. “Look deep within yourself, and you’ll find something amazing.”
— Michael Jackson
126. “Some of us like to take a walk on the wild side.”
— Michael Jackson
127. “I have been a vulnerable target for those who want money.”
— Michael Jackson
128. “It’s been my dream since I was a child to somehow unite people of the world through love and music.”
— Michael Jackson
129. “I love you all very; very much and I shall never, ever forget you, I promise.”
— Michael Jackson
130. “We are Germans. We are Armenians. French, Italian, Russian, American, Asian, African… many other nationalities. We are Christians, Jewish, Muslim and Hindu. We are black, we are white. We are a community of some many differences, so complex and yet so simple. We do not need to have war!”
— Michael Jackson
131. “Prejudice is ignorance.”
— Michael Jackson
132. “I try to be kind and generous, and to give to people, and to do what I think God wants me to do.”
— Michael Jackson
133. “I love to create. I love to make magic. I love to create the unexpected.”
— Michael Jackson
134. “I love my fans to pieces. They’re with me. They get it, you know? They get what I’m saying.”
— Michael Jackson
135. “The teacher always used me as an example to the class of good English and good storytelling because we all had to write the same stories. But she used to make me go out front – which I hated – and read my story to the class and I would get huge applause. Not because of who I was but because they truly enjoyed the stories I wrote.”
— Michael Jackson
136. “I believe we are powerful but we don’t use our minds to full capacity. Your mind is powerful enough to help you attain whatever you want.”
— Michael Jackson
137. “Music is colorless. It’s for everybody, it’s for the world, it’s for everybody to enjoy.”
— Michael Jackson
138. “One day my dad said, “If you guys ever stop singing, I’ll drop you like a hot potato.” That’s what he said. It hurt me. You don’t say that to children and I never forgot it.”
— Michael Jackson
139. “Tell the angels no, I don’t wanna leave my baby alone I don’t want nobody else to hold you That’s a chance I’ll take Baby I’ll stay, Heaven can wait No, if the angels took me from this earth I would tell them bring me back to her It’s a chance I’ll take, maybe I’ll stay Heaven can wait.”
— Michael Jackson
140. “No one should judge what I’ve done with my life, not unless they’ve been in my shoes every horrible day and every sleepless night.”
— Michael Jackson
141. “I’ll never let you part, for you’re always in my heart.”
— Michael Jackson
142. “When you’re strong and good, then you’re Bad.”
— Michael Jackson
143. “I know that the creator will go, but his work survives. That is why to escape death, I attempt to bind my soul to my work.”
— Michael Jackson
144. “You know, don’t judge a person, do not pass judgment, unless you have talked to them one on one.”
— Michael Jackson
145. “Be careful what you do, because the lie becomes the truth.”
— Michael Jackson
146. “I am here in spirit with you and you are in my prayers. Remember God is with you, and have faith in the fact that this too shall pass.”
— Michael Jackson
147. “I don’t think I’m better than other people, I think I’m different from other people, because I do different things.”
— Michael Jackson
148. “Culture changes, fashions change, customs change. Great music is immortal.”
— Michael Jackson
149. “I’d say to myself: “This is my dream, this is my wish.” Because a wish is more than a wish. It is a goal. It is something your conscious and subconscious can help make reality.”
— Michael Jackson
150. “There’s a Mother’s Day and there’s a Father’s Day, but there’s no Children’s Day. It would mean a lot. World peace.”
— Michael Jackson
