The first thing I wanted to be was an actor, even before I wanted to be a singer, before I discovered I could sing.

- Jimmy Cliff

There are goals that I had set out for myself as an artist. I have accomplished some of them - becoming accepted all over the world - however, other parts of my goals have not been completed.

- Jimmy Cliff

I've abused myself a lot over the years. But my voice is still intact - really, it's better.

- Jimmy Cliff

I grew up in the church and had always questioned what they were telling me.

- Jimmy Cliff

Someone like Katy Perry - I like her writing because I listen to music as a songwriter. I like a lot of her songs - like, 'Firework' is a song that I think I could write.

- Jimmy Cliff

With acting, you have to become someone else. That's the fun part of it for me - to step outside of yourself and become a character. I guess being Jimmy Cliff is a little bit of a character, too.

- Jimmy Cliff

I wanted to travel the world - I don't how that idea got in my head, but I really wanted to see the world... towns, cities, countries, I wanted to see them all.

- Jimmy Cliff

I used to do a little acting in school. It was my first love, and I really thought I would be doing it as a career. I really wanted to complete that part of my ambition.

- Jimmy Cliff

People might say, 'Jimmy Cliff, you've done a lot, achieved a lot. What more can you want?'

- Jimmy Cliff

When I lived in the U.K., I recorded a lot of ska and rock-steady styles of Jamaican music. But people there weren't accepting it. So I began using a faster reggae beat.

- Jimmy Cliff

It's important for me to go back into the ghetto, where I'm from. I still get my oxygen from there. I don't live in the ghetto anymore, but every time I go back, I'm still seeing the same things that I lived.

- Jimmy Cliff

I visit studios. Just to get the feel, the smell, and see what other people are doing. Not only listening to the radio, but going to studios, greeting musicians and artists, just getting a vibe.

- Jimmy Cliff

I regret I didn't ever learn how to fly a plane. I had the opportunity when I started to make some money, and I regret I didn't really take the time out and put the effort in and do that.

- Jimmy Cliff

If you go out to Hollywood you'll find a lot of fantastic plastic people there in the business and a lot of people in life generally. They find it so hard to be themselves that they have to be plastic.

- Jimmy Cliff

My most important relationships were with my father and grandmother.

- Jimmy Cliff

If I could change one thing about myself... I would try to control my generosity.

- Jimmy Cliff

I have not become the artist I believe I am. I want to become a stadium act. I'm not done at all.

- Jimmy Cliff

Basically, I'm motivated to write about sociopolitical issues as well as relationships. I think those themes have stayed with me throughout my life.

- Jimmy Cliff

In hindsight, I see the great value of family and how it moulded my life and kept me together. So now family means everything to me.

- Jimmy Cliff

I'm the kind of person who likes to hang out and observe what's going on in the streets, or in certain places. I used to do that a lot. But having to become an international superstar, I can't do that comfortably! But it's all positive, you know.

- Jimmy Cliff