Michael Franti is an American musician, poet, and songwriter. He is the frontman of the band Michael Franti & Spearhead, whose music is a mix of hip hop, reggae, jazz, folk, and rock. He is also an activist who is passionate about peace, human rights, and environmental issues.
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Top 10 Michael Franti Quotes
You learn a lot when you're barefoot. The first thing is every step you take is different.
All the freaky people make the beauty of the world.
We can bomb the world to pieces, but we can't bomb it into peace.
The music industry has been hijacked by corporate interests, but the way music affects people and resonates with them hasn't changed.
Be as radiant as the sun, as healing as the rain, as generous as a tree.
Every single soul is a poem.
It's never too late to start the day over.
The more I see, the less I know.
I believe that through positive thoughts, speech, action and attitudes, we change things for the better.
It doesnt matter if youre black, white, gay, straight, come from different countries, different language... every single person is significant and is meaningful.
Michael Franti inspirational quote
Michael Franti Image Quotes
We can bomb the world to pieces, but we can't bomb it into peace. — Michael Franti
Michael Franti Short Quotes
Television, the drug of the nation, breeding ignorance and feeding radiation.
Be who you are, nothing more... nothing less.
No life's worth more than any other, no sister worth less than any brother.
Power to the peaceful!
Only a rat can win a rat race.
Sometimes the hardest thing to do is just to stay human.
Music gets us in touch with our emotions in a way that's more intimate than any other art form.
It's that transformative nature of love and music and yoga that really inspires me.
Those who start wars, never fight them, And those who fight wars, they never like them...
Having personal things in balance is more important than the other.
Michael Franti Famous Quotes And Sayings
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
We can bomb the world to pieces, but we can't bomb it into peace. — 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
I think of love as an action. Finding something that's outside of yourself, to serve someone else's soul, helping to ignite someone else's spirit, to bring about ease of heart and joy, serenity in somebody else. — Michael Franti
The main thing is to be myself. What I mean by that is, to be honest when called upon to express your feelings. The other thing is - maybe this should come first - to be a good listener. To close your mouth and to listen, and to be able to echo back what your partner says to you. — 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
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
Don't fear the night time, Because the monsters know that you're divine. And don't fear the sunshine, Because everything is better in the summer time... — Michael Franti
My yoga practice, I do it because when I get on my mat, I know I'm going to be transformed. I know that whatever stresses are in my life or whatever worries I have or whatever monkey mind is happening for me, when I get off the mat, I'm going to be transformed. — 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
Whenever people go out of their way to help other people - there's power and beauty in our diversity. — Michael Franti
My parents said sticks and stones will break your bones but names will never hurt you. But I always felt a sense of exhilaration after a fight; it was the names that really hurt me. — 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 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 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
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
One of the things I love about yoga is that it brings you into the present moment. You aren't worried about what will happen tomorrow and you aren't thinking about what happened yesterday. It's about opening your heart and living from your heart. — 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 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
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
When we all see justice, then we'll all see peace! — Michael Franti
Love is the action of soul satisfaction. — 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
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
Every single soul is a poem, written on the back of God's hand — 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 face and feeling uplifted. — 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
Life is too short to make just one decision, Music's 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
It shouldn't be a Republican or Democratic issue whether we take care of the environment. That should be a human issue. — Michael Franti
Today we are in a war against war - music is our power. — Michael Franti
Everyone deserves music. — 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
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
Playing on the streets of Iraq, or in Israel or the Gaza strip, I'd sing angry protest songs against war. People would say, 'Make us clap, make us dance, and laugh and sing.' It really made me think about the importance of happy music. — 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
Music and yoga have a great synergy. — 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
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
The human interest, and the natural interest, and the spiritual interest of this planet need to begin to take a priority over the corporate interest, the military interest, and the materialistic interests. — 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
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
God is too big for just one religion. — 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
When many little people in many little places do many little things, then the whole world changes. — 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
It ain't about who ya love, it's all about do ya love. — 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
The most difficult part for me is feeling connected to the people that I love but always being on the go to different places. — Michael Franti
I think the main thing I would say is, don't settle. Don't settle for something that's not great. — Michael Franti
The hardest part about what I do, the most vulnerable place is my relationship with my family and Sara, my amazing partner, because I'm leaving a lot. And as a touring artist, I'm constantly coming and going, but also when I'm at home, my studio's at home. I'm leaving to go into a music world in my head. — 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
I want to promote positivity. — Michael Franti
I feel alive when I feel ease of heart. — 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
People ask me a lot, 'what can one person do,' and I say 'I'm not really sure what one person can due except come together with other people.' — Michael Franti
Music has the power to bring people together like no other art form. — 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
Star Wars is mythology. Its like Greek mythology or Shakespeare. Its the story of good versus evil over a very long span of time. The storytelling is universal and timeless. — Michael Franti
Sometimes, I feel like I can do anything, and, sometimes, I'm so alive, sometimes, I feel like I could zoom across the sky and, sometimes, I wanna cry. — Michael Franti
My goal has not ever been to change minds, my goal is to open minds. — 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
I think that the transformative nature of love is why we are so drawn to it. — 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, Then we all kill each other, Cause God told us to? Nah!.. — Michael Franti
I always know when a song is good or close to finished. When I sing it, it makes me feel the emotion. My tears will start flowing or I'll start laughing. I'll start feeling whatever intensity or emotion was the seed of that song. — Michael Franti
There's sometimes when I feel really balanced, and there's other times when I feel like I'm trying to keep juggling too many balls in the air, and I feel like I'm on the edge of dropping all of them and having them all land on my head, you know? Scheduling is a big part of it, and the other is just remaining flexible and keeping a sense of humor about things. — Michael Franti
Life Lessons by Michael Franti
Michael Franti has taught us that music can be a powerful tool for social change, encouraging us to use our voices to stand up for what we believe in and make a difference in the world.
He has also demonstrated that it is possible to create meaningful art that is both uplifting and inspiring, while still addressing difficult issues and providing hope.
Through his work, Franti has shown us that it is possible to make a positive impact on the world through music, and that we can all use our talents to make a difference.
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