Emmanuel Jal Quotes

The worst people on earth are not only those who commit evil, but those who stand by and turn a blind eye

I'm still a soldier, fighting with my pen and paper for peace till the day I cease.

Music is powerful. It is the only thing that can speak into your mind, your heart and your soul without your permission.

I am proof that one person can rise above any challenge, and if I can, then so will others if they are given the chance.

Peace may be negotiated by politicians, but it is something written in hearts and minds not on pieces of paper

I still have nightmares of dead comrades, a long time ago, talking to me. 'Emmanuel, don't forget about us, don't give up, keep telling our story.'

I lost my childhood. I didn't play football or video games. Or have birthdays or the love of a family.

Education is the only solution for peace.

Sometimes words are not needed, and the simplicity of expressing yourself through an art form is one of the best ways of communication.

Music is actually where I see heaven.

If I sleep for more than half an hour, I get horrible dreams in which I'm firing a gun and helicopters are coming down.

[During the second Sudanese Civil War] what was actually killing us wasn't the Muslims, wasn't the Arabs. It was somebody sitting somewhere manipulating the system, and using religion to get what they want to get out of us, which is the oil, the diamond, the gold and the land.

When people know you've been a soldier, they judge you: you are a thief, a lost boy.

In Africa, music is for everything, Music was originally used for community. That was what music was for.

Knife crime and gun crime is poverty-driven, and poverty leads to insecurity.

To tell my story, to touch lives.

I'm rapping in English but in an African way. I'm not trying to sound like an American.

Any child soldier has to go through a lot of love, care and understanding to become normal.

Only a coward will use a gun to protect and get respect for themselves.

It’s no longer about the Lost Boys. They keep trying to make their way out, then they meet other people and empathize with them. It’s a story that a lot of people are going to discover their purpose from. When someone doesn’t know their purpose, they get lost.

A cold heart is my protection mechanism. I don't really feel anything for anyone.

In Africa, you know, if you're poor, at least you can go to the forest and share some mangoes with the gorillas and monkey.

I grew up in poverty. For 25 years I was fed on aid.

I don't take modern hip-hop as real. It's entertaining, it's fake, like James Bond.

I don't know anywhere where the people are hungrier for education than South Sudan.