Quotes
“ Small changes end up making a big difference. It's about being a lot nicer to each other. It's just saying, 'Treat people with kindness.' ”
— Harry Styles
Music Male Role Models He / Him · Pronounced: HAIR-ee STYLZ
He / Him · Pronounced: HAIR-ee STYLZ
Context Styles on the origin of 'Treat People With Kindness', the phrase that became his own mantra and merchandise line.
“ I think ageing is an extraordinary process whereby you become the person that you always should have been. ”
— David Bowie
Music Male Role Models He / Him · Pronounced: DAY-vid BOH-ee
He / Him · Pronounced: DAY-vid BOH-ee
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Bowie, reflecting on growing older as becoming more truly himself rather than less.
“ Wherever we are, this is home. Wherever I go, I'll always be Puerto Rican. ”
— Bad Bunny
Music Latinx He / Him · Pronounced: BAD BUN-ee
He / Him · Pronounced: BAD BUN-ee
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Bad Bunny on identity and belonging as a Puerto Rican artist.
Read More: Latinx Voices
“ My anxiety and depression have ruled my life for as long as I can remember and I never leave the house because of it. ”
— Kid Cudi
Music Black He / Him · Pronounced: KID KOO-dee
He / Him · Pronounced: KID KOO-dee
Context Cudi's own words in the post explaining why he had checked into treatment.
“ I won't be a rock star. I will be a legend. ”
— Freddie Mercury
Music LGBTQ+ Global South He / Him · Pronounced: FRED-ee MER-kyuh-ree
He / Him · Pronounced: FRED-ee MER-kyuh-ree
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context The Queen frontman on his own mythology; he was born in Zanzibar to Parsi parents.
Read More: LGBTQ+ Voices
“ I'll tell you what freedom is to me: no fear. ”
— Nina Simone
Music Women Black She / Her · Pronounced: NEE-nuh sih-MOHN
She / Her · Pronounced: NEE-nuh sih-MOHN
Context Simone's own definition of freedom, from a life spent refusing to be made small.
“ I am Puerto Rican, I am Caribbean, and my music, my culture, my country's history run through my veins, from plena to reggaeton. ”
— Bad Bunny
Music Latinx He / Him · Pronounced: BAD BUN-ee
He / Him · Pronounced: BAD BUN-ee
Source: TIME interview · original link to be verified
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Bad Bunny on the musical lineage running through his own work.
Read More: Latinx Voices
“ For the longest time I was trying to be white and fit in, that's also fine at some points in your life, I had to do that to survive in certain spaces. ”
— Rina Sawayama
Music Women Asian LGBTQ+ She / Her · Pronounced: REE-nuh sah-wah-YAH-mah
She / Her · Pronounced: REE-nuh sah-wah-YAH-mah
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Sawayama on code-switching to survive spaces not built for her.
Read More: LGBTQ+ Voices
“ Everybody supports women until a woman's doing better than you. ”
— Sofia Isella
Music Women She / Her · Pronounced: soh-FEE-uh ih-SEL-uh
She / Her · Pronounced: soh-FEE-uh ih-SEL-uh
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context A single standout line from Isella's song, included as a narrow exception to the site's no-lyrics rule for standalone, aphoristic statements.
“ I can't wake you up. You can wake you up. I can't cure you. You can cure you. ”
— John Lennon
Music Male Role Models He / Him · Pronounced: JON LEN-un
He / Him · Pronounced: JON LEN-un
Context Lennon, in one of his final major interviews, on the limits of what anyone else can do for you.
“ You're trying to take all this misunderstanding and loathing, and you're trying to turn it into love, which is the wonderful thing that happens when you're trying to make music out of the rough, hard, bad things. ”
— Bruce Springsteen
Music Male Role Models He / Him · Pronounced: BROOSS SPRING-steen
He / Him · Pronounced: BROOSS SPRING-steen
Source: Esquire interview · original link to be verified
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Springsteen on what he's actually trying to do with the harder material in his songwriting.
“ People are just afraid of things too much. Afraid of things that don't necessarily merit fear. ”
— Frank Ocean
Music Black LGBTQ+ He / Him · Pronounced: FRANK OH-shun
He / Him · Pronounced: FRANK OH-shun
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Ocean, who came out via an open letter before his 2012 album release, on fear.
Read More: LGBTQ+ Voices
“ Growing up in the Western world, there are so many times where I'm like, Oh, I'm not white. My name is not that easy to say. I'm not as relatable as a white person. ”
— Rina Sawayama
Music Women Asian LGBTQ+ She / Her · Pronounced: REE-nuh sah-wah-YAH-mah
She / Her · Pronounced: REE-nuh sah-wah-YAH-mah
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Sawayama on growing up feeling caught between cultures in the UK.
Read More: LGBTQ+ Voices
“ I never thought of being blind as a disadvantage, and I never thought of being black as a disadvantage. I am what I am. I love me! ”
— Stevie Wonder
Music Male Role Models Disabled Black He / Him · Pronounced: STEE-vee WUN-der
He / Him · Pronounced: STEE-vee WUN-der
Source: The Guardian interview · original link to be verified
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Wonder, who has been blind since shortly after birth, on refusing to see either part of who he is as a limitation.
Read More: Disability Rights
“ It's an artist's duty to reflect the times in which we live. ”
— Nina Simone
Music Women Black She / Her · Pronounced: NEE-nuh sih-MOHN
She / Her · Pronounced: NEE-nuh sih-MOHN
Context Simone on the artist's responsibility to their times, which she lived through the civil-rights era.
“ Who am I to judge? ”
— Pope Francis
Religion Male Allies Male Role Models He / Him · Pronounced: POHP FRAN-siss
He / Him · Pronounced: POHP FRAN-siss
Context Said about gay priests. Read as a softening of tone, though doctrine did not change. Included as an ally standing with the LGBTQ+ community, not a member of it.
“ A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. ”
— Christopher Reeve
Entertainment Male Role Models Disabled He / Him · Pronounced: KRIS-tuh-fer REEV
He / Him · Pronounced: KRIS-tuh-fer REEV
Source: Still Me, autobiography · original link to be verified
Context Reeve, paralysed after a horse-riding accident in 1995, redefining heroism away from physical feats and towards endurance.
Read More: Disability Rights
“ I'm a soccer player, I'm Christian, and I'm gay. Those are things that people might say wouldn't go well together. But my family raised me to be an individual and to stand up for what I believe in. ”
— Robbie Rogers
Sport Male Role Models LGBTQ+ He / Him · Pronounced: ROB-ee ROJ-erz
He / Him · Pronounced: ROB-ee ROJ-erz
Context Rogers, the first openly gay man to play in a major US men's professional sports league, on being all of who he is at once.
Read More: LGBTQ+ Voices
“ Real men don't hurt women. ”
— Barack Obama
Politics Male Role Models Black He / Him · Pronounced: buh-RAHK oh-BAH-mah
He / Him · Pronounced: buh-RAHK oh-BAH-mah
Source: Remarks for the It's On Us campaign · original link to be verified
Context Obama speaking directly to young men about what strength actually looks like.
Read More: Black Activism
“ Each time a man stands up for an ideal, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope. ”
— Robert F. Kennedy
Politics Male Allies Male Role Models He / Him · Pronounced: ROB-ert eff KEN-eh-dee
He / Him · Pronounced: ROB-ert eff KEN-eh-dee
Context Delivered in apartheid South Africa. Included as an ally standing with oppressed communities, not a member of one.
“ Being kind is a choice that you can make absolutely every single day. ”
— Tom Hanks
Entertainment Male Role Models He / Him · Pronounced: TOM HANKS
He / Him · Pronounced: TOM HANKS
Context Hanks, promoting his role as Fred Rogers, on the choice at the centre of Rogers' philosophy.
