Drake has been making chart-topping hits since the days of So Far Gone. Whether you’re jamming to a new album or spinning an old classic, Drake’s got a memorable line for every occasion.
In fact, his lines often stay with us long after the song ends, whether it’s because they’re catchy, funny, relatable, or surprisingly deep. But which quotes are the most iconic? The lines that have transcended music to find a place in our everyday lives?
From the hilarious one-liners to the life-affirming sermons, here are 15 of Drake’s best lines of all time:
Most Iconic Drake Quotes
1. “You only live once — that’s the motto, YOLO.”
— From “The Motto” (2011)
Let’s start with the obvious choice, the song that launched a thousand memes and took over the world for a whole summer. You only live once, but if you’re Drake, you also get to make YOLO into a way of life.
This has got to be one of the most globally recognizable Drake quotes. In fact, in a list like this, we can’t not include a Drake lyric that the rest of the world owes to him.
The line is deceptively simple and, for many of us, one that sums up Drake’s philosophy. After all, “YOLO” can be a positive mantra or an excuse for reckless behavior depending on your mood. Related: Top 80 Milton Erickson Quotes
2. “Started from the bottom, now we’re here.”
— From “Started From the Bottom” (2013)
The song that spawned perhaps the most famous Drake lines of all also contains some of the most meaningful quotes from Drake’s discography.
Yes, a song like “Started From the Bottom” has no small amount of bragging. But deep down, isn’t that also the beauty of it? This is Drake at his most ambitious and hopeful, and it shows.
This one hit every key in the song and became almost a standalone hit on its own. It’s an anthem for everyone who’s ever had to grind through every small step of their journey.
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3. “I’m just saying you could do better.”
— From “Marvins Room” (2011)
Some of Drake’s best lines aren’t about winning or power but raw emotion. The lyric above is the kind of painfully honest quote that gets under your skin and lingers.
In this short, straight-talking one-liner, you can almost hear the breakup bruise beneath Drake’s words as he calls up his ex to call out all her lovers and her right back in return.
It’s classic Drake self-deprecation at its best, with all the bittersweet longing that comes with it.
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4. “I know they say the first love is the sweetest, but that first cut is the deepest.”
— From “Take Care” (2011)
Love and loss are common themes in Drake’s work, and this lyric manages to capture both in one punchy sentence. This quote is so poetic and melodic it could almost be a song in its own right.
Love is at once one of the most beautiful and painful human emotions, and this lyric gets that.
On the one hand, Drake accepts that no one can ever truly replace your first love. On the other, he concedes that nothing else will hurt quite like it did, either.
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5. “Sometimes it’s the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination.”
— From an interview, not a song (2013)
One of the best Drake quotes comes not from his songs but from his interviews. Drake is the kind of artist that almost constantly explores and re-examines the life of the musician and the process of being a creator.
This particular quote shows Drake at his most introspective, looking back on the winding path that led him to his current place and all the small life lessons along the way.
Sometimes you have to follow the road to see where it leads.
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6. “I’m more than just an option.”
— From “Find Your Love” (2010)
Some of Drake’s quotes are about romantic love, and others address self-love and self-worth. It’s almost as if Drake has a separate album for each subject, given the number of his quotes on both.
Drake flips the traditional romantic script in Find Your Love by giving voice to a man’s feelings of insecurity and a desire to be more than just someone to turn to when plans fall through.
It’s a less-talked-about Drake quote for good reason. Vulnerability is anathema to the cultural stereotype of masculinity, and this song subverts it brilliantly.
7. “Tables turn, bridges burn, you live and learn.”
— From “Pound Cake / Paris Morton Music 2” (2013)
Drake’s music has always been full of insights about success and the perils and pitfalls of the road to get there. The above Drake quotes sum up a great many of these themes in one simple sentence.
Growth can mean change, change can mean loss, and sometimes, the price of progress is the relationships and loyalties that you lose on the way.
In other words, this Drake quote is another way of saying “it is what it is.”
8. “Jealousy is just love and hate at the same time.”
— From “Over My Dead Body” (2011)
Some of Drake’s lines aren’t so much quotes as mini-essays in psychology. This one, about the close relationship between love and hate and the negative emotions that are their offspring, is one of the best Drake quotes on this list.
Drake is a master of contradictions and exposing the ambiguity of human emotions, and this line is a perfect example of that.
Love and hate, passion and aggression — all of these complex and powerful emotions make us human, for better and for worse.
9. “I learned working with the negatives could make for better pictures.”
— From “HYFR” (2011)
The balance between light and dark is one of Drake’s most fascinating themes and one of the reasons why his music is so emotionally honest. In this lyric, Drake turns the negatives — both the life events and the literal photography — into something positive.
Hardship, heartbreak, failure, and pain can be the building blocks of something greater and more beautiful, Drake seems to be saying here.
On a practical level, this is also classic Drake career advice — find ways to turn your problems into your strengths.
10. “Know yourself, know your worth.”
— From “0 to 100 / The Catch Up” (2014)
Drake could singlehandedly take down the confidence-boosting self-help genre with this one Drake quote alone. On a practical level, it’s powerful motivation and a no-fail formula for success.
Learn who you are. Understand what you have to offer. Stand up for yourself, your work, and your value.
It’s classic Drake ego and arrogance in one pithy sentence and a reminder of why he’s one of the most popular artists in the business.
11. “When you look ahead and see a world that’s run by greed, it’s hard to breathe.”
— From “The Resistance” (2010)
The line is the rare moment where Drake steps outside the microcosm of his personal experiences to comment on the world as it is.
The line is a beautiful and complex interweaving of existential dread, hope, and honesty, the kind that has become Drake’s trademark. It’s also another example of Drake’s facility with oxymorons and ambiguous juxtapositions.
12. “I wasn’t hiding my kid from the world, I was hiding the world from my kid.”
— From “Emotionless” (2018)
A note on fatherhood. Drake recently hit headlines when he responded to rumors about the paternity of his child in characteristically candid fashion. Drake has always written about relationships and heartbreak, but this is him at his most honest and relatable yet.
Drake had to talk about the relationship between his professional and private life to provide the real context to rumors. In one stroke, the quote killed the gossip and cemented Drake’s status as a genuine and heartfelt public figure.
13. “They ain’t make me what I am, they just found me like this.”
— From “0 to 100 / The Catch Up” (2014)
Confidence, swagger, and an air of self-assurance are all key elements of any Drake song, and this is another reminder of why Drake songs often transcend music to become a quotable cultural phenomenon.
Here, Drake’s nailing that classic modern rapper pose of self-confidence and sheer unapologetic ambition.
It’s a statement of identity, a reminder of talent, and one of the Drake lyrics that say something that we’ve all been thinking at some point.
14. “I know way too many people here right now that I didn’t know last year.”
— From “Over” (2010)
The downside to success is alluded to time and again in Drake’s songs, and this particular quote hits it on the head.
Drake is growing and moving up in the world, and new faces are coming with that. But at what cost? This is Drake at his wistful, melancholic, and nostalgic best.
15. “I live for the nights that I can’t remember, with the people that I won’t forget.”
— From “Show Me a Good Time” (2010)
Drake has one of the most diverse and unexpected discographies in rap, so it comes as no surprise that we’re including one of his more unlikely lyrics in this list of Drake’s best quotes. This is fun, youthful, and whimsical Drake at his most nostalgic.
It’s a beautiful encapsulation of friendships and party memories, the bittersweet nature of nostalgia, and why memories are better if you don’t quite remember them.
What are the most iconic Drake quotes?
Drake’s lyrics have left an indelible mark on popular culture, and these 15 Drake quotes are just the tip of the iceberg. From “Started from the bottom, now we’re here” to “You only live once, that’s the motto,” his lines have made their way into our everyday language and our hearts.
But what makes these quotes from Drake so memorable? It’s the raw emotion and honesty with which Drake delivers them, no matter the topic. Whether he’s talking about love, success, or his own vulnerabilities, Drake always manages to connect with his listeners in a deep and personal way.
Drake’s lyrics also often walk the line between confidence and vulnerability. One moment, he’s talking about how he’s “got this”, the next, he’s “feeling so low.” That duality is one of the things that makes Drake so relatable. Because while we may all aspire to be as confident and successful as Drake, we all have our own insecurities and doubts too.
Drake lyrics remind us to:
Celebrate every success, no matter how small.
Honor our feelings and be honest about our emotions.
Never be afraid to pick ourselves back up and start over.
Always remember our own value and never sell ourselves short.
Final Thoughts
Drake has gifted us with so many memorable songs, but his lyrics are also some of his most powerful and moving moments.
The 15 Drake lines and quotes we’ve collected above are just a drop in the ocean. The 6 God is one of the most quotable, frequently-cited, and most easily recognized artists in the industry for a reason.
Drake is one of the few artists whose lyrics we all have in our phones as Instagram captions, motivational quotes, and mementos. The rapper’s life work transcends music in a way few others do.
That’s because at his best, Drake is writing not just about music, love, and success, but about life.
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