5 Best Lines From Dr. Kanye West's Speech

Kanye West received his (somewhat controversial) honorary doctorate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago yesterday. Five quotes from his five-minute acceptance speech, per the Chicago Tribune and the below video:

• "I felt my nerves a bit. And I don’t feel that feeling a lot. The nerves of humility and modesty when being honored, a humanization, a reality of being recognized. And all I thought as I sit here (in the audience), kind of shaking a little bit, is I need to get rid of that feeling, I need to not be nervous."
• "This honor is going to make your lives easier, for two reasons: You don’t have to defend me as much! And I’m going to make all of our lives easier."

• He opened with a joking apology for always speaking his mind ("I’m sorry, that was just my opinion") and later noted, "'I’m sorry' is something that you can use a lot. It gives you the opportunity to give your opinion, apologize for it, and give your opinion again. People say 'You shouldn't have to be sorry for your opinions.'"
• "And it's these Floyd Mayweather belts that are needed to prove what I've been saying my entire life. Whether it's the co-sign of Paul McCartney grabbing me and saying 'It's OK, he doesn't bite white people.' Or the New York Times cover. Or the Time Most Influential cover. And now, a doctorate at the Art Institute of Chicago."
• On George W. Bush, whom he once said didn't care about black people: "George Bush [pause for dramatic effect] has some very cool self-portraits. I didn't know he was an artist!"

(More Kanye West stories.)