If you need to find out about life’s true lessons – don’t go to your dad, professor or confidant, just listen to Kanye West.

The rapper/reality-star’s better half has had a few pearls of wisdom in the last couple of years, and VICE has been kind enough to put the most profound ones together in a comprehensive list.

Here are some of our favourites:

Kanye West on choosing friends

“I hang around architects, mostly.”

Kanye West on Kimye

“The concept of Kimye has more cultural significance than what Page Six could write.”

Kanye West on greatness

“‘New Slaves.’ The second verse. I argue that it’s the best rap verse of all time. It’s the Coming to America or Anchorman of a verse… it’s everything that a rap verse is supposed to be.”

Kanye West on the media

“What the media calls “meltdowns,” I call “turn-ups.” The media does everything they can to break creatives, break artists, to break people’s spirits, and I do everything I can to break media.”

Kanye West on the astronaut family

“I’ve got my astronaut family. Becoming famous is like being catapulted into space—sometimes without a space suit. We’ve seen so many people combust, suffocate, get lost in all these different things. But to have an anchor of other astronauts and make a little space family…”

Kanye West on death

“I think there’s something kind of depressing about a product being final, because the only time a product is really final is when you’re in a casket. As my grandfather would say, ‘Life is a performance.'”

Kanye West on longevity

“The longer your ‘gevity is, the more confidence you build.”

Kanye West on problem solving

“OK, now I’ve got the Will Ferrell sample, so I need to say something that finishes the verse. But people have to know not what it means. So it’s like problem solving to get to the point where you’re saying, “Going gorillas!” It’s difficult sometimes.”

Kanye West on Kanye West

“I’m totally weird, and I’m totally honest, and I’m totally inappropriate sometimes. And the thing is for me to say I wasn’t a genius, I would just be lying to you and myself. I’m not running for office, I’m just here to make good music, and make people feel good when they hear my music.”

Kanye West on being able to comment on Kanye West

“The person who wrote that, were they involved with anything last year that was as culturally significant as the Yeezus tour or that album?”

Kanye West on personal safety around Kanye West when yo disrespect Kanye West

“Don’t ask me a question about something you saw in a tabloid. Don’t try to antagonize me. It’s not safe for you in this zoo. Never think that I’m not from Chicago for one second and think you can walk right up and disrespect me in front of my family.”

Check out the rest of the list on VICE.