Prince had a lot to say in life – and even more in death, according to some unusual posts from his official social media channels.
In the past few months, blocks of inspirational text attributed to Prince have appeared on his Facebook, Instagram and X accounts with no clear sources cited.
“People who have no creativity, talent or courage are the ones who follow the rules,” Prince reportedly said in a post from June 20. “Be brave, be bold, step up and make your own! The passion that lies inside of you means you don’t need to follow the pack, because you transcend it.”
A July 28 post read: “Time is something we created in order to measure the span of our lives. It’s not meant to create fear in you or paralyze you from moving forward. You are never too old and it is never too late to start over.”
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A third, from August 11, said: “People will always have their opinions. Only you know who you really are. Focus on living authentically and honestly, have integrity in all that you do, and those opinions won’t matter.”
Although he did speak on these themes, Prince was infamous for insisting that journalists could not record or even take notes while interviewing him – so the veracity of these quotes is difficult to parse. None of them include the original sources.
A 2004 interview with Anthony DeCurtis, excerpted in features for Rolling Stone and Word, actually included comments with similar themes. Prince explored aging and time, a deep topic that he frequently discussed.
“Spiritually I feel very different from the way I used to, but physically? Not at all,” Prince told DeCurtis. “I don’t look at time that way, and I don’t believe in age. When you wake up, each day looks the same, so each day should be a new beginning. I don’t have an expiration date.” In that same interview, he said: “Despite everything, no one can dictate who you are to other people.”
That’s worth repeating. Unfortunately, the quotes as they appear in these new posts can also be found, verbatim and unsourced, on questionable blogs and even on LinkedIn posts.
‘This Is Not an Accurate Representation’
Prince fans and journalists alike have taken notice. “Once again this is not an accurate representation of what Prince said and appears to have been taken from some random website,” Andrea Swensson, host of Prince’s official podcast and author of Prince and Purple Rain: 40 Years, wrote in an Instagram story condemning the August 11 post. “He deserves excellence, not whatever this is.”
The Prince estate has never shied away from hot topics regarding his music and image, including a dramatic cancellation of a planned multi-hour Netflix documentary. But perhaps the memory of someone who championed “real music by real musicians” would be better served by real quotes with real citations?
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