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President Obama on the death of Prince: "Today, the world lost a creative icon"

Dylan Matthews is a senior correspondent and head writer for Vox's Future Perfect section and has worked at Vox since 2014. He is particularly interested in global health and pandemic prevention, anti-poverty efforts, economic policy and theory, and conflicts about the right way to do philanthropy.

The White House released the following statement from President Barack Obama following the sudden, unexpected death of 57-year-old musical legend Prince on Thursday:

The "A strong spirit transcends rules" quote apparently comes from a 1999 interview with Barney Hoskyns. Prince continued: "As RZA of Wu-Tang said: 'I ain't commercial; it's y'all who tell me whether I'm commercial or not.'"

For 11 more notable Prince quotes, see German Lopez's article here. And to remember what a musical talent Prince was, check out 14 of his most iconic songs here.