If you have the opportunity to play this game of life you need to appreciate every moment. A lot of people don’t appreciate the moment until it’s passed.

Kanye West said this on live television during his acceptance speech for Best Rap Album at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards on February 13, 2005 — a moment made more poignant because he prefaced it by reflecting on the near-fatal 2004 car accident that inspired his breakthrough single "Through the Wire." The official Recording Academy transcript and video confirm the line, so the attribution to West is solid and its origin fully documented. One small note for the record: as West actually delivered it, the second sentence runs "a lot of people don't appreciate their moment until it's passed," and his first sentence carries a comma after "life"; the widely shared version quoted here smooths "their moment" to "the moment." The sentiment and the substance are exactly his — this is a verified quote, differing from the original only in that minor, commonly reproduced tweak.