There's a sadness to all kinds of music if you want to hear it. There's also happiness to it if you want to hear it.

The crowds treat me like my last name. When I go onstage people usually stand up, I never ask them to, but they do. They stand up and they don't know how much I appreciate it.

I guess you can look at me, and tell I'm the old man. My name is BB King.

Charlie Christian had no more impact on my playing than Django Reinhardt or Lonnie Johnson. I just wanted to play like him. I wanted to play like all of them. All of these people were important to me. I couldn't play like any of them, though.

I was glad to see other blues guitarists like Albert King have crossover successes like me. We played in the same places like the Whisky and the Filmore. When Albert made his guitar cry, he could cut you so deep!

You never miss what you've never had. I never had any other life. I didn't know any other life.

No one can take it away from you.