As a boy, I believed freedom for America meant freedom for me. There was a time I believed every word spoken.

I went to jail at 16 for stealing tires off Cadillacs. When I got out I said, Never again.

The whole system of society tells you what to do.

I didn't mind working in the clubs, but I resented it being a club where pimps hang out. Because the music that I create is of a higher intellect than that. It not only encompasses pimps, but whores, ballplayers, executives... everybody.

We are all gods, all forces of nature. We can destroy, we can build. We are like oceans and like fires.

The women used the music to get their men to relate to them better: "talk to me, tell me what's on your mind." Men used the music to get the girls in the mood to make love. So either way you had it, Barry White is the one artist who actually was in your bedroom with you at your most sacred, sensuous moment of your life.

When I saw corruption, I was forced to find truth on my own. I couldn't swallow the hypocrisy.