They all trying to say something with music that you can't say with plain talk. There ain't really no words for love or pain. And the way I see it, only fools go around trying to talk their love or talk their pain. So the smart people make music and you can kinda hear about it without them saying anything.

The last time you're doing something - knowing you're doing it for the last - makes it even more alive than the first.

Contempt mates well with pity.

Self-consciousness is really a form of egotism.

There is a problem in America. An Irish or Polish American can write a story and it's an American story. When a Black American writes a story, it's called a Black story. I take exception to that. Every artist has articulated to his own experience. The problem is that some people do not see Blacks as Americans.

Old as she was, she still missed her daddy sometimes.

The right woman is the one you can live with, not the one in your head.