I can't talk about my singing; I'm inside it. How can you describe something you're inside of?

You know why we're stuck with the myth that only black people have soul? Because white people don't let themselves feel things.

Audiences like their blues singers to be miserable.

I gotta go on doin' it the way I see it...I got no choice but to take it like I see it. I'm here to have a party while I'm on this earth...I'm gettin' it now, today. I don't even know where I'm gonna be twenty years from now, so I'm just gonna keep on rockin', cause if I start saving up bits and pieces of me...man, there ain't gonna be nothing left for Janis.

It's hard to be free but when it works, it's worth it!

I think I think too much. That's why I drink!

You are what you settle for.