I am the innovator. I am the originator. I am the emancipator. I am the architect of rock 'n' roll!

I think God made a woman to be strong and not to be trampled under the feet of men. I've always felt this way because my mother was a very strong woman, without a husband.

I never heard nobody in my audience call me any kind of names.

It's not the size of the ship; it's the size of the waves.

And I don't get down on nobody else for doing whatever else they do. To each his own.

I look back on my life, comin' out of Macon, Georgia - I never thought I'd be a superstar, a living legend. I never heard of no rock and roll in my life.

No, I've never truly been a minister.