Mahalia Jackson Quotes

When you sing gospel you have a feeling there is a cure for what's wrong.

The old Devil gets mad when you're trying to do good. Pray that God will move the stumbling blocks.

If you want me to sing this Christmas song with the feeling and the meaning, you better see if you can locate that check.

Baby, black promoters oppressed me before white promoters ever got hold of me. Don't talk skin to me.

Blues are the songs of despair, but gospel songs are the songs of hope.

Everybody needs somebody.

They thought I was a success as soon as I started paying the bills.

The mind and the voice by themselves are not sufficient.

Sometimes you ask God for something and you don't know what you're asking.

Put your mind on the gospel. And remember - there's one God for all.

If you believe in God, He will open the windows of heaven and pour blessings upon you.

Anybody singing the blues is in a deep pit yelling for help.

This is the place to see the stars - Hollywood Bowl.

One thing about playing the real jazz is that you can't count it.

Money just draws flies.

Time is important to me because I want to sing long enough to leave a message. I'm used to singing in churches where nobody would dare stop me until the Lord arrives!

Do you know most of the Jewish songs have the same trend of sadness as Negro spirituals?

Gospel music in those days of the early 1930s was really taking wing. It was the kind of music colored people had left behind them down South and they liked it because it was just like a letter from home.

Gospel music rhythms are not African in origin, although I know that's what the jazz experts say.

When you are through with the blues, you've got nothing to rest on.

Faith and prayer are the vitamins of the soul; man cannot live in health without them.

I don't worry too much about the script, I just ad lib, like Pearl Bailey.

How can you sing of Amazing Grace? How can you sing prayerfully of heaven and earth and all God's wonders without using your hands?

The trouble with records is that they're too short.

You're blessed if you have the strength to work.

It is easy to be independent when you've got money. But to be independent when you haven't got a thing, that's the Lord's test.