It's a new dawn, it's a new day...and I'm feeling good.

I applied for a scholarship to Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. I knew I was good enough, but they turned me down. And it took me about six months to realize it was because I was black. I never really got over that jolt of racism at the time.

I believe the time will come when the whole definition of pop music will change. It will get to the point where a song will not be a good song until it has a high level of creativity in writing and performance. In other words, in order to be popular, songs will have to meet these high standards.

I was always a politician from the day the civil rights people chose me as their protest singer.

If I want to take a particular form of blues somewhere else I have the equipment to do it but I never even thought of it.

I made wine from the lilac tree/Put my heart in its recipe/It makes me see what I want to see/And be what I want to be

I feel more alive now than I ever have in my life. I have a chance to live, as I've dreamed.