It's a terrible thing being a patriarch. I don't even have a gray beard. But people keep calling me up for advice.

In a world of private property, if something isn't owned by somebody, it's going to be misused by somebody else.

When I am chopping trees out in the woods because I heat my house with wood, I feel myself right in the middle of God. Mahalia Jackson said "I have seen God. I have seen the sun rise." So, in a sense, when anyone looks in the mirror, they look at an infinitesimally small part of God.

There is an old Arabic proverb, 'When the king puts the poet on his payroll, he cuts off the tongue of the poet', so throughout the ages, people in power have liked to control music, they used to throw songwriters in jail throughout history, and were assassinated.

Some may find them merely diverting melodies. Others may find them incitements to Red revolution. And who will say if either or both is wrong? Not I.

When will we ever learn? When will we ever learn?

Get people to sing together and they'll act together too.