I don't think any of us really knows why we're here. But I think we're supposed to believe we're here for a purpose.

There's nothing written in the Bible, Old or New testament, that says, 'If you believe in Me, you ain't going to have no troubles.'

Goodbye don't mean gone.

Music is about the only thing left that people don't fight over.

[On his heroin addiction:] I did it to myself. It wasn't society...it wasn't a pusher, it wasn't being blind or being black or being poor. It was all my doing.

When I started to sing like myself - as opposed to imitating Nat Cole, which I had done for a while - when I started singing like Ray Charles, it had this spiritual and churchy, this religious or gospel sound. It had this holiness and preachy tone to it. It was very controversial. I got a lot of criticism for it.

What is a soul? It's like electricity - we don't really know what it is, but it's a force that can light a room.