Sometimes my dreams are so deep that I dream that I'm dreaming.

[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.

Music is my life, professionally, for nearly 60 years. To be recognized by the academy is still the highest honor.

If you can play the blues, you can do anything.

What I've got to live up to, is being myself. If I do that, the rest will take care of itself.

I'd like to think that when I sing a song, I can let you know all about the heartbreak, struggle, lies and kicks in the ass I've gotten over the years for being black and everything else, without actually saying a word about it.

I don't sing a song unless I feel it. The song don't tug at my heart, I pass on it. I have to believe in what I'm doing.