I never hurt nobody but myself and that's nobody's business but my own..

And when you're poor, you grow up fast..

Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what's more than enough..

If nobody can learn from the past, then there's no point in raking it up..

They think they can make fuel from horse manure - now, I don't know if your car will be able to get 30 miles to the gallon, but it's sure gonna put a….

A kiss that is never tasted, is forever and ever wasted..

I don't think I ever sing the same way twice. The blues is sort of a mixed-up thing. You just have to feel it. Anything I do sing is part of my life..

Love is like a faucet, it turns off and on..

You can't copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means you're working without any real feeling..

Don't be in such a hurry..

Dope never helped anybody sing better or play music better or do anything better. All dope can do for you is kill you - and kill you the long, slow, ….

I can't stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession. If you can, then it ain't music, it's close order drill, or exercise or yo….

I can't stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession, let alone two years or ten years..

I never had a chance to play with dolls like other kids. I started working when I was six years old..

The only reason they're out there is to see me fall into the damn orchestra pit..

When Lester plays, he almost seems to be singing; one can almost hear the words..

I've been told that nobody sings the word 'hunger' like I do..

People don't understand the kind of fight it takes to record what you want to record the way you want to record it..

Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen and I was three..

So I asked him to play "Trav'lin' All Alone." That came closer than anything to the way I felt. And some part of it must have come across. The whole ….

Singing songs like 'The Man I Love' or 'Porgy' is no more work than sitting down and eating Chinese roast duck, and I love roast duck..