Before I begin, let me say right here and now that I'm a country boy. And, man, I mean the real backwoods! That's at the start of the start of the th….

I never said I was a genius. I never said I was a cornerstone. I've never said I'm a legend in my own time. You never heard me say nothing like that..

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….

I don't know what would have happened to me if I hadn't been able to hear..

When I was going blind, I didn't turn to God. It didn't seem to me then - and it doesn't seem to me now - that those items were His concern. Early on….

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..

Many times during auditions, I was told that I couldn't carry a note with a bucket, and that I sure couldn't play the piano..

I was born with music inside me. That's the only explanation I know of.

I sing what I sing true. Each night I sing it the way I feel that night..

Absence makes the heart grow fonder and tears are only rain to make love grow..

Music is the chalk to the blackboard of life. Without it everything is a blank slate.

Other arms reach out to me, Other eyes smile tenderly, Still in peaceful dreams I see, The road leads back to you..

Just like you can buy grades of silk, you can buy grades of justice..

If somebody don't like something that I do, that's his or her prerogative. Just like it's mine..

All my life I've always been so blue, born to lose, and now I'm losing you..

I know it sounds strange - a blind teenager buzzin' round on a motorcycle - but I liked that; that was me. I had always been nervy, and I always had ….

Learning to read music in Braille and play by ear helped me develop a damn good memory..

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..

Don't go backwards - you've already been there..

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

Hit the road Jack, don'tcha come back no more, no more, no more, no more. Hit the road Jack, don'tcha come back no more..