I really feel that if you're gonna be good, you gotta practice... Practice whatever the hell you do.
Interpretation
Success requires consistent practice and dedication.
In this quote, Ray Charles emphasizes the importance of practice in achieving excellence in any endeavor. He suggests that to be truly good at something, one must commit to a routine of diligent practice, regardless of the activity, highlighting that mastery comes through effort and perseverance.
In practice
In a motivational speech about achieving personal goals.
I suppose I've always done my share of crying, especially when there's no other way to contain my feelings. I know that men ain't supposed to cry, but I think that's wrong. Crying's always been a way for me to get things out which are buried deep, deep down. When I sing, I often cry. Crying is feeling, and feeling is being human. Oh yes, I cry.
I never wanted to be famous. I only wanted to be great.
To me, music is entertainment - what else can it be? In fact, it's the only language I know of that's universal.
Just because you can't see anything , doesn't mean you should shut your eyes.
Any artist, when he goes in to record, should have the feeling that any song he records can be a hit. This may sound egotistical, but it makes sense.
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.
The difference between FEELING yourself in action, here and now, and visualizing yourself in action, as though you were on a motion-picture screen, is the difference between success and failure.
You have to believe you're great. You have to have an air about you. My success wasn't because I was a great talent, but because I wanted it more than anybody else. Every minute I step on that field, I want to prove I'm the best player in the league.
I'm always focussed on the actual work, and I think that's a much more succinct way to describe what you care about than any speech I could ever make.
Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage but simply because they have never organized their energies around a goal.
I grew up in an immigrant neighborhood. We just knew the rule was you're going to have to work twice as hard.
I had this dream, and I really wanted to be a star. And I was almost a monster in the way that I was really fearless with my ambitions.
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