Ray Charles Quotes - Page 3

Music is nothing separate from me. It is me... You'd have to remove the music surgically.

Even though I'm not Jewish...Israel is one of the few causes I feel good about supporting.

You got to set your mind right and the rest will come to you naturally. No restrictions, no hang-ups, no stupid rules, no formalities, no forbidden fruit - just everyone getting and giving as much as he and she can.

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

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.

You ask me what I'd like to do that I haven't done and I say 'Nothin'!' I haven't any mountains to climb or oceans to swim. I've been an extremely blessed individual. ... I'm not clamorin' for more trinkets. If I were to die tomorrow, I could say I've had a good life.

I got a cow that went dry and a hen that won't lay, a big stack of bills that gets bigger each day.

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 figured I better begin to learn how to count on myself, instead of counting on supernatural forces.

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.

I think that most great artists who are extremely known, as I am, would intimidate a lot of people. I don't want to do that to people, but I know I do.

Art Tatum -- he was a genius. And Einstein, not me.

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

I heard someone say that all black people got rhythm. Bullshit.

Now Listen You know I work so hard, all day long Everything I try to do, Seem to always turn out wrong That's why I wanna stop by on my way home and say Let's go get stoned

Women anchor me. They're there when I need them. They're sensitive to me, and I'm sensitive to them. I'm not saying I've loved that many women.

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

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.

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 a lot of faith in my ability not to break my neck.

My music had roots which I'd dug up from my own childhood, musical roots buried in the darkest soil.

What makes my approach special is that I do different things. I do jazz, blues, country music and so forth. I do them all, like a good utility man.

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

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

The fact of the matter is, you don't give up what's natural. Anything I've fantasized about, I've done.

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

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