People do get ridiculed for liking us or because they look the way they do and they're a part of what we do.

All we can know is our own subjective version of reality. That's the way we go through our lives. Everybody.

I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow and I can't relive yesterday but I live in the moment if I can.

The funny thing is, I was never much of a fighter. Better a live coward than a dead hero, that was my motto.

I was raised by a strong mother and I never felt like I had to be a role, you know, I was just me, who I am.

Well, first of all, they're all about the music and all I care about in my professional career is the music.

The deals that were made for Black artists at that time were not the deals that were made for white artists.

That was my choice at that time, and I still say Nixon was a great president. A very beautiful and wise man.

I just don't like to be in my own - I'm already myself, so I don't like to be in my own - like, watch myself.

We never had a bathtub. Mom would bathe me in the wooden or tin washtub in the kitchen, or in a big lard can.

I think reading is one of the greatest forms of magic available to us on the planet. Reading is so important.

I wrote a whole solo album and recorded some of it, even did a little tour with Sara Lee and Gail Ann Dorsey.

You can never really know what a guru is as long as you are imprisoned by your own thoughts and circular ego.

I'm thrilled when I hear the greatest jazz musicians. They continue to search in ways other musicians do not.

For the next three plus years, I really was not in creative shape. That part of my brain was not functioning.

You gotta be really careful what you bite off. Don't bite off more than you can chew. It's a dangerous world.

I think that he was a prophet. I've had a difficult time coming to terms with Jesus Christ as the Son of God.

But the witness of the substitutionary atonement of Jesus is that God's most difficult promise has been kept.

I didn't do the marching down the streets, jumping in front of the lines and holding hands... that wasn't me.

Nothing can beat the smell of dew and flowers and the odor that comes out of the earth when the sun goes down.

I want affection and tenderness desperately, but there's something in me that prevents me from handing it out.

I tell you, when we travel with our own band and we're on the road... Well, I can't even believe this is work.

I love Atlanta. I feel really at home in Atlanta. We spent a lot of time there. But Athens is like home to me.

I've listened to Preachers, I've listened to fools. I've worshipped the dropouts, who've made their own rules.

I used to cry myself to sleep every night. I missed singing so much. And performing. Man, I missed it so much.

I've been doing that song ["Live Wire"] on my own for years, so no, I'm not worried about [high notes] at all.

Best friends are made are made through smiles and tears, and sometimes that fades away through miles and years.

For anyone to take the time to care about what I write and read a book is so flattering to me because it's fun.

I'm not afraid to die. I'm looking forward to it. I know the Lord has His arms wrapped around this big sparrow.

I never accepted the idea that I was all through. I guess no person who has once been a star can do that, ever.

There's so much chaos and trouble in the world right now, and we need to broadcast as much peace and love, too.

It's true that I'm not known as a crooner or balladeer. I'm known for a more crusading or quixotic temperament.

When we do get to the point where things aren't good, we know how to smarten up and fix it before it gets ugly.

The first question that comes out of everybody's mouth, 'Did you bite the head off a bat?' And I did, so, next.

When we make a record, we don't discuss how we are planning on doing it. It's a very natural and organic growth.

Some kids in Italy call me 'Mama Jazz; I thought that was so cute. As long as they don't call me 'Grandma Jazz.'

I've never been a fan of bands that go out and celebrate their age, I'd rather be celebrated for being relevant.

If you're reissuing something, it's important to have demos and everything else from that time that wasn't used.

Surrender happens by Grace. All we're doing is cleaning up the room so when Surrender walks in, He can sit down.

I think of jazz as being homage through innovation. Don't quote that as a definition, but it comes pretty close.

Who I am is a dad and a family guy. When I look in the mirror and talk to myself, that's what I want to reflect.

People have certain ideas of what they think you should be, and I have fought that categorisation my whole life.

But the thing with us was, we didn’t really need anyone to make us world famous – we were already halfway there.

When I was single my career was my life, so everything I did was of grave importance and was greatly disturbing.

There are definitely some stories worth telling and I think there's something to be said for telling your story.

Being in a rock band, I feel a certain responsibility to have a weird haircut. I mean, who else gets to do that?

If you don't know what sex is before you're 21 you're going to have a problem and should go to your psychiatrist.

I love playing music with people, but I also just love the art and meditation of being alone and working on stuff.

It's a joy, the process itself, even instrumentally, playing and constructing music. It's just so beautiful to me.

The first rock record I ever bought was 'Great Balls of Fire.' I was real little, and I went to Atlanta to get it.

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