“I can’t think of anyone I’ve mistreated. I’ve always thought that I am my brother’s keeper. And I believe there’s a ‘great spirit’ that takes care of all of us.”

You never miss what you’ve never had. I never had any other life. I didn’t know any other life.

Janis Joplin sings the blues as hard as any black person.

I don’t think it’s meant for man to know everything at once.

The blues was like that problem child that you may have had in the family. You was a little bit ashamed to let anybody see him, but you loved him. You just didn’t know how other people would take it.

The blues are three L’s – living , loving and hopefully, laughing.

Music is good for everybody. They say it soothes the savage beast. Well, I think theirs a beast in all of us. So let’s get some more music and soothe all the beasts out there.

It seems like I always had to work harder than other people. Those nights when everybody else is asleep, and you sit in your room trying to play scales.

Many people leave the country to see beautiful places. I just look out the window and see some of the most gorgeous scenery ever, right here in the USA.

I look at an audience kind of like meeting my in-laws for the first time. You want to be yourself, but you still want to be somebody that they like. When I go on the stage each night, I try my best to outguess my audience.

If you can’t get your songs to people one way, you have to find another.

Nobody loves me but my mother, And she could be jivin’ too.

It just seemed to me that the way I played was nice. I could hear it myself.

I’ve put up with more humiliation than I care to remember.

I don’t like anybody to be angry with me. I’d rather have friends.

A day that I don’t learn something new is a wasted day.

I never use that word, retire.

Too many of us still believe our differences define us.

Your best days are still ahead. Stay in faith. Keep believing.

I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do

Perseus wore a magic cap down over his eyes and ears as a make-believe that there are no monsters.

Ruin and recovering are both from within.

Fools have a habit of believing that everything written by a famous author is admirable. For my part I read only to please myself and like only what suits my taste.

Shame is a tool of oppression and dehumanization. I don’t believe shame will ever be an effective social just tool. ⁣

Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.