“I grew up with the Blind Boys’ music. My family owns a music store in Claremont, California, called The Claremont Folk Music Center. I grew up with a heavy diet of gospel, folk, and blues because those are kind of the cornerstones of traditional American music.”

All that we can’t say is all we need to hear.

We’ve changed our reflections, but inside we’re just a child.

Genetics do play a role in how you consciously or subconsciously manifest your true self.

What enables me to believe in anything is hope.

In my life I have been blessed In my life I have been cursed I have lived the best of times I have suffered the worst Do you know which road you’re traveling? Do you know where you want to be? With so many roads to travel, There’s just one can set you free.

Love for me is my North Star. It’s the highest form of grace. And I love that there’s different levels and different ways of showing it, and different representations of it. Whether it’s love shown to a stranger, love to a sibling, your child, your parents, your partner.

It’s so hard to do and so easy to say but sometimes you just have to walk away

There’s no room in my life for religion. Religion is separation and segregation of God. How can you segregate the Almighty?

Music is the last true voice of the human spirit. It can go beyond language, beyond age, and beyond color straight to the mind and heart of all people.

Sometimes I may be totally arrogant, sometimes I may totally be the most humble guy you’ve ever met, sometimes I may be in between. But that’s life. Who isn’t like that? What’s the big deal if I had an arrogant moment.

I’ve never made a record that didn’t sound better than what was in my head – that’s sort of my rule.

You have to do what you believe in.

Life is short and if you’re looking for extension, you had best do well. ‘Cause there’s good deeds and then there’s good intentions. They are as far apart as Heaven and Hell.

Just because you have a hit doesn’t mean you’re good [at music]. Just means you got a hit.

If you don’t like my fire, then don’t come around. Cause I’m gonna burn one down.

If interviews are just interviews or if music is just music, why are we even doing it? You only get so many hours in a lifetime, man.

What a child does not know and does not want to know of race and colour and class, he learns soon enough as he grows to see each man flipped inexorably into some predestined groove like a penny or a sovereign in a banker’s rack. Kibii, the Nandi boy, was my good friend.

Prior to being mugged I did not feel I had to carry a gun. However, I knew how to shoot a gun very proficiently. As a boy, I used to play cowboys and Indians all the time.

I was the boy that turned a girlfriend into the most celebrated lesbian on television. I got so much stick for that.

I would never let a white boy beat me. You can print that. I would never lose to a white person.

When beggars and shoeshine boys, barbers and beauticians can tell you how to get rich it is time to remind yourself that there is no more dangerous illusion than the belief that one can get something for nothing.

When you are no longer a boy, you have to be tough.

A political leader must keep looking over his shoulder all the time to see if the boys are still there. If they arent still there, hes no longer a political leader.

It was a huge deal, a huge musical discovery that became life lessons learned. You can’t return from having an experience like that. The Blind Boys are truly the deepest well of American musical heritage you can discover.