“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.”

Kenny Burrell is overall the greatest guitarist in the world and he’s my favorite.

God made Blues right after he made woman.

I can’t afford no liquor, all I can buy is beer and wine.

Notes are expensive, spend them wisely.

I gave you seven children, but now you want to give them back.

Growing up, I was taught that a man has to defend his family. When the wolf is trying to get in, you gotta stand in the doorway.

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.

I don’t do much recording anymore, but before I really stopped, I was glad to get five, five cent a record. That’s why when I see people today and they complain about what they get, and I picked cotton for $2.50 a day.

When you don’t have much money, you worry that they’ll just put you in the ground someplace and your loved ones won’t know where you are.

I thought Eric Clapton was good. He still is. Not only is he good – he’s rock’s #1 guitarist, and he plays blues better than most 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.

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.

Good leaders are rare; bad leaders are common.

I guess the real reason that my wife and I had children is the same reason that Napoleon had for invading Russia: it seemed like a good idea at the time.

The good building is not one that hurts the landscape, but one which makes the landscape more beautiful than it was before the building was built.

Good taste is not a substitute for knowledge.

You’ve got to be twice as good to get half as far.

Good leaders don’t make excuses.

As a leader, you have to balance the dichotomy, to be resolute where it matters but never inflexible and uncompromising on matters of little importance to the overall good of the team and the strategic mission.

Good relationships feel good. They feel right. They don’t hurt.