“Audiences like their blues singers to be miserable.”

The older the grapes, sweeter the wine.

Don’t compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got.

That was to be true to myself, to be the person that I…that was on inside of me and not play games.

Wait a minute, maybe I can do anything.

If you’ve got a today, don’t wear it tomorrow. Tomorrow never happens. It’s all the same day.

And I think you sort of switch on their brain, man, so that makes them say: ‘Wait a minute, maybe I can do anything.’ Whoooooo! It’s life.

If you can get them once, man, get them standing up when they should be sitting down, sweaty when they should be decorous, smile when they should be applauding politely-

You can destroy your now by worrying about tomorrow.

Texas is OK if you want to settle down and do your own thing quietly, but it’s not for outrageous people, and I was always outrageous.

Honey, if you’ve had your eye on a piece of talent and that chick down the road has been getting all the action, then you know what you gotta do… Try A Little Bit Harder.

Like, I don’t think I’d go off the road for long now, for life with a guy no matter how good. Yeah, it’s the truth. Scary thing to say though, isn’t it?

I believe the only people who truly experience and test the application of equality are twins.

I started out to be a person on the street, just like everybody else. I didn’t start out to be a singer. But I got sort of swept up in this singing thing, and after I got involved in it it got really important to me if I was good or not.

You better not compromise yourself, it’s all you’ve got.

The consequences, [screw] the implications of the actions, to hell with it all… whatever happens as a result is better than the nothingness that is inevitable with silence.

You know why we’re stuck with the myth that only black people have soul? Because white people don’t let themselves feel things.

I enjoy singing music with my audience.

Words have a magical power. They can bring either the greatest happiness or deepest despair; they can transfer knowledge from teacher to student; words enable the orator to sway his audience and dictate its decisions.

I enjoy it when it’s over! I enjoy whatever success we have. If an audience finds it funny, then it’s been worth it.

If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?

I want to be a collaborative thing and be part of the audience and have them be part of me.

I would like to get rid of the homophobes, sexists, and racists in our audience. I know they’re out there and it really bothers me.

Writing a description for this thing for general audiences is bloody hard. There’s nothing to relate it to.

I would love to have an ocean of love right now. That said, the number-one rule of acting is, ‘Do not seek approval from the audience.’ People don’t realize that. You can’t do stuff to get applause. You have to live in the truth.