“Through music you can become sad, joyful, loving, you can learn. You can learn mathematics, touch, pacing Oh my God! Ooh Wow You can see colors through music. Anything!”

I would like a man now who is rich, and who can give me a boat – a sailboat. I want to own it and let him pay for it. My first love is the sea and water, not music. Music is second.

Greed has driven the world crazy. And I think I’m lucky that I have a place over here that I can call home.

Tomorrow, I might be in a different mood and you wouldn’t recognize my voice.

I don’t like rap music at all. I don’t think it’s music. It’s just a beat and rapping.

You can’t help it. An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times.

Every day has its emotional difficulties. I miss my mother whether I’m singing her music or not.

Music has been a burden and a joy for as long as I can remember.

Jazz is not just music, it’s a way of life, it’s a way of being, a way of thinking.

Music is a gift and a burden I’ve had since I can remember who I was.

I love the classics but there are many new ideas to be made into reality. I’d rather be concerned with my own thing. There are many masters of classical piano so I’ll leave it to them.

Life is short. People are not easy to know. They’re not easy to know, so if you don’t tell them how you feel, you’re not going to get anywhere, I feel.

My singing, if you want to call it that is merely another medium of expression. Just an instrument I play. That’s how I see my voice.

I think if I were over there in America, protest music would be more important. But I’m not going.

I had spent many years pursuing excellence, because that is what classical music is all about… Now it was dedicated to freedom, and that was far more important.

Desegregation is a joke.

The allusion was that I was actually naked. I loved that. It always, kind of shocked people enough that they became mine immediately.

There is an infinite amount of hope in the universe, but not for us.

My greatest regret is not having gone to Wellesley College. it is something I have felt a little sad about my whole life.

I have always believed that God never gives a cross to bear larger than we can carry. No matter what, he wants us to be happy, not sad. birds sing after a storm. Why shouldn’t we?

Prepare yourself to feel both happiness & sadness.

Maybe I just expect too much.

Realize your worth before losing a lifetime value.

No individual is isolated. He who is sad, saddens others.

One’s suffering disappears when one lets oneself go, when one yields – even to sadness.