I think America concedes that true American music has sprung from the Negro.

With a guitar I would be able to express the things I felt in sounds.

Setting my mind on a musical instrument was like falling in love. All the world seemed bright and changed.

Life is like a trumpet - if you don't put anything into it, you don't get anything out of it.

Whenever I heard the song of a bird and the answering call of its mate, I could visualize the notes in scale, all built up within my consciousness as a natural symphony.

My big ears indicated a talent for music. This thrilled me.

If my serenade of song and story should serve as a pillow for some composer's head, as yet perhaps unborn, to dream and build on our fond melodies in his tomorrow, I have not labored in vain.

I knew the whistle of each of the river boats on the Tennessee.

You can never tell what's in a woman's mind, And if she's from Harlem, there's no use o' tryin

Saving was slow and painful.

Nature was my kindergarten.

Between any two beings there is a unique, uncrossable distance, an unenterable sanctuary. Sometimes it takes the shape of aloneness. Sometimes it takes the shape of love.

Life is a daring curiosity.

The essence of sin is arrogance; the essence of salvation is submission.

Marriage takes perseverance and determination. There are always opportunities to walk away from marriage but I feel very strongly that you have a responsibility once you start a family.

Reason teaches us that what is good is good for something, and that what is good for nothing is not good at all.

Consecration is not the act of our feelings but of our WILL.

Happiness and Prosperity are now within our Reach; but to attain and preserve them must depend upon our own Wisdom and Virtue.

Humor is the offspring of man; it comes forth like Minerva, fully armed from the brain.

Though someday we may become as eloquent as Sahban, but we might also miss the essence of the Forgiving One.

Couldn't a fire outrun a galloping horse?