Today I blame only certain agents for my long eclipse as a public entertainer.

Basically there is no difference between whites and blacks, browns and yellows. I decided to think no more of people as Northerners and Southerners.

Whenever I played Columbus, Ohio, I dropped in to see my close friend, a medium who had mysterious powers. Her Indian guide was Mohawk.

We are all gifted. That is our inheritance.

We never had a bathtub. Mom would bathe me in the wooden or tin washtub in the kitchen, or in a big lard can.

I am somebody cause God don't make no junk

Many people know how to criticize, but few know how to praise.

Only those who are being burned know what fire is like.

Today or any day that phone may ring and bring good news.

There was one emotional outlet my people always had when they had the blues. That was singing.

All the men in my life have been two things: an epic and an epidemic.

Bureaucracy: A contentious rumble toward the establishment of authoritarian rule.

Any chance to get out and play live for some people and get out of the studio is nice.

Cynics are - beneath it all - only idealists with awkwardly high standards.

My hobbies away from horse racing would be reading and painting; I love art.

Why can't I be MVP of the league? Why can't I be the best player in the league?

It's lamented that the youth get their news from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. It's lamentable that they get more from them than from the news.

Enemies make you stronger, allies make you weaker.

My background has been very helpful for this experience. But everyone was so accommodating because they knew it's not the most comfortable position to be the new kid.

To paint is to know how to put nothing on canvas, and have it look like something when you stand back.

Lest when I am gone you may be at a loss for an epitaph for me, let me give you one - He Fed Fevers.