Ray Charles quotes
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“I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me-like food or water.”
-- Ray CharlesSource : Ray Charles (2004). “Brother Ray: Ray Charles' Own Story”
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“I never considered myself part of rock 'n' roll. My stuff was more adult. It was more difficult for teenagers to relate to; my stuff was filled with more despair than anything you'd associate with rock 'n' roll. Since I couldn't see people dancing, I didn't write jitterbugs or twists. I wrote rhythms that moved me. My style requires pure heart singing.”
-- Ray Charles -
“Music to me is like breathing. I don't get tired of breathing, I don't get tired of music.”
-- Ray Charles -
“Music's been around a long time, and there's going to be music long after Ray Charles is dead. I just want to make my mark, leave something musically good behind. If it's a big record, that's the frosting on the cake, but music's the main meal.”
-- Ray Charles -
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“Love is a special word, and I use it only when I mean it. You say the word too much and it becomes cheap.”
-- Ray CharlesSource : Ray Charles, David Ritz (2004). “Brother Ray: Ray Charles' Own Story”, p.169, Da Capo Press
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“Even though I'm not Jewish...Israel is one of the few causes I feel good about supporting.”
-- Ray Charles -
“Affluence separates people. Poverty knits 'em together. You got some sugar and I don't; I borrow some of yours. Next month you might not have any flour; well, I'll give you some of mine.”
-- Ray CharlesSource : Ray Charles, David Ritz (2004). “Brother Ray: Ray Charles' Own Story”, p.155, Da Capo Press
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“What is a soul? It's like electricity - we don't really know what it is, but it's a force that can light a room.”
-- Ray Charles -
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“I don't know what would have happened to me if I hadn't been able to hear.”
-- Ray Charles -
“Music is about the only thing left that people don't fight over.”
-- Ray CharlesSource : "Ray Charles: What I've Learned" by Mike Sager, www.esquire.com. January 29, 2007.
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“The important thing is to feel your music, really feel it and believe it.”
-- Ray Charles -
“I cant retire from music any more than I can retire from my liver. Youd have to remove the music from me surgically—like you were taking out my appendix.”
-- Ray Charles -
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“There's nothing written in the Bible, Old or New testament, that says, 'If you believe in Me, you ain't going to have no troubles.'”
-- Ray Charles -
“Just like you can buy grades of silk, you can buy grades of justice.”
-- Ray Charles -
“My version of 'Georgia' became the state song of Georgia. That was a big thing for me, man. It really touched me. Here is a state that used to lynch people like me suddenly declaring my version of a song as its state song. That is touching.”
-- Ray Charles -
“If somebody don't like something that I do, that's his or her prerogative. Just like it's mine.”
-- Ray Charles -
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“Music is the chalk to the blackboard of life. Without it everything is a blank slate”
-- Ray Charles -
“Rhythm and blues used to be called race music. ... This music was going on for years, but nobody paid any attention to it.”
-- Ray Charles -
“I'm not into the money thing. You can only sleep in one bed at a time. You can only eat one meal at a time, or be in one car at a time. So I don't have to have millions of dollars to be happy. All I need are clothes on my back, a decent meal, and a little loving when I feel like it. That's the bottom line.”
-- Ray Charles -
“Just because you can't see anything , doesn't mean you should shut your eyes.”
-- Ray Charles -
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“Before I begin, let me say right here and now that I'm a country boy. And, man, I mean the real backwoods! That's at the start of the start of the thing, and that's at the heart of the thing.”
-- Ray Charles -
“Now Listen You know I work so hard, all day long Everything I try to do, Seem to always turn out wrong That's why I wanna stop by on my way home and say Let's go get stoned”
-- Ray Charles -
“Women anchor me. They're there when I need them. They're sensitive to me, and I'm sensitive to them. I'm not saying I've loved that many women.”
-- Ray Charles -
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“I got a cow that went dry and a hen that won't lay, a big stack of bills that gets bigger each day.”
-- Ray Charles -
“I know it sounds strange - a blind teenager buzzin' round on a motorcycle - but I liked that; that was me. I had always been nervy, and I always had a lot of faith in my ability not to break my neck.”
-- Ray Charles -
“Crying's always been a way for me to get things out which are buried deep, deep down. When I sing, I often cry. Crying is feeling, and feeling is being human.”
-- Ray Charles -
“You got to set your mind right and the rest will come to you naturally. No restrictions, no hang-ups, no stupid rules, no formalities, no forbidden fruit - just everyone getting and giving as much as he and she can.”
-- Ray Charles -
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“I just want to make my mark, leave something musically good behind.”
-- Ray Charles -
“All my life I've always been so blue, born to lose, and now I'm losing you.”
-- Ray Charles -
“Hit the road Jack, don'tcha come back no more, no more, no more, no more. Hit the road Jack, don'tcha come back no more.”
-- Ray Charles -
“Art Tatum -- he was a genius. And Einstein, not me.”
-- Ray Charles -
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“When I was going blind, I didn't turn to God. It didn't seem to me then - and it doesn't seem to me now - that those items were His concern. Early on, I figured I better begin to learn how to count on myself, instead of counting on supernatural forces.”
-- Ray Charles -
“I'd like to think that when I sing a song, I can let you know all about the heartbreak, struggle, lies and kicks in the ***** I've gotten over the years for being black and everything else, without actually saying a word about it.”
-- Ray Charles -
“Music is nothing separate from me. It is me... You'd have to remove the music surgically.”
-- Ray Charles -
“What makes my approach special is that I do different things. I do jazz, blues, country music and so forth. I do them all, like a good utility man.”
-- Ray Charles -
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“I really feel that if you're gonna be good, you gotta practice... Practice whatever the hell you do.”
-- Ray Charles -
“Dreams, if they're any good, are always a little bit crazy.”
-- Ray Charles -
“The words to country songs are very earthy like the blues. They're not as dressed up and the people are very honest and say, 'Look, I miss you darlin', so I went out and got drunk in this bar.' That's the way you say it. Where in Tin Pan Alley they would say, 'Oh I missed you darling, so I went to this restaurant and I sat down and had a dinner for one.' That's cleaned up now, you see? But country and blues tells it like it is.”
-- Ray Charles -
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“Live each day like it's your last, 'cause one day you gonna be right”
-- Ray Charles -
“I don't sing a song unless I feel it. The song don't tug at my heart, I pass on it. I have to believe in what I'm doing.”
-- Ray Charles -
“[On his ***** addiction:] I did it to myself. It wasn't society...it wasn't a pusher, it wasn't being blind or being black or being poor. It was all my doing.”
-- Ray Charles -
“Music is my life, professionally, for nearly 60 years. To be recognized by the academy is still the highest honor.”
-- Ray Charles -
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“Learning to read music in Braille and play by ear helped me develop a damn good memory.”
-- Ray Charles -
“There are many spokes on the wheel of life. First, we're here to explore new possibilities.”
-- Ray Charles -
“I heard someone say that all black people got rhythm. Bullshit.”
-- Ray Charles -
“I don't think any of us really knows why we're here. But I think we're supposed to believe we're here for a purpose.”
-- Ray Charles -
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“The role of the designer is basically that of a good host, anticipating the needs of the guest.”
-- Ray Charles -
“You ask me what I'd like to do that I haven't done and I say 'Nothin'!' I haven't any mountains to climb or oceans to swim. I've been an extremely blessed individual. ... I'm not clamorin' for more trinkets. If I were to die tomorrow, I could say I've had a good life.”
-- Ray Charles -
“The fact of the matter is, you don't give up what's natural. Anything I've fantasized about, I've done.”
-- Ray CharlesSource : Source: www.esquire.com
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“My music had roots which I'd dug up from my own childhood, musical roots buried in the darkest soil.”
-- Ray Charles -
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“I never wanted to be famous. I only wanted to be great.”
-- Ray Charles -
“When I started to sing like myself - as opposed to imitating Nat Cole, which I had done for a while - when I started singing like Ray Charles, it had this spiritual and churchy, this religious or gospel sound. It had this holiness and preachy tone to it. It was very controversial. I got a lot of criticism for it.”
-- Ray Charles -
“Other arms reach out to me, Other eyes smile tenderly, Still in peaceful dreams I see, The road leads back to you.”
-- Ray Charles -
“I had to pawn my clothes just to pay my rent.”
-- Ray Charles -
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“What I've got to live up to, is being myself. If I do that, the rest will take care of itself.”
-- Ray Charles -
“Don't go backwards - you've already been there.”
-- Ray Charles -
“There's such a thing as too much happiness and sadness. What I'm after is contentment.”
-- Ray Charles -
“Sometimes my dreams are so deep that I dream that I'm dreaming.”
-- Ray CharlesSource : Ray Charles, David Ritz (2004). “Brother Ray: Ray Charles' Own Story”, p.309, Da Capo Press
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“I was born with music inside me. That's the only explanation I know of”
-- Ray Charles -
“I set my own rhythm and it was usually a little faster than other people's.”
-- Ray Charles -
“Do it right or don't do it at all. That comes from my mom. If there's something I want to do, I'm one of those people that won't be satisfied until I get it done. If I'm trying to sing something and I can't get it, I'm going to keep at it until I get where I want it.”
-- Ray CharlesSource : Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, 1998.
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“Nowadays they say you need a special chip to put in the TV so kids can't watch this and that. In my day, we didn't need a chip. My mom was the chip. End of story.”
-- Ray Charles -
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“Absence makes the heart grow fonder and tears are only rain to make love grow.”
-- Ray Charles -
“Drunken talk isn’t meant to be printed in the paper.”
-- Ray Charles
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