Ray Charles Quotes

Music is nothing separate from me. It is me. I can't retire from music any more than I can retire from my liver. You'd have to remove the music from me surgically — like you were taking out my appendix.

I got a woman way over town, That's good to me, Oh yeah!

Hey mama, don't you treat me wrong,
Come and love your daddy all night long.
All right now, hey hey, all right.
See the girl with the diamond ring;
She knows how to shake that thing.
All right now now now, hey hey, hey hey.
Tell your mama, tell your pa,
I'm gonna send you back to Arkansas.
Oh yes, ma'm, you don't do right, don't do right.

Live each day like it's your last, 'cause one day you gonna be right

Rhythm and blues used to be called race music. … This music was going on for years, but nobody paid any attention to it.

The fact of the matter is, you don't give up what's natural. Anything I've fantasized about, I've done.

Affluence separates people. Poverty knits 'em together.

Every music has its own soul, Quincy

Then there were motorcycles. I learned to ride one in Tallahassee when I was about 14 or 15. … I got to know the town pretty well, and soon I felt confident about riding round. Tallahassee was full of hills, and I loved racing up and down 'em, sometimes trailing my friend or riding next to him, so I could hear the sound of the exhaust and make sure to follow closely and yet not too closely. 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.

My music had roots which I'd dug up from my own childhood, musical roots buried in the darkest soil.

Everyone has a point of view,' Mama used to say to me, 'and everyone is entitled to one. So, don't judge them Leave them alone.

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.

✓My music had roots which I'd dug up from my own childhood, musical roots buried in the darkest soil.
✓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
✓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

✓There are many spokes on the wheel of life. First, we're here to explore new possibilities.
✓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.
✓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.
✓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.'

✓Music to me is like breathing. I don't get tired of breathing, I don't get tired of music.
✓Just because you can't see anything , doesn't mean you should shut your eyes.
✓Don't go backwards - you've already been there.
✓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.
✓Sometimes my dreams are so deep that I dream that I'm dreaming.

✓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.
✓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 ass I've gotten over the years for being black and everything else, without actually saying a word about it.
✓.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.'
✓Other arms reach out to me, Other eyes smile tenderly, Still in peaceful dreams I see, The road leads back to you.
✓I can't help what I sound like. What I sound like is

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. That's how my band made it. We swam through a lot of shit together, we swallowed a lot of pride, but we managed to do what we needed to do.

Learning to read music in Braille & play by ear helped me develop a [very] good memory.