Music has 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 musical… - Ray Charles

✓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

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. Love is a special word, and I use it only when I mean it. You say the word too much and it becomes cheap. But sex is something else. I'm not sure that there can ever be too much sex. To me, it's another one of our daily requirements — like eating. If I go twenty-four hours without it, I get hungry. Sex needs to be open and fun, free and happy. It's whatever you make it, and I try my hardest to create situations where me and my woman can enjoy ourselves — all of ourselves — without our inhibitions getting in the way. 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.

But now if I can wrap myself up in that song, and when that song gets to be a part of me, and affects me emotionally, then the emotions that I go through, chances are I’ll be able to communicate to you. Make the people out there become a part of the life of this song that you’re singing about. That’s soul when you can do that.