Ray Charles Quotes

Don't go backwards - you've already been there.

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.

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.

Love is a special word, and I use it only when I mean it. You say the word too much and it becomes cheap.

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.

Learning to read music in Braille and play by ear helped me develop a damn good memory.

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

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.'

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

Dreams, if they're any good, are always a little bit crazy.

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.

Music is about the only thing left that people don't fight over.

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.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder and tears are only rain to make love grow.

What I've got to live up to, is being myself. If I do that, the rest will take care of itself.

The important thing is to feel your music, really feel it and believe it.

Music to me is just like breathing. I have to have it. It's part of me.

My mom taught me a lot. A lot about minding your own business and leaving other people's business alone. And let them think what they want.

I really feel that if you're gonna be good, you gotta practice... Practice whatever the hell you do.

Sometimes my dreams are so deep that I dream that I'm dreaming.

Goodbye don't mean gone.

I can't help what I sound like. What I sound like is what i am. You know? I cannot be anything other that what I am.

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.

Even though I'm not Jewish...Israel is one of the few causes I feel good about supporting.

Music is my life, professionally, for nearly 60 years. To be recognized by the academy is still the highest honor.

Music is the chalk to the blackboard of life. Without it everything is a blank slate

Just like you can buy grades of silk, you can buy grades of justice.

I was born with music inside me

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.

There's such a thing as too much happiness and sadness. What I'm after is contentment.

I just want to make my mark, leave something musically good behind.

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

Other arms reach out to me, Other eyes smile tenderly, Still in peaceful dreams I see, The road leads back to you.

You never can overwhelm an instrument. You will never get out all that's in an instrument. An instrument will bring you to your limits.

Drunken talk isn’t meant to be printed in the paper.

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.

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

Many times during auditions, I was told that I couldn't carry a note with a bucket, and that I sure couldn't play the piano.

If you can play the blues, you can do anything.

It's like Duke Ellington said, there are only two kinds of music - good and bad. And you can tell when something is good.

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.

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.

Sighted people, you gotta deal with them.

I don't know what would have happened to me if I hadn't been able to hear.

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

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.

Art Tatum -- he was a genius. And Einstein, not me.

I never said I was a genius. I never said I was a cornerstone. I've never said I'm a legend in my own time. You never heard me say nothing like that.

I always stay out of the rehearsal room you know when they first come in. Then once they had chance to play a little bit, then I walk in. Because I've seen guys fall apart.