At a certain age I just stopped arguing. I realized that there was no way [my father] could see, because for him to approve of what I was doing, he would have to have some belief in me as a musician.

Be good to yourself 'cause nobody else has the power to make you happy.

I still believe that music is one of the greatest gifts that God gave to man.

I've done too many stupid things for there not to be movies made about me when I'm dead, so I might as well write the script.

Change is a stranger you have yet to know.

Without despair, we will share, and the joys of caring will not be erased. What has been, must never end, the joys of caring will not be replace.

People, you can never change the way they feel. Better let them do what they will. For they will, if you let them, steal your heart.

It's important to me that I should be free to express myself.

The whole business is built on ego, vanity, self-satisfaction, and it's total crap to pretend it's not.

I have to believe that somebody up there thinks I've still got some work to do.

I have never thought about my sexuality being right or wrong. To me it has always been a case of finding the right person.

An HBCU that is not inherently revolutionary in 2016 is irrelevant.An African American Studies class that is not inherently revolutionary in 2016 is irrelevant.

No man needs sympathy because he has to work, because he has a burden to carry. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

I don't understand how I can always want to sleep, hate waking up, and yet be afraid of death.

Do you know how to use a pool cue?" Paul asked her. "To play pool or to fight?" she asked as Paul pulled the door open and Allan went in first. "Balls are my specialty.

Before you start to lose sleep over your problems, be sure to talk to God about them. He has proven over and over again to be extremely good at solving problems.

I think in America there's this free flow between fashion, art, architecture, music and design. In Europe, it's more segregated between those different disciplines, I think.

The dome of thought, the palace of the soul.

I had no idea of the historical evolution of the civilized world's music and had not realized that all modern music owes everything to Bach.

Terrorists can endanger some of us, but the war on terror endangers us all. How much more can the Constitution be diminished before it is completely replaced by arbitrary government power?