I don't think the white establishment will ever respect or appreciate a black man who speaks the truth.

I can't hang out as loose as I used to, but I can still go down Jefferson Avenue and look in the faces of winos, pimps and junkies, all the things I'm made of.

Funkers are people who dig the funk; Little funkers, Big funkers, Old funkers, Young funkers, Foxy funkers, Mother funkers, Papa funkers.

Whether you're rich or poor, life's still cold-blooded.

She's the kind you don't take home to mother.

My teacher said I would either be a hoodlum, or a great entertainer.

I just live one day at a time.

If anything I consider myself non-violent. I'm from the hippy era, peace, love, groovy.

I'm still James Johnson. Rick James is a stage name. James Johnson keeps Rick James on the ground... Kind of sort of.

You and I, we'll be together 'til the six is nine.

Off stage it's cool-out time. You can't funk and roll ALL the time.

You are mine, and I am thine, and no power on earth shall make it otherwise.

The girls are beautiful in Hollywood - and enough silicon to caulk a sink.

To know oneself is to study oneself in action, which is relationship.

Politics are vulgar when they are not liberalised by history, and history fades into mere literature when it loses sight of its relation to practical politics.

Adversity is a misperception as all works toward the good.

Research is a passion with me; it drives me; it is my relentless master.

Our purpose in life is to grow in wisdom and in love.

I have never judged myself by other people’s standards. I have always expected a great deal of myself, and if I fail, I fail myself.

I wouldn't put myself in that bracket, but it's one of those things. I think what helps is that we [with Tom Hardey] don't socialize, we don't really know each other, we purely work together.

I love to cook and I know a lot of people watching love those segments, but so often they feel rushed to me. If we give 'em a bit more time to breathe, people will get more out of them.