I feel that I have to say something in a song and that it's not just enough to lay down the music.

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.

His work seems to confirm my old axiom: it is useless to try to keep the whole body alive.

A winner endures all pain.

And please, stay away from those books you devour. They are putting the most fantastical tales into your head.

I like '50s and '60s American art. I have 85 or 90 Warhols.

One deceit needs many others, and so the whole house is built in the air and must soon come to the ground

We must not again underestimate the Japanese.

I cannot understand how anyone can be an Indian and not be proud.

You can only come to the morning through the shadows.

Lauryn Hill, P-Funk, Marvin Gaye, Public Enemy - I have a very diverse palate for music. I can go from Judy Garland to Jimi Hendrix to Stevie Wonder to Rachmaninoff. I just love great music.

I look for the entrepreneur to capture my attention. If you don't come out with a great presentation, you're dead. That's a big red flag.