I get some letters from girls that if their mothers knew what they were writing me in these letters, they'd get their butts whipped.

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 might plan how you sleep but you can't plan how you wake up. He who plans how to sleep is a Planner, he who plans how to wake up is a Dreamer.

There is no higher authority.

I was dead unit you found me, though I breathed. I was sightless, though I could see. And then you came...and I was awakened.

Silence is a chameleon that is colored by its surrounding circumstances

Pain is part of being alive and we need to learn that. Pain does not last forever nor is it necessarily unbearable and we need to be taught that.

There's a physicality and confidence to Americans; they're very present. That's something I enjoy being around because it rubs off on you.

Physics isn't a religion. If it were, we'd have a much easier time raising money.

You live up - or down - to your expectations.

When people call me God, I say, no, I'm still an angel or saint of acting. I still have a long way to go.

We all fail to appreciate each day just how much we already possess. Light, air, freedom, the companionship of friends.